Interactive IR in Online Database Environments

Abstract

The Internet has introduced the concept and capability of information retrieval to millions of users. There is an increasing growth in databases, producers, vendors, records, and searches. Williams (2006) has monitored the growth of the online industry for about 30 years. From 1975 to 2005, databases increased considerably, from 301 to 17539, database records from 52 million to 21.02 billion, and database entries from 301 to 16532. The number of producers has not grown as fast as databases because one producer might publish multiple databases. The number of publishers increased from 200 to 3208 from 1975 to 2005. In 2005, the average producer produced 5.13 databases. Because each vendor might provide services from multiple databases, the number of vendors grew at a slower pace from 105 to 2811.