This paper reports on a transaction log analysis of 51,473 queries from 18,113 users of Excite, a major World Wide Web search engine. Approximately 2,500 of these queries were from the use of relevance feedback. Given the high level of research activity and historical success of relevance feedback in assisting users in locating relevant…

This report, selected from the results of a larger study of online searching, focuses on the sources of search terms. Terms from users, professional intermediaries, thesauri, and relevance feedback are examined; and the relevance of retrieved items is discussed for each source of search terms as well as for combinations of sources. (12 references)…

Presents a stratified model of information retrieval interaction that views interaction as a dialog between participants (user and computer) through an interface. Discusses traditional and interaction models, and extension to relevance, user modeling, search term selection, and types of feedback in information retrieval. (AEF)