A Subjective Logic Formalisation of the Principle of Polyrepresentation for Information Needs

Christina Lioma, Birger Larsen, Hinrich Schütze, Peter Ingwersen

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingArticle in proceedingResearchpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Interactive Information Retrieval refers to the branch of Information Retrieval that considers the retrieval process with respect to a wide range of contexts, which may affect the user's information seeking experience. The identification and representation of such contexts has been the object of the principle of Polyrepresentation, a theoretical framework for reasoning about different representations arising from interactive information retrieval in a given context. Although the principle of Polyrepresentation has received attention from many researchers, not much empirical work has been done based on it. One reason may be that it has not yet been formalised mathematically.
In this paper we propose an up-to-date and flexible mathematical formalisation of the principle of Polyrepresentation for information needs. Specifically, we apply Subjective Logic to model different representations of information needs as beliefs marked by degrees of uncertainty. We combine such beliefs using different logical operators, and we discuss these combinations with respect to different retrieval scenarios and situations. A formal model is introduced and discussed, with illustrative applications to the modelling of information needs.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIIiX'10 Proceeding of the Third Symposium on Information Interaction in Context : New Brunswick, NJ, USA. August 18-21, 2010
EditorsNicholas J. Belkin, Diane Kelly
Number of pages10
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Publication date2010
Pages125-134
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-4503-0247-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes

Cite this