Experiments with Collaborative Index Enhancement

In this paper we present a method for improving the quality of a searchable index: Collaborative Index Enhancement, or CIE. CIE improves the index quality by feeding the results of searches over an index back into that index, so that the current user can harness the e ort and insight of previous users that searched for the same or similar information. We present four prototype enhanced indices implemented as part of the HuskySearch system, a World Wide Web (WWW) search service available publicly. We describe the implementation and tradeo s of each system, and present experiments based on user studies and log analyses detailing their e ectiveness.

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