© Tefko Saracevic1 All you wanted to know … Advanced searching.

© Tefko Saracevic 1

All you wanted to know …

Advanced searching

© Tefko Saracevic 2

Principles of Searching

Definitions

Advanced (Encarta)

More highly developed …at a higher stage of development or

progress than other similar people or things

Advanced searchingthat about sums it up

it is searching at a higher level of complexity without which search goals cannot be achieved

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Principles of Searching

Definition

Heuristic (Encarta)

problem solving by trial and errora method of solving a problem for which no formula exists,

based on informal methods or experience, and employing a form of trial and error (iteration)

using or arrived at by a process of trial and error rather than set rules

a rule of thumbcommonsense rules indented to increase the probability of

solving some problem

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Principles of Searching

Advanced searching is a HEURISTIC process

• It means that searching is a trial & error process & an iterative process

• It means that searcher can modify a search in response to results or user

• It is a base for search progression toward more effective results

• And it is a behind advanced search strategy and tactics

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Principles of Searching

Goals of advanced searching

– achieve higher levels of effectiveness• getting more relevant, missing more irrelevant stuff

– and at higher level of efficiency• saving on overall time, cost, effort

– center search toward answers & resources most likely to be effective

• also: focus unfocused searches &• get ideas how to proceed

– use all available system features for goals– act as an professional (extreme) searcher

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Principles of Searching

In fact

• Any & all vendors & search engines have advanced search features– most studies show that users use them rarely, if at all

• In principle most are the same • But in application they differ from vendor to

vendor, engine to engine – sometimes greatly– need to be learned individually. What a bummer!– cannot be taken that what & how works in one works

elsewhere – even though similarities are there

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Principles of Searching

Levels of advanced searching

• Advanced searching possible at several levels– strategic

• using different approaches to fit circumstances or context independent of but adapted to a system used

– tactical• using system features to the hilt to achieve given objectives• but as said, features may & do differ from system to system

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Principles of Searching

Reminder

• Search strategy (big picture):– overall approach to searching of a question

• decisions on search resource(s), content & format• variations in these as a search progresses

• Search tactics (action choices) (small picture):– choices & variations in search statements, query

• terms, connectors, attributes …• using capabilities of a system to the hilt to achieve

desired results

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Principles of Searching

• The entire approach to a search – selection of– files and sources to use– approaches in proceeding to search & combining

• search terms• operators to use• fields to search

– formats for viewing results– alternative actions if search yields

• too much• too little

– problem-solving heuristics

A search strategy is

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Principles of Searching

• A query - command line entered into a system in order to retrieve relevant information– terms, operators & attributes as allowed by a given

system– vocabulary & syntax used in conjunction with

connectors &/or limiters to search a system

• Again: depends on a system how it is done– for example, a search statement in DIALOG might

be: b 47; ss (garbanzo? or chickpeas) and (hum?us or humus)

– how would you do that in ?

Search tactics is

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Principles of Searching

Some major strategies

• Briefsearch – also sometimes called

meatball search or quick & dirty search

• Building block search • Citation pearl growing

search

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Principles of Searching

• Takes little planning & is fast– searcher gets on to the system quickly, & enters terms

using default (or simple Boolean) operators – only a few terms are used– there is no or little reiteration & limited interaction

between searcher & system

• Can also be used for verification purposes• Results can be examined for relevance feedback• Not recommended for comprehensive searches• Widely used by users generally

Briefsearch

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Principles of Searching

• Commonly used search strategy– start small & then build upon results

• identification: each important concept or facet of a search is identified

• elaboration: for each facet terms are identified • combination: search starts with one or just a few facets;

as it progresses additional facets are connected using appropriate Boolean operators &/or attributes

• iteration: as a search proceeds terms to facets may be added, new facets, even subfacets, created & combined

• You build heuristically & modify the query as you go long adding, changing facets

