Introducing an active cluster-based information retrieval paradigm

When a client interacts with an expert, e.g. a doctor, it falls upon the expert to ask questions that steer the process towards fulfilling the client’s needs. This is most efficient given that the expert has more knowledge and a broader view of possible illnesses and treatments. On the other hand, when faced with an information retrieval (IR) task, most IR systems leave to the client the task of coming up with queries. We propose an information retrieval framework that assumes the responsibility of steering the users to the information, thus increasing efficiency and satisfaction.