Information Retrieval

Cluster

  • Big Data Analytics and Information Systems

Group's website

Description

Most of the information available on the web today is of a textual nature and not structured, and there are numerous problems to be solved in order to allow effective access to it. The research activities of the Information Retrieval (IR) group focus on several aspects related to the retrieval of non-structured information, mostly texts in natural language. These are a few of the research lines:

  1. Assessment of the Effectiveness of IR Systems. New effectiveness metrics are defined and proposed and the existing metrics (as of today, more than 100 already) are analysed from a theoretical point of view and formalized; alternative methodologies for an efficient and engineered assessment are also proposed, mainly with a view to saving resources.
  2. Analysis and Categorisation of Short Texts. Short texts (such as those taken from posts on social networks, for instance Facebook and Twitter, or from messaging software, for instance WhatsApp and Telegram) are modelled and handled with particular techniques (e.g., enrichment) in order to better understand their meaning and to better model the (interests of the) user who created them.
  3. Location Data Analysis. Data as to the locations, movements and trajectories are used and interpreted in order to build user models.
  4. Use of Mobile Devices for Accessing Information. Mobile and contextual IR systems for data and services and advanced, smart interfaces for IR with mobile systems are developed.
  5. Crowdsourcing

Besides the members of the University of Udine listed below, the research activities are also carried out in collaboration with colleagues of several Universities and research centres (Madrid, Lugano, Melbourne, Sheffield).

Research subjects

  • Assessment of the effectiveness of IR systems
  • Analysis and categorisation of short texts. Analysis of location and movement data
  • Mobile and contextual access to information

ERC panels

  • PE6_10 Web and information systems, data management systems, information retrieval and digital libraries, data fusion
  • PE6_2 Distributed systems, parallel computing, sensor networks, cyber-physical systems

Tags

  • Valutazione dell’efficacia dei motori di ricerca
  • Sistemi mobili e context-aware
  • Reti sociali
  • Crowdsourcing

Members

Stefano MIZZARO
Ivan SCAGNETTO