Comments on: Federated Search: Does it Mitigate or Exacerbate Information Overload? http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/ Covers topics related to federated search and the deep web Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:35:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Henry Lewkowicz http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2575 Henry Lewkowicz Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:44:38 +0000 http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2575 Search is one of the critical technologies in finding information but the price for using search is information overload. A practical addition to any search results would be adding summaries permitting at a glance to see the essence of the text without the clutter of details. I’m working with summarization technology and when I do Google searches, the results are automatically summarized and presented according to the keywords of my interest. Such search + summarization approach lets the user much quicker find out the relevant documents. In fact summarization is a good filtering technology that can be a real asset in reducing information overload while taking better advantage of search engines. Search is one of the critical technologies in finding information but the price for using search is information overload. A practical addition to any search results would be adding summaries permitting at a glance to see the essence of the text without the clutter of details.

I’m working with summarization technology and when I do Google searches, the results are automatically summarized and presented according to the keywords of my interest. Such search + summarization approach lets the user much quicker find out the relevant documents.

In fact summarization is a good filtering technology that can be a real asset in reducing information overload while taking better advantage of search engines.

]]> By: Peter Noerr http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2567 Peter Noerr Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:48:16 +0000 http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2567 As described, federated search does nothing to reduce information overload, just the opposite as Abe says. The mitigating factor for all federated search systems is that they all employ some form of results analysis to give the user the "best of the best' right there up front. In reality this is no different from an individual search engine producing its own secret sauce ranking. but... The very fact that the federated search engines draw from multiple sources is their strength here. The universe of results from which they are extracting the best is broader than any single search engine. The number of results they analyse is probably smaller (even Deep Web's 1,000 is pretty small compared to a search engine with millions of records in its database, and a non-specific query), but it covers a wider set original sources (journals, countries, choose your favourite), and points of view and time periods, and so on. The user still gets 10 records on page 1, but they are selected from a much broader basic range of sources. So the chances are higher that a "good" record will be found first time. And that is an important federated search overload reduction - less second searches. As described, federated search does nothing to reduce information overload, just the opposite as Abe says. The mitigating factor for all federated search systems is that they all employ some form of results analysis to give the user the “best of the best’ right there up front.

In reality this is no different from an individual search engine producing its own secret sauce ranking. but…

The very fact that the federated search engines draw from multiple sources is their strength here. The universe of results from which they are extracting the best is broader than any single search engine. The number of results they analyse is probably smaller (even Deep Web’s 1,000 is pretty small compared to a search engine with millions of records in its database, and a non-specific query), but it covers a wider set original sources (journals, countries, choose your favourite), and points of view and time periods, and so on. The user still gets 10 records on page 1, but they are selected from a much broader basic range of sources.

So the chances are higher that a “good” record will be found first time. And that is an important federated search overload reduction - less second searches.

]]> By: Jonathan Spira http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2502 Jonathan Spira Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:47:59 +0000 http://federatedsearchblog.com/2008/07/14/federated-search-does-it-mitigate-or-exacerbate-information-overload/#comment-2502 Great to see your comments in information overload and IORG. One point of clarification: Basex is one of several companies that is forming IORG, an independent industry consortium. Others include IBM, Microsoft, and Intel, just to name a few. Great to see your comments in information overload and IORG. One point of clarification: Basex is one of several companies that is forming IORG, an independent industry consortium. Others include IBM, Microsoft, and Intel, just to name a few.

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