Do What We Do to Find What You Want

Abstract

Most retrieval systems are geared towards Boolean queries or hierarchical classification based on keyword descriptors. In this paper we present a framework for domain-specific information retrieval. The proposed approach uses topic lattice generated from a collection of documents where documents are characterized by a group of users with overlapping interests. The topic lattice captures the authors’ intention as it reveals the implicit structure of a document collection following the structure of informal groups of individuals expressing interests in the documents. Due to its dual nature, the lattice allows two complimentary navigations styles, which are based either on attributes or on objects. Topic lattice capturing users’ interest suggests navigation methods that may be an attractive alternative to specialized domain information retrieval.