Context Modelling for Information Retrieval - Requirements and Approaches

With Internet technology and other information systems that are available today users can often easily find the information needed. However, there are still several situations, in which users do not succeed to get the information required. In this paper we suggest context models to help users finding information in adequate quantity and quality. In general, context models analyse the current situation a user is in, compare it to the available information, and provide the user with information that is of most value in this situation. In this paper we discuss requirements for context modelling, present two approaches we have applied for our own applications-one with a highly sophisticated single-user model and one with a light-weight cooperative model-and discuss how these two approaches can be applied to information retrieval.