An Approach for Step-By-Step Query Refinement in the Ontology-Based Information Retrieval

In this paper we present a comprehensive approach for the refinement of ontology-based queries, which is based on incrementally (step-by-step) and interactively tailoring a query to the current information needs of a user, whereas these needs are implicitly and on-line elicited by analysing the user's behaviour during the searching process. The gap between a user's need and his query is quantified by measuring several types of query ambiguities. Consequently, in the refinement process a user is provided with a ranked list of refinements, which leads to a decrease of some of these ambiguities. Moreover, by exploiting the ontology background, the approach supports finding "similar" results that can help a user to satisfy his information need.