Search result diversification

Rodrygo, L.T. S., Macdonald, C. and Ounis, I. (2015) Search result diversification. Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval, 9(1), pp. 1-90. (doi: 10.1561/1500000040)

Abstract

Ranking in information retrieval has been traditionally approached as a pursuit of relevant information, under the assumption that the users’ information needs are unambiguously conveyed by their submitted queries. Nevertheless, as an inherently limited representation of a more complex information need, every query can arguably be considered ambiguous to some extent. In order to tackle query ambiguity, search result diversification approaches have recently been proposed to produce rankings aimed to satisfy the multiple possible information needs underlying a query. In this survey, we review the published literature on search result diversification. In particular, we discuss the motivations for diversifying the search results for an ambiguous query and provide a formal definition of the search result diversification problem. In addition, we describe the most successful approaches in the literature for producing and evaluating diversity in multiple search domains. Finally, we also discuss recent advances as well as open research directions in the field of search result diversification.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Macdonald, Professor Craig and Ounis, Professor Iadh
• Authors: Rodrygo, L.T. S., Macdonald, C., and Ounis, I.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Journal Name: Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval
• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
• ISSN: 1554-0669
• ISSN (Online): 1554-0677
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 R. L. T. Santos, C. Macdonald and I. Ounis
• First Published: First published in Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval 9(1):1-90
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.