Learning To Rank For Information Retrieval And Natural Language Processing

Learning to rank refers to machine learning techniques for training a model in a ranking task. Learning to rank is useful for many applications in information retrieval, natural language processing, and data mining. Intensive studies have been conducted on its problems recently, and significant progress has been made. This lecture gives an introduction to the area including the fundamental problems, major approaches, theories, applications, and future work. The author begins by showing that various ranking problems in information retrieval and natural language processing can be formalized as two basic ranking tasks, namely ranking creation (or simply ranking) and ranking aggregation. In ranking creation, given a request, one wants to generate a ranking list of offerings based on the features derived from the request and the offerings. In ranking aggregation, given a request, as well as a number of ranking lists of offerings, one wants to generate a new ranking list of the offerings. Ranking creation (or ranking) is the major problem in learning to rank. It is usually formalized as a supervised learning task. The author gives detailed explanations on learning for ranking creation and ranking aggregation, including training and testing, evaluation, feature creation, and major approaches. Many methods have been proposed for ranking creation. The methods can be categorized as the pointwise, pairwise, and listwise approaches according to the loss functions they employ. They can also be categorized according to the techniques they employ, such as the SVM based, Boosting based, and Neural Network based approaches. The author also introduces some popular learning to rank methods in details. These include: PRank, OC SVM, McRank, Ranking SVM, IR SVM, GBRank, RankNet, ListNet & ListMLE, AdaRank, SVM MAP, SoftRank, LambdaRank, LambdaMART, Borda Count, Markov Chain, and CRanking. The author explains several example applications of learning to rank including web search, collaborative filtering, definition search, keyphrase extraction, query dependent summarization, and re-ranking in machine translation. A formulation of learning for ranking creation is given in the statistical learning framework. Ongoing and future research directions for learning to rank are also discussed. Table of Contents: Learning to Rank / Learning for Ranking Creation / Learning for Ranking Aggregation / Methods of Learning to Rank / Applications of Learning to Rank / Theory of Learning to Rank / Ongoing and Future Work

Learning to rank refers to machine learning techniques for training the model in a ranking task. Learning to rank is useful for many applications in information retrieval, natural language processing, and data mining. Intensive studies have been conducted on the problem recently and significant progress has been made. This lecture gives an introduction to the area including the fundamental problems, existing approaches, theories, applications, and future work. The author begins by showing that various ranking problems in information retrieval and natural language processing can be formalized as two basic ranking tasks, namely ranking creation (or simply ranking) and ranking aggregation. In ranking creation, given a request, one wants to generate a ranking list of offerings based on the features derived from the request and the offerings. In ranking aggregation, given a request, as well as a number of ranking lists of offerings, one wants to generate a new ranking list of the offerings. Ranking creation (or ranking) is the major problem in learning to rank. It is usually formalized as a supervised learning task. The author gives detailed explanations on learning for ranking creation and ranking aggregation, including training and testing, evaluation, feature creation, and major approaches. Many methods have been proposed for ranking creation. The methods can be categorized as the pointwise, pairwise, and listwise approaches according to the loss functions they employ. They can also be categorized according to the techniques they employ, such as the SVM based, Boosting SVM, Neural Network based approaches. The author also introduces some popular learning to rank methods in details. These include PRank, OC SVM, Ranking SVM, IR SVM, GBRank, RankNet, LambdaRank, ListNet & ListMLE, AdaRank, SVM MAP, SoftRank, Borda Count, Markov Chain, and CRanking. The author explains several example applications of learning to rank including web search, collaborative filtering, definition search, keyphrase extraction, query dependent summarization, and re-ranking in machine translation. A formulation of learning for ranking creation is given in the statistical learning framework. Ongoing and future research directions for learning to rank are also discussed. Table of Contents: Introduction / Learning for Ranking Creation / Learning for Ranking Aggregation / Methods of Learning to Rank / Applications of Learning to Rank / Theory of Learning to Rank / Ongoing and Future Work

Due to the fast growth of the Web and the difficulties in finding desired information, efficient and effective information retrieval systems have become more important than ever, and the search engine has become an essential tool for many people. The ranker, a central component in every search engine, is responsible for the matching between processed queries and indexed documents. Because of its central role, great attention has been paid to the research and development of ranking technologies. In addition, ranking is also pivotal for many other information retrieval applications, such as collaborative filtering, definition ranking, question answering, multimedia retrieval, text summarization, and online advertisement. Leveraging machine learning technologies in the ranking process has led to innovative and more effective ranking models, and eventually to a completely new research area called “learning to rank”. Liu first gives a comprehensive review of the major approaches to learning to rank. For each approach he presents the basic framework, with example algorithms, and he discusses its advantages and disadvantages. He continues with some recent advances in learning to rank that cannot be simply categorized into the three major approaches – these include relational ranking, query-dependent ranking, transfer ranking, and semisupervised ranking. His presentation is completed by several examples that apply these technologies to solve real information retrieval problems, and by theoretical discussions on guarantees for ranking performance. This book is written for researchers and graduate students in both information retrieval and machine learning. They will find here the only comprehensive description of the state of the art in a field that has driven the recent advances in search engine development.

Class-tested and coherent, this textbook teaches classical and web information retrieval, including web search and the related areas of text classification and text clustering from basic concepts. It gives an up-to-date treatment of all aspects of the design and implementation of systems for gathering, indexing, and searching documents; methods for evaluating systems; and an introduction to the use of machine learning methods on text collections. All the important ideas are explained using examples and figures, making it perfect for introductory courses in information retrieval for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in computer science. Based on feedback from extensive classroom experience, the book has been carefully structured in order to make teaching more natural and effective. Slides and additional exercises (with solutions for lecturers) are also available through the book's supporting website to help course instructors prepare their lectures.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th Information Retrieval Societies Conference, AIRS 2014, held in Kuching, Malaysia, in December 2014. The 42 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 110 submissions. Seven tracks were the focus of the AIR 2014 and they were IR models and theories; IR evaluation, user study and interactive IR; web IR, scalability and IR in social media; multimedia IR; natural language processing for IR; machine learning and data mining for IR and IR applications.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 35th European Conference on IR Research, ECIR 2013, held in Moscow, Russia, in March 2013. The 55 full papers, 38 poster papers and 10 demonstrations presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 287 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: user aspects; multimedia and cross-media IR; data mining; IR theory and formal models; IR system architectures; classification; Web; event detection; temporal IR, and microblog search. Also included are 4 tutorial and 2 workshop presentations.