Improving web search results with explanation-aware snippets: an experimental study

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on a typical task on a web search, in which users want to discover the coherency between two concepts on the Web. In our point of view, this task can be seen as a retrieval process: starting with some source information, the goal is to find target information by following hyperlinks. Given two concepts, e.g. chemistry and gunpowder, are search engines able to find the coherency and explain it? In this paper, we introduce a novel way of linking two concepts by following paths of hyperlinks and collecting short text snippets. We implemented a proof-of-concept prototype, which extracts paths and snippets from Wikipedia articles. Our goal is to provide the user with an overview about the coherency, enriching the connection with a short but meaningful description. In our experimental study, we compare the results of our approach with the capability of web search engines. The results show that 72% of the participants find ours better than these of web search engines. (author's abstract)