Implicit User Modelling Using Hybrid Meta-Heuristics

The requirements imposed on information retrieval systems are increasing steadily. The vast number of documents in today´s large databases and especially on World Wide Web causes notable problems when searching for concrete information. It is difficult to find satisfactory information that accurately matches user information needs even if it is present in the database. One of the key elements when searching the web is proper formulation of user queries. Search effectiveness can be seen as the accuracy of matching user information needs against the retrieved information. Personalized search applications can notably contribute to the improvement of web search effectiveness. In this paper, we investigate two user modelling and search optimization techniques based on genetic algorithms and ant colony optimization.