Louisiana State University School of Library and Information Science Cavan McCarthy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

LIS 7911 #02 Internet Information Retrieval course

SYLLABUS

Problems and solutions in information retrieval in an Internet environment. Search languages, search engines, meta search engines, directories, evaluation of results and other relevant procedures and techniques.

GENERAL NATURE OF THE COURSE

This course aims to familiarize students with both the theoretical and practical aspects of this dynamic field, enabling them to retrieve information efficiently and accurately within an Internet environment, to evaluate it. The course will demonstrate and exemplify the use of search languages, directories, search engines, metasearch engines, specialized softwares, and other techniques to optimize retrieval. Teaching modes include demonstrations, practical activities, and hands-on exercises. Students will be able to discuss the development of Internet searching and its relationship with copyright, information policy, and society. The course will concentrate on retrieval from publicly accessible resources; it will therefore pay significant attention to the evaluation of results, a major problem with Internet.

COURSE GOALS

To familiarize students with the history of the Internet, retrieval languages, the development of search engines and directories.

To offer participants experience in using a variety of search engines, softwares and procedures to retrieve information from the Internet, in such a way as to permit direct comparisons between different systems.

To enable students to search at maximum efficiency in a variety of public access Internet resources, to objectively evaluate the information retrieved and record their results.

To give participants an awareness of the commercial, informational, copyright and social impacts of search engines and directories.

SCHEDULE

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION

June 11: History and development of information retrieval and search languages. The Internet. Evaluation of web content. Reading: Hock, chap. 1.

June 13: Introduction to Internet Information Retrieval: Problems and approaches to information retrieval in an Internet environment. History and development of search engines and directories. Resources on search engines and directories. Reading: Notess, chap. 1-2.

July 2: Child-oriented systems. Dead search engines. Reading: Notess, chap. 7.

DELIVERABLE: July 2: Case Study 2

(July 4: No class)

July 9: Other approaches to searching: Question-answering systems; Specialized and diagrammatical results (Kartoo, Webbrain, etc.). Search aids and plug-ins. Reading: Hock, chap. 4.

UNIT 4: STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES FOR RETRIEVAL

July 11: Search engine software. Search terms. Strategies and techniques to optimize retrieval in large-scale systems. Reading: Notess, chap. 8.

DELIVERABLE: July 11: Case Study 3

July 16: Recall, precision and search engines. Ranking and evaluation of search engine output. Metadata. Reading: Notess, chap. 5.

UNIT 5: SPECIALIZED SEARCH SYSTEMS

July 18: Specialized systems by subject: legal, business, government information, etc. News-oriented search engines. Specialized systems by format: image searching, music information retrieval, video etc. Reading: Hock, chap. 3 & 7.

DELIVERABLE: July 18: Case Study 4

July 23: International retrieval: systems by country or language. Translating results. Bibliographic systems: retrieval from online booksellers, library catalogs, digital libraries, e-journal collections etc. Reading: Hock, chap. 8-9.

All assignments, both the case studies and the final assignments, are to be undertaken as individual work, not as group work.

Assignment 1. Compare retrieval using two web directories. Use only category-based directories, such as Yahoo! Directory, LookSmart, etc. for this case study. You may use and evaluate any search tool which covers the content of the directories you have chosen, but this assignment does not involve general web search engines.
Assignment 2. Case study of a major search engine.
Assignment 3. Case study of a second major search engine OR another general search engine OR a child-oriented system.
Assignment 4. Case study of a metasearch engine OR of a system discussed in the unit dealing with "other approaches to searching" OR of a search aid.
Assignment 5. Case study of a specialized system by subject OR a specialized system by format OR an international system.

Note: To produce a case study of a system, first demonstrate a basic knowledge of the system. Then select a topic of interest to you and search it in. When evaluating a search engine, demonstrate command of search language, simple and advanced searching, and other relevant features. Different topics can be researched for each case study. In most cases it will be sufficient to annex the first one or two pages of results only, but you should offer an explanation for anomalous results. Evaluative elements strengthen case studies, as do relevant comparisons with related systems. Discuss only publicly-available systems which the professor can consult without difficulty. Should you attempt to evaluate a "plug-in" (e.g. for Assignment 4) describe it in sufficient detail that the professor can evaluate it without having to install it on his own machine. Your description of systems should reflect them as they are now. Verify everything found in published or Internet sources, including even specialised web resources, about search engines and directories. This field changes so fast that published descriptions are often out of date. Case studies will normally be submitted in textual form (a reasonable minimum length might be five written pages, excluding sample searches; absolute maximum of 20 pages, including all sample pages). HTML presentation formats, similar to the professor's classnotes, are acceptable for these assignments, but PowerPoints are not acceptable.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT

Final assignment: Formally analyse a topic relevant to Internet Information Retrieval. Students will have wide latitude in this assignment. Possible topics could include: Comparative analyses of two or more IIR systems; Analyses of questions submitted to search engines; The Directory approach to IIR; Robots and indexing Internet; Popular portals and information retrieval; Search engines for children; Metasearch; Diagrammatical results; Cross Language Information Retrieval on Internet; Metadata; Data mining on Internet; Research into Information Retrieval in Internet, etc. Most students will submit formal papers (a length of 20 pages of text would be reasonable). HTML presentation formats, similar to the professor's classnotes, are acceptable for these assignments. Software centered projects, e.g. the creation and testing of relevant software, are also acceptable, but PowerPoints are not acceptable.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Hock, Randolph. The extreme searcher's Internet handbook: a guide for the serious searcher. 2nd ed. Medford, N.J: CyberAge Books; 2007. 344 p. http://books.infotoday.com/books/ExtSeaHan2.shtml
ISBN-10: 0-910965-76-5; ISBN-13: 978-0-910965-76-7

Notess, Greg R. Teaching Web search skills: techniques and strategies of top trainers. Medford, N.J: Information Today, Inc.; 2006. 344 p. http://books.infotoday.com/books/TeachingWebSearchSkills.shtml
ISBN-10: 1-57387-267-9; ISBN-13: 978-1-57387-267-6

Five case studies at 12 points each; Final assignment: 30 points; General participation: 10 points.

BLACKBOARD

Course materials will be made available via the LSU "Blackboard" system.

Students should become familiar with the "General Orientation to Students" in the Blackboard "Course Information" area.

This includes important information for students with disabilities.

General readings, lists of reserved books, etc. can be found in the "Bibliography" area of Blackboard.

Course materials will be posted to the "Course Documents" area.

Cavan McCarthy, Ph.D. Assistant Prof. SLIS / LSU All Rights Reserved Conditions of use / Disclaimer