LBSC 796/CMSC 828o
Information Retrieval Systems
Spring 2004
Term Project
Students registered for CMSC 828o will normally complete the
algorithms track. CLIS MLS and MIM students registered for LBSC 796
will normally complete the comparative evaluation track. CLIS
Ph.D. students will normally complete the research publication track.
Students wishing to switch to a track not normally associated with the
course for which they registered should discuss their request with the
professor before the third class meeting.
Algorithms Track (CMSC 828o)
Students in the algorithms track will normally work individually,
although teams of students that wish to work together may propose more
ambitious projects. The key goal is to construct an information
retrieval system from scrach using algorithms of the student's choice.
Reusable components in Lucene or in any other information retrieval
system may be used, but at least one new algorithm must be developed
by each student from first principles. The track includes the
following requirements:
A written analysis of the proposed algorithm, including a
review of the relevant research literature and an analysis of time and
space complexity.
An implementation of the algorithm that is compatible with
Lucene or some other information retrieval system.
An oral presentation of evaluation results comparing the new
algorithm and some existing algorithm using a standard test
collection.
Comparative Evaluation (LBSC 796 MLS/MIM)
A term project will be completed by the end of the semester, typically
by teams of about three students. Each team will index a standard
text retrieval collection using a different text retrieval system.
Teams will perform a recall-precision effectiveness evaluation to
measure both indexing and retrieval efficiency, and will design and
conduct a small user study of the retrieval system and its associated
user interface. Teams will present their results to the class at the
end of the semester and submit a written report.
Research Publication Track (LBSC 796 Ph.D.)
In the research publication track, students will complete a research
project that that significantly extends previous work and submit their
results for publication in a workshop, conference, or journal. The
research may address any topic that is important in an information
retrieval context. Examples might include:
Translation of proper names for cross-language retrieval
Support for redaction in electronic mail collections
Topic shift detection in recorded oral histories
Students in research publication track should prepare a one-page
proposal describing the research question that they wish to explore,
the method that they propose to use, and at least one suitable venue
at which the work could be presented. A literature review will be due
by the fifth class meeting and one-page status reports will be due
every three weeks thereafter.
Doug Oard
Last modified: Sun Jan 4 21:50:52 2004
