Information Retrieval
Source: News.Com
More On What Microsoft is Up To
From the article, The Redmond, Wash., software giant is experimenting with different search technologies that will, among other tasks, conduct Google-like searches on an individual’s hard drive or categorize query results in different ways intended to make the data easier to digest…Implicit Query, an experimental application that was put together a few weeks ago, for example, retrieves links, music files, e-mails and other materials that relate to applications running in the foreground, according to the company. “We analyze whatever text you are working on and then pull out words that are important and query on those automatically,” said Susan Dumais, a senior researcher in the Adaptive Systems and Interactive Group at Microsoft Research. “The idea is to retrieve a bunch of things without you explicitly searching for them.” …Microsoft’s experiments differ from commercial search engines in that the universe of data searched consists of data found on an individual’s hard drive. Although a smaller universe, it’s a well-traveled one. Studies cited by the company suggest that up to 81 percent of Web pages accessed are repeat visits. Hence, the links someone wants to see are likely on his or her hard drive. Make sure to read the entire article.
See Also: A July, 2003 ResourceShelfPLUS Post With Links to MS Search-Related Writing and Patents
You’ll also find a link to a presentation by Gordon Bell, developer of MyLifeBits.
See Also: Direct to Microsoft Research Adaptive Technology Home Page
Special attention to the “Information Access, Filtering, and Management” section.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2003 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.