Comments on: Faceted Search for the Web: A Grand Challenge? http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/ Mon, 21 May 2012 05:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Exploring Nuggetize http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-6693 Exploring Nuggetize Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:12:48 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-6693 [...] Overall it is a slick interface, and it’s nice seeing the various ideas Mohan and his colleagues put together. There’s certainly room for improvement–particularly in the quality of the categories, which sometimes feel like victims of polysemy. Open-domain information extraction is hard! Some would even call it a grand challenge. [...] [...] Overall it is a slick interface, and it’s nice seeing the various ideas Mohan and his colleagues put together. There’s certainly room for improvement–particularly in the quality of the categories, which sometimes feel like victims of polysemy. Open-domain information extraction is hard! Some would even call it a grand challenge. [...]

]]> By: Faceted Web Search? http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-5025 Faceted Web Search? Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:18:19 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-5025 [...] from Microsoft say it’s very challenging. Google is trying, but there’s a long way to go. And Eric Iverson just wrote me to describe [...] [...] from Microsoft say it’s very challenging. Google is trying, but there’s a long way to go. And Eric Iverson just wrote me to describe [...]

]]> By: Search User Interfaces and Data Quality | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-4944 Search User Interfaces and Data Quality | The Noisy Channel Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:12:38 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-4944 [...] On one hand, consider two search engines whose interfaces are designed to support exploratory search: Cuil and Kosmix. Sometimes they’re great, e.g., [michael jackson] on Cuil and [iraq] on Kosmix. But look what can happen for queries that are further out in the tail, e.g. [faceted search] on Cuil [real time search] on Kosmix. Yes, the kinds of queries I make. I don’t mean to knock these guys–they’re trying, and their efforts are admirable. Moreover, both generally return respectable search results on the first pages (in Kosmix’s case, through federation). But the search refinements can be way off, and that undermine the overall experience. I strongly suspect that the problem is one of data quality, along the lines of what others have argued. [...] [...] On one hand, consider two search engines whose interfaces are designed to support exploratory search: Cuil and Kosmix. Sometimes they’re great, e.g., [michael jackson] on Cuil and [iraq] on Kosmix. But look what can happen for queries that are further out in the tail, e.g. [faceted search] on Cuil [real time search] on Kosmix. Yes, the kinds of queries I make. I don’t mean to knock these guys–they’re trying, and their efforts are admirable. Moreover, both generally return respectable search results on the first pages (in Kosmix’s case, through federation). But the search refinements can be way off, and that undermine the overall experience. I strongly suspect that the problem is one of data quality, along the lines of what others have argued. [...]

]]> By: T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-4434 T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:43:32 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-4434 [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...] [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...]

]]> By: T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-4433 T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:43:32 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-4433 [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...] [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...]

]]> By: T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-4435 T2: Judgment Day for Twine? | The Noisy Channel Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:43:31 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-4435 [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...] [...] that’s been driving Bing, Freebase, not to mention smaller efforts like Kosmix. It’s hard, to be sure. But, as Sarah Lacy tells us, startups are supposed to be changing the world–and [...]

]]> By: Warming Up To Cuil | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-2724 Warming Up To Cuil | The Noisy Channel Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:57:40 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-2724 [...] Microsoft will try too, with Jan Pedersen and Stefan Weitz tilting Kumo-emblazoned banners at the grand challenges cited by their co-workers. These are early efforts, but they are [...] [...] Microsoft will try too, with Jan Pedersen and Stefan Weitz tilting Kumo-emblazoned banners at the grand challenges cited by their co-workers. These are early efforts, but they are [...]

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-1058 Daniel Tunkelang Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:25:35 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-1058 We often take a similar approach at Endeca to what you describe at eBay. But I'll be the first to admit that the web is more than a site with a "fairly broad set of content". But I agree that Exalead's facets (at least from my experience with their public web search engine - http://www.exalead.fr/search) seem a bit superficial. And I've seen clever use of resources like Wikipedia (e.g., by Duck Duck Go) to offer meaningful interaction to users based on aspects of the results. So, while I concede that faceted search for the web is hard, I think it's possible--and that we could do a lot better today. We often take a similar approach at Endeca to what you describe at eBay. But I’ll be the first to admit that the web is more than a site with a “fairly broad set of content”.

But I agree that Exalead’s facets (at least from my experience with their public web search engine – http://www.exalead.fr/search) seem a bit superficial. And I’ve seen clever use of resources like Wikipedia (e.g., by Duck Duck Go) to offer meaningful interaction to users based on aspects of the results.

So, while I concede that faceted search for the web is hard, I think it’s possible–and that we could do a lot better today.

]]> By: Max L. Wilson http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-1029 Max L. Wilson Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:50:17 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-1029 I haven't read that paper yet (i've been laying pretty low for a bit working on my thesis). did it cite Bill Kules work on SERVICE (http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/categorizedoverview/)? He had been working on faceted representations of web search. What i've seen though, including Exalead, its very hard to get past simple things like document type and domain suffix etc. The faceted approach that EBay put across their fairly broad set of content is to narrow down a particular domain before then showing domain-centric facets etc. It is an interesting topic though. I haven’t read that paper yet (i’ve been laying pretty low for a bit working on my thesis). did it cite Bill Kules work on SERVICE (http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/categorizedoverview/)? He had been working on faceted representations of web search. What i’ve seen though, including Exalead, its very hard to get past simple things like document type and domain suffix etc. The faceted approach that EBay put across their fairly broad set of content is to narrow down a particular domain before then showing domain-centric facets etc. It is an interesting topic though.

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-969 Daniel Tunkelang Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:30:05 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-969 Jonathan, thanks for posting the reference; I'm sorry I didn't think to include it in the post myself. And I forgot that you are working with Ethan--please tell him I said hi! And I agree that the problems of heterogeneity in file systems are comparable to those for the web. In fact, the file system case is harder in practice, as we see in the challenges of enterprise search vs. web search. Which makes me all the happier to see you and your colleagues offering constructive suggestions rather than just bailing on the problem. Jonathan, thanks for posting the reference; I’m sorry I didn’t think to include it in the post myself. And I forgot that you are working with Ethan–please tell him I said hi!

And I agree that the problems of heterogeneity in file systems are comparable to those for the web. In fact, the file system case is harder in practice, as we see in the challenges of enterprise search vs. web search. Which makes me all the happier to see you and your colleagues offering constructive suggestions rather than just bailing on the problem.

]]> By: Jonathan http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-966 Jonathan Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:04:42 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-966 We've been thinking about this problem of heterogenous documents for faceted search for a bit now, only with respect to <a href="http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~jonathan/faceted_search_intro.pdf" rel="nofollow">filesystem search</a>, rather than web. It's pretty cool that they cited me, but they didn't use this paper, which would have been more relevant. We’ve been thinking about this problem of heterogenous documents for faceted search for a bit now, only with respect to filesystem search, rather than web. It’s pretty cool that they cited me, but they didn’t use this paper, which would have been more relevant.

]]> By: Yahoo BOSS, Now With Key Terms | The Noisy Channel http://thenoisychannel.com/2008/11/18/faceted-search-for-the-web-a-grand-challenge/comment-page-1/#comment-839 Yahoo BOSS, Now With Key Terms | The Noisy Channel Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:11:28 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=808#comment-839 [...] RSS   ← Faceted Search for the Web: A Grand Challenge? [...] [...] RSS   ← Faceted Search for the Web: A Grand Challenge? [...]

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