Issues in Information Retrieval

Indexing is the most vital part of any Information Retrieval System. It is a process in which the documents required by the users are transformed into searchable data structures. Indexing can be also referred to as the process of extraction rather than analysis of particular content. It creates a core functionality of the IR process since it is the first step in IR and assists in efficient information retrieval.

In the process, first, the document surrogates are created to represent each document. Secondly, it requires analysis of original documents that include simple (identifying meta-information e.g., author, title, subject etc.) and complex (linguistic analysis of content) data. Indexes are the data structures that are used to make the search faster.

Evaluation in Information Retrieval is the process of systematically determining a subject’s merit, worth, and significance by using certain criteria that are governed by a set of standards.

Issues in Information Retrieval :
The main issues of the Information Retrieval (IR) are Document and Query Indexing, Query Evaluation, and System Evaluation.

1. Document and Query Indexing –
   Main goal of Document and Query Indexing is to find important meanings and creating an internal representation. The factors to be considered are accuracy to represent semantics, exhaustiveness, and facility for a computer to manipulate.
2. Query Evaluation –
   In the retrieval model how can a document be represented with the selected keywords and how are documents and query representations compared to calculate a score. Information Retrieval (IR) deals with issues like uncertainty and vagueness in information systems.
   • Uncertainty :
     The available representation does not typically reflect true semantics of objects such as images, videos etc.
   • Vagueness :
     The information that the user requires lacks clarity, is only vaguely expressed in a query, feedback or user action.
3. System Evaluation –
   System Evaluation tells about the importance of determining the impact of information given on user achievement. Here, we see if the efficiency of the particular system related to time and space.