Final Call for Papers: IP&M special topic issue on Evaluating Exploratory Search Systems

*INFORMATION PROCESSING & MANAGEMENT:*

*An International Journal*

Special Topic Issue on

*Evaluating Exploratory Search Systems*

* *

*Call for Papers*


      Guest Editors

Dr. Gheorghe Muresan, Rutgers University

Dr. Ryen W. White, Microsoft Research

Dr. Gary Marchionini, University of North Carolina


      Important dates

Submission of articles: Fri, 22nd December 2006

Notification to authors: Fri, 2nd March 2007

Final version of accepted papers: Fri, 25th May 2007

Publication date: most likely before the end of 2007


      Overview

Online search has become an increasingly important part of the everyday 
lives of most computer users. Search engines, bibliographic databases, 
and digital libraries provide adequate support for those whose 
information needs are well-defined. However, there are research and 
development opportunities to improve current search systems to help 
users succeed more often in situations when: they lack the knowledge or 
contextual awareness to formulate queries, they must navigate complex 
information spaces, the search task requires browsing and exploration, 
or system indexing of available information is inadequate.

In those situations, people usually submit a tentative query and start 
exploring the information space, selectively seeking and passively 
obtaining cues about where their next steps lie, i.e., they are engaged 
in an "exploratory search." Exploratory search is a type of 
information-seeking that in some respects can be seen as a 
specialization of information exploration – a broader class of 
activities where new information is sought in a defined conceptual area; 
exploratory data analysis is another example of an information 
exploration activity. Exploratory Search Systems (ESS) have been 
developed to support serendipity, learning, and investigation, and 
generally allow users to browse available information.

Whilst search systems are expanding beyond supporting simple lookup into 
supporting complex information-seeking behaviors, there are no 
recognized methodologies for how to evaluate this new genre of search 
system. This special topic issue will solicit submissions from 
researchers in communities such as information retrieval, library and 
information sciences, and human-computer interaction for a discussion of 
the issues related to the formative and summative evaluation of ESS. The 
exploratory search focus in recent years has been on the development of 
new systems and interfaces, not on how to evaluate them. Given the range 
of technologies available, it is now time to shift the focus of research 
toward understanding the behaviors and preferences of searchers engaged 
in exploratory searching, on tasks supported by such systems, and on 
measuring exploration success.

The special topic issue solicits high-quality manuscripts that focus on 
the theoretical, empirical and methodological issues surrounding the 
evaluation of systems to support exploratory search activities. We 
encourage submissions based on, but not limited to, the following topics:

    * learning
    * system log analysis
    * task-oriented evaluation
    * ethnography and field studies
    * user performance and behaviors
    * searcher simulations
    * biometric data as evidence
    * role of context
    * metrics for ESS evaluation
    * ESS evaluation frameworks
    * mental models for exploratory search processes
    * test collections
    * novel exploratory search interfaces and interaction paradigms

Papers should be submitted to the online site for IP & M 
(http://ees.elsevier.com/ipm), with the submission box checked off that 
it is for the special issue on Evaluation of Exploratory Search Systems. 
Instructions on formatting can also be found at the above site.

All questions regarding submissions should be directed to the special 
topic issue Guest Editors at [email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]>.



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