Building block strategy

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Principles of Searching

Going about building blocks

Facet 1REGULATION

FCC

regulation

market structures

regulated industries

Facet 2TECHNOLOGY

technology

technical impact innovation technological change

Facet 3TELECOMMU-NICATION

communicationsatellitemicrowave

telephone

cellular phonemobile radio

AND

OR

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Principles of Searching

Getting higher recall

Building block (or multiple facet) searching assume movement from lower to higher recall – getting more stuff that is relevant, but precision may be lowered

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Principles of Searching

• Another common strategy• It means what the name

implies: you start with a nugget & grow upon it

• Starts with a few records of high relevance

• Aims for more recall

Citation pearl growing

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Principles of Searching

How to…citation pearl growing

• Bibliographic & other information is obtained for a relevant (model) document(s) after a Briefsearch– user is often the source of the model document(s)

• Terms (pearls) are selected from the documents to build facets

• Search proceeds iteratively with examination of new relevant documents to enlarge or modify facets– use synonyms and Boolean ‘or’ to create more facets– preserve sets for additional interaction

• This strategy works best if user is present or frequently consulted about results

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Principles of Searching

When is citation pearl growing good to use?

• When word lists or thesauri are not available• When there isn’t a large recall after doing a briefsearch• When a client has one or two good articles and wants to

find more like them• When a topic is new and no descriptors are established

to represent the concept

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Principles of Searching

Advanced searching on the web

• Needs to be adapted to differences – coverage not specified; vastly different from one

source, engine to another– no controlled vocabulary– output ranked by unknown methods & criteria for

“relevance”– building blocks may be indicated by “similar pages” or

“more from this site” or some such– some provide clusters to narrow searches– features, capabilities, specifics differ

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Principles of Searching

A few web search guides of many

• Advanced web searching Greg Notes

• Finding information on the web U of California, Berkeley

• Googleguide advanced operators Nancy Blachman

• Four NETS for better searching Bernie Dodge

• Web search tutorial Searchenginez

• How to choose a search engine or directory SUNY at Albany

• Search the web more efficiently Web Design in New York

• Finding information: search engines Phil Bradley

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Principles of Searching

Beware: search engines are not only about search

• Yes, search is (still) their core, but they are in many other businesses built upon search & these affect what & how of searching for us– they are corporations, commercial entities

• have to make money, mostly by ads & placements

– but provide many other services• selling, licensing software• email, messenger • add-on utilities – like your desktop search functions, toolbars

– many of the additional stuff is provided free, but there is no such thing as free lunch

• basically they are about how search engines can get us to continue to use their product

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Principles of Searching

In other words

• Buyers beware!

• Searchers be aware!

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Principles of Searching

A few search sources for the fun of it

• Shakespeare & Internet Search Tools & Resources

• Picsearch picture searching

• US government official web portal “Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government”

• Special Search Engines Leiden U, Netherlands, probably the longest page on the web – a bit out of date

• Yahooligans! the web guide for kids

and a study: Bilal, D. (2000). Children's use of the Yahooligans! Web search engine. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51 (7), 646-665 [available at RUL]

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Principles of Searching

Role & importance of interaction in searching

“At a fundamental level, information retrieval is inherently interactive.”

“This becomes apparent as one considers that the process revolves around a series of activities that an information searcher engages in with an information environment.”

Savage-Knepshield, P. A. & Belkin, N. J. (1999).

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Principles of Searching

Interaction: key to effective searching

• Interaction between – user and searcher – searcher & information system– user & searcher with information objects– searcher with support materials (thesauri, codes, etc.)– user & searcher with environment– user & searcher with valuation of results

• All play a part in retrieving satisfying results• Iteration is a result of interaction

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Principles of Searching

Interactive process

User task question useContext

User task question useContext

Query

Search

Sources

IterationEvaluation

Searcher

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Principles of Searching

Ask yourself some questions

• What strategies & tactics have I developed for effective searching?

• What heuristics?

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Principles of Searching

For a questionask yourself more questions

• What do I do first?• What files/systems should I use?• Should I start broad or narrow?• What will my search statement be?• How much material do I or user need?• What format do I or user want for results?• How will I modify & adjust results?

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Principles of Searching

Happy advanced