Odysseus

Web search engines are one of the most commonly used types of service on the Web today and we can spend up to 60 hours per month just searching for information online. More often that not search is a solitary task: we search as individuals and modern search engines effectively operate as single-user services. That being said our research has highlighted that web search is an inherently social process: we often search for information that our friends and colleagues have already found. As a result there is value in making web search engines more collaborative by helping groups of people to collaborate as they search. This is the idea behind HeyStaks (www.heystaks.com) a new type of social search service.

In this project the student will explore how groups of people can collaborate during web search tasks. What types of social networks underpin web search? Is it possible to identify other searchers how may be able to help with your search needs? How might the reputation of searchers be modeled as they help others to search. As such this project will involve an analysis of search data with a view to answering these types of questions. In addition the student will work to develop a number of visualization techniques to help visualize our evolving search networks.

The student should have excellent analytical programming skills with a good knowledge of Java, Javascript, and AJAX programming techniques in general. Experience with Drupal is also desired.