On the query refinement in the ontology-based searching for information

One of the main problems in the (web) information retrieval is the ambiguity of users' queries, since they tend to post very short queries which do not express their information need clearly. This seems to be valid for the ontology-based information retrieval in which the domain ontology is used as the backbone of the searching process. In this paper, we present a novel approach for determining possible refinements of an ontology-based query. The approach is based on measuring the ambiguity of a query with respect to the original user's information need. We defined several types of the ambiguities concerning the structure of the underlying ontology and the content of the information repository. These ambiguities are interpreted regarding the user's information need, which we infer from the user's behaviour in searching process. Finally, the ranked list of the potentially useful refinements of her query is provided to the user. We present a small evaluation study that shows the advantages of the proposed approach. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.