Computer Science and
     Software Engineering

Computer Science and Software Engineering

CSSE Seminar Series (CSSESS)

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Seminar

Search Evaluation Through the Eyes of the User


SpeakerAlistair Moffat

Institute
The University of Melbourne

Time & Place
10am, Mon., 30 September, in TBA, Erskine Building

All are welcome

Abstract

Conventional wisdom has it that users of web search services peruse answer lists from top to bottom, exiting when they are satisfied. Conventional effectiveness metrics -- used to numerically score the output of a search service, so that systems can be compared -- make similar assumptions. Conventional wisdom also presumes that measured effectiveness is an important factor in gauging the usefulness of a search service. This work challenges those assumptions. Using an instrumented browser, eye-tracking hardware, and a pool of users carrying out assigned search tasks, we provide evidence that users read results lists in non-sequential order. Our data also shows that user performance on search tasks, and user perception of system performance, is unaffected by gross changes in system effectiveness as measured by standard metrics.

Biography

Professor Alistair Moffat has been a member of the academic staff at The University of Melbourne since 1986, having completed a PhD at the University of Canterbury in 1985. He has published widely in the fields of text and index compression, information retrieval systems, and experimental measurement and evaluation, and has published more than 170 papers across these areas during his career. He is also an author of two technical books ("Managing Gigabytes", 1994 and 1999; and "Compression and Coding Algorithms", 2002); and an undergraduate textbook ("Programming, Problem Solving and Abstraction with C", 2002 and 2012). Alistair has served roles as Chair and Program Chair of a range of conferences, and as an Associate Editor of research journals, including Journal of Information Retrieval, and ACM Transactions on Information Systems.
Alistair was Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at The University of Melbourne from 2007 to 2011, and Associate Dean (Curriculum) in the Melbourne School of Engineering from 2007-2009; and he has made strong contributions to the undergraduate and graduate teaching programs of the University.

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