[Sigia-l] using thesauri to improve search

[Gene Smith]

Michael Fry wrote:

> how does the search software, Inktomi, know that
> users are looking for the 'drug addiction' term in our vocabulary?

The Inktomi search engine has a basic thesaurus you can use to map your
users' vocabulary to your controlled vocabulary. I agree with Avi that the
search logs are a great tool for discovering your users' language.

You might also want to look at the Quick Links feature which lets you create
a set of recommended results for particular search terms (I think this is
being used on the HP site, http://www.hp.com).  If you have your thesaurus
in a database, and you've already assigned documents to the vocabulary
terms, you could export an XML file with Inktomi Quick Links.

This site also has good information on tweaking Inktomi to deliver the
results you want.
http://www.custominktomi.com/

Hope this helps. Cheers,

Gene Smith

-------------------------------
gene at atomiq.org
http://www.atomiq.org