tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8016696494330504473.post4251163038178192846..comments2008-09-16T17:25:47.335-04:00Comments on Redirecting to http://thenoisychannel.com...: Games With an HCIR Purpose?Daniel Tunkelanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10240432137428080022noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8016696494330504473.post-57338703856387793102008-05-26T14:45:00.000-04:002008-05-26T14:45:00.000-04:00Stefano, an excellent question! While every game a...Stefano, an excellent question! While every game and every user is unique, here is how I believe a typical Seeker plays.<BR/><BR/>The Seeker reads the description and tries to come up with a search that accurately represents the query, favoring the topical words in the description.<BR/><BR/>For example, if the Describer has entered "Michael Jackson wearing a funny-looking sailor hat", then the Seeker's initial search might be <I>michael jackson sailor hat</I>.<BR/><BR/>Now comes the fun part. The Seeker, making a quick scan through the list, finds zero, one or multiple images that match the description. The speed of visual scan makes it likely that the Seeker will look at least a small ways past the last deliberately scanned image. Let's consider the three cases.<BR/><BR/>If the Seeker finds exactly one matching image, score! No guarantee of a correct guess, but this is the time to try.<BR/><BR/>If the Seeker finds no images, he or she reformulates the query, either to favor precision (e.g., adding <I>funny-looking</I> or to favor recall (e.g., replace <I>sailor hat</I> with just <I>hat</I>).<BR/><BR/>But what if the Seeker finds multiple images that match the description? Here it's worth dropping one of the simplifying assumptions I made--namely, that the description is static. In fact, the Describer can add information asynchronously, is is likely to do so if the Seeker is taking too long. The information can be used, as we have already seen, to help make better queries. But it can also be used to pinpoint a specific result. For example, a detail like <I>the picture seem slightly distorted on the left side</I> might not help the Seeker formulate a better search, but might help the Seeker identify the correct image among the results.<BR/><BR/>As I said, I'm speculating, but I believe this is at least close to how most Seekers play. Not all that different from hunting down a reference about which you can only remember some random details. :)Daniel Tunkelanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10240432137428080022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8016696494330504473.post-25307491708811058072008-05-26T11:33:00.000-04:002008-05-26T11:33:00.000-04:00What do you suppose a seeker does to decide whethe...What do you suppose a seeker <EM>does</EM> to decide whether to continue serial examination of search results, to reformulate the search, or to abandon the search? One way for sure is when the seeker identifies an unwanted cluster of results that can be easily eliminated in the query language. But what else? (You abandon the search when you can't find a pattern in the results or can't figure out how to refine the query to eliminate unwanted clusters).stefanoqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03957519878567929614noreply@blogger.com