A language modelling approach to relevance profiling for document browsing

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a novel tool, SmartSkim, for content-based browsing or skimming of documents. The tool integrates concepts from passage retrieval and from interfaces, such as TileBars, which provide a compact overview of query term hits within a document. We base our tool on the concept of relevance profiling, in which a plot of retrieval status values at each word position of a document is generated. A major contribution of this paper is applying language modelling to the task of relevance profiling. We describe in detail the design of the SmartSkim tool, and provide a critique of the design. Possible applications of the tool are described, and we consider how an operational version of SmartSkim might be designed.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Retrieval models

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval
          Subjects: Search process
      H.3.7 Digital Libraries
          Subjects: User issues
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI); Evaluation/methodology

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Theory

Keywords:
browsing and reading appliances, e-books, information retrieval, language modeling, user interfaces, visualization