Information Retrieval and Web Search (IE663 + IE691)

Given the vastness and richness of the Web, users need high-performing, scalable and efficient methods to access its wealth of information and satisfy their information needs. As such, being able to search and effectively retrieve relevant pieces of information from large text collections is a crucial task for the majority (if practically not all) of Web applications. In this MSc course we will explore a variety of basic and advanced techniques for text-based information retrieval and Web search. Coursework will include exercises, and a final exam (IE 663). Homework assignments are meant to introduce the students to the problems that will be covered in the final exam.

This course is related to the IR project course (IE 691), where students are expected to successfully complete a team project in teams of 4–5 people. The projects will focus on a variety of IR problems covered in class. Project deliverables include both software (i.e., code and documentation) and a short report explaining the work performed and its evaluation.

Prerequisites:  

• Fundamental notions of linear algebra, probability theory, as well as algorithms and data structures
• Programming skills (programming languages like Java or Python recommended) for the IR Project (IE 691)

Time and Location

• Lectures: Wednesdays at 12.00–13:30 in B6 26 Room A104
• Tutorials: Wednesdays at 13.45–15:15 in B6 26 Room A104 (not every week, we'll announce when tutorials take place via ILIAS)

Grading / Evaluation

• 100% final exam (3 ECTS for this course)
• Related but a separate course: IR Project (IE 691) (3 ECTS)

Instructors

• Dr. Daniel Ruffinelli
• Prof. Dr. Simone Ponzetto
• Tommaso Green

Attendance

• The course is open to students of the Master Business Informatics, Mannheim Master in Data Science (MMDS) and Mannheim Master in Business Research (MMBR) Information Systems.

Course materials and up-to-date information can be found in our ILIAS group.

C. D. Manning, P. Raghavan and H. Schütze, Introduction to Information Retrieval, Cambridge University Press, 2008 (available at http://nlp.stanford.edu/IR-book).

B. Croft, D. Metzler, T. Strohman, Search Engines: Information Retrieval in Practice, Addison-Wesley, 2009 (available at  http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/irbook/).

R. Baeza-Yates, B. Ribeiro-Neto, Modern Information Retrieval, Addison-Wesley, 2011 (2nd Edition).