Ryen W. White – Författare

Information seeking is a fundamental human activity. In the modern world, it is frequently conducted through interactions with search systems. The retrieval and comprehension of information returned by these systems is a key part of decision making and action in a broad range of settings. Advances in data availability coupled with new interaction paradigms, and mobile and cloud computing capabilities, have created a broad range of new opportunities for information access and use. In this comprehensive book for professionals, researchers, and students involved in search system design and evaluation, search expert Ryen White discusses how search systems can capitalize on new capabilities and how next-generation systems must support higher order search activities such as task completion, learning, and decision making. He outlines the implications of these changes for the evolution of search evaluation, as well as challenges that extend beyond search systems in areas such as privacy and societal benefit.

Many scholars in the fields of information retrieval, recommender systems, productivity (especially in task management and time management), and artificial intelligence have recognized the importance of extracting and understanding people's tasks and the intentions behind performing those tasks in order to serve them better.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has emerged as a groundbreaking technology that promises to revolutionize many industries as well as people’s personal and professional lives. This book discusses GenAI and its role in information access - often referred to as Generative Information Retrieval (GenIR) - or more broadly, information interaction.The role of GenAI in information access is complex and dynamic, with many dimensions. To address this, following a brief introduction to GenAI and GenIR, the remainder of the book provides eight chapters, each targeting a different dimension or sub-topic. These cover foundations of GenIR, interactions with GenIR systems, adapting them to users, tasks, and scenarios, improving them based on user feedback, GenIR evaluation, the sociotechnical implications of GenAI for information access, recommendations within GenIR, and the future of information access with GenIR.The book is targeted at graduate students and researchers interested in issues of information retrieval, access, and interactions, as well as applications of GenAI in various informational contexts. While some of the parts assume prior background in IR or AI, most others do not, making this book suitable for adoption in various classes as a primary source or as a supplementary material.