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LBSC 671 - Creating Information Infrastructures
Fall 2013 - Section 0101
Assignment G14 - Evaluating Search Engines


This homework is due before the start of the class session indicated on the syllabus. Partial credit may be awarded.

Try out three search systems from the list below and, for each, answer the questions that follow the list of systems. Be sure to try several types of searches (e.g., your personal interest, imagined academic or professional information needs, searches you see in Web logs, etc.) and to explore both basic and advanced search feautres (when the system provides multiple modes).

Here are the questions:
  1. How easy is it to learn to use the system?
  2. How useful would the system be in the hands of a subject matter expert who is not a professional searcher?
  3. How useful would the system be in the hands of a professional searcher who is not a subject matter expert?
  4. How well can the user control the balance between recall precision?
  5. How well are you able to determine what the system does and does not make available for you to find? In other words, after you have completed a search, do you have a good feel for how comprehensive your search really was?
You can take either a comparative approach (e.g., System A is better than System B for question 2) or an absolute approach (e.g., System A was suitable for tasks a and b, but not for task c) to constructing your answer -- whichever style you prefer. Grading of this assignment will be done holistically, based on whether you uncovered interesting issues that could help to guide your exploration of system design issues this semester. This exercise should take you 2-3 hours, including writing up your answers to the questions). You should submit your assignment by adding it to yourWiki page.
Doug Oard
Last modified: Sun Nov 24 21:48:04 2013