The Future of Web Search: From Information Retrieval to Information Supply

Abstract

In the past decade, Web search engines have evolved from a first generation based on classic Information Retrieval (IR) algorithms scaled to web size and thus supporting only informational queries, to a second generation supporting navigational queries using web specific information (primarily link analysis), to a third generation enabling transactional and other "semantic" queries based on a variety of technologies aimed to directly satisfy the unexpressed "user intent."

What is coming next? In this talk, we argue for the trend towards context driven Information Supply (IS), that is, the goal of Web IR will widen to include the supply of relevant information from multiple sources without requiring the user to make an explicit query. The information supply concept greatly precedes information retrieval. What is new in the web framework is the ability to supply relevant information specific to a given activity and a given user, while the activity is being performed. A prime example is the matching of ads to content being read, however the information supply paradigm is starting to appear in other contexts such as social networks, e-commerce, browsers, e-mail, and others.