Web Information Retrieval

Abstract

Nowadays, the Web has become the most queried information source. To solve their information needs, individuals can use different types of tools or services like a search engine, for instance. Due to the high amount of information and the diversity of human factors, searching for information requires patience, perseverance, and sometimes luck. To help individuals during this task, search assistants feature adaptive techniques aiming at personalizing retrieved information. Moreover, thanks to the “new Web” (the Web 2.0), personal search assistants are evolving, using social techniques (social networks, sharing-based methods). Let us enter into the Social Web, where everyone collaborates with others in providing their experience, their expertise. This chapter introduces search assistants and underlines their evolution toward Social Information Search Assistants.