Further Particulars:
CiQuest (Concept-based Interactive Query Expansion Support Tool)
Background
The Research Assistant post for the above project will be held in The Computational Information Systems Research Group (CISRG) within the Department of Information Studies (DIS) in the University of Sheffield.
(http://www.shef.ac.uk/~is/home.html)
The Department of Information Studies is primarily a post-graduate department which offers a number of Masters programmes in Information Management, Information Systems, Information Technology Management and Librarianship. It has a strong research ethos and has achieved the highest rating in all of the Higher Education Funding Council Research Assessment Exercises gaining a 5* in the most recent round in 1996.
CISRG is one of three research groupings in DIS which also include the Information Management and Systems Research Group and the Library Management & Public Policy Research Group. The group under the direction of Professors Willett and Beaulieu focuses on the development of novel techniques for the representation and searching of databases of biological, chemical and textual information, with 20 research staff and students working in these areas. In the past year it has attracted some half of million pounds of new research funding from Research Councils and industry.
The CiQuest project headed by Professor Micheline Beaulieu, is a three year demonstrator project funded by the Library and Information Commission. It will further develop an existing method based on the automatic hierarchical organisation of words and phrases (concepts) which occur in documents. The work will involve optimising the generation and presentation of concepts for assisting query expansion as well as conducting evaluations and user testing. A copy of the proposal is enclosed.
The successful candidate will have a higher degree relevant to one or more of the following areas: information retrieval or extraction, natural language processing, human-computer interaction. Programming in Java would be desirable.
The post, available immediately, will be on the RA1A scale with salary range £18,185-£19,869 per annum.
Informal inquiry contact: Prof Micheline Beaulieu (0114-22 22640) or email m.beaulieu@sheffield.ac.uk (before 12/11/99) or
Dr. Mark Sanderson (0114-22 22648) or m.sanderson@sheffield.ac.uk or
see the CiQuest project page: http://dis.shef.ac.uk/ciquest/
CiQuest (Concept-based Interactive Query Expansion Support Tool)
Research Assistant - Job Description
The post holder will a member of the Computational Information System Research Group in the Department of Information Studies and report to the Project head, Professor Micheline Beaulieu.
Main responsibilities
The post holder will assist in the development and evaluation of an existing information retrieval tool under the direction of Dr. Mark Sanderson and Prof. Micheline Beaulieu.
S/he will be principally responsible for:
·
integrating and further developing existing computer programmes for the concept building tool·
undertaking evaluative retrieval tests for different concept building techniques and tools·
undertaking user evaluations of visualisation tools·
building a user interface for the prototype system
Additional duties include:
·
maintaining a project bibliography·
assisting in the analysis of test results·
assisting in the writing of project reports·
Attending research seminars and conferences as appropriate
November 1999