Checking date: 29/04/2025 12:19:39


Course: 2025/2026

Information retrieval systems
(17449)
Bachelor in Management of Information and Digital Contents (Study Plan 2017) (Plan: 376 - Estudio: 340)


Coordinating teacher: GOMEZ NUÑEZ, ANTONIO JESUS

Department assigned to the subject: Library and Information Sciences Department

Type: Compulsory
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:




Requirements (Subjects that are assumed to be known)
None.
Objectives
In general, search and retrieve information, thanks to computer and manual methods and tools, that allow responding to the demands of users in optimal conditions of costs and terms, and evaluate the adequacy between the demand and the response provided, as well as determining and to evaluate the technological needs related to the management of documentary databases that may be of interest and useful at the present time or in the near future for the services and information units. And specifically: 1. Understand and know the definition of terms related to Information Retrieval (RI). 2. Understand and apply the principles and techniques for IR and its evaluation. 3. Know the theoretical models of information retrieval. 4. Handle with ease the different interrogation languages ¿¿and interfaces of information retrieval systems. 5. Interact with the information retrieval systems to solve the possible information needs that may arise. 6. Distinguish the different theoretical models of IR and recognize them in the Real Information Retrieval Systems (IRS). 7. Convert a request for information into a search strategy appropriate to the system and transcribe and transmit the results of a search. 8. Handle with ease, compare and evaluate different interrogation languages and interfaces that allow interaction with a local SRI or with engines, metasearch engines and other search tools in the network. 9. Master at least one software for information retrieval, advanced features, extended installation and recognized quality, which serves as a basis for the analysis and evaluation of any other. 10. Evaluate the results of a search in terms of reliability and relevance, in any environment of use of an SRI.
Learning Outcomes
K1: Know the principles and values of democracy and sustainable development, in particular, respect for human rights and fundamental rights, gender equality and non-discrimination, the principles of universal accessibility and climate change. K3: Identify and analyze research methodologies and sources to develop academic work in the field of digital information management K4: Understand and apply the fundamental theories, instruments and techniques to manage information in digital media, covering its organization, control, communication and preservation K6: Know models of information retrieval and visualization using database systems and visual representation methods. S1: Plan and organize teamwork by making correct decisions based on available information and gathering data in digital environments. S2: Use the information by interpreting relevant data, avoiding plagiarism, and in accordance with the academic and professional conventions of the area of study, being able to evaluate the reliability and quality of said information. S3: Apply digital information management principles in different organizational environments, ensuring effective communication of processes and results to stakeholders. S5: Be able to design, manage, and operate with information through database systems, demonstrating skill in information retrieval and the use of query languages to meet complex information needs. S6: Be able to collect, process, cleanse and aggregate data by understanding the needs of users and organizations and how they need them. S10: Apply statistical analysis techniques and metric studies to evaluate and measure the impact of data in digital environments. C1: Know and be able to manage interpersonal skills on initiative, responsibility, conflict resolution, negotiation, among others, which are required in the professional field. C2: Be able to apply knowledge in a professional way in solving specific digital information management problems using the tools and techniques learned in the academic field C3: Demonstrate ability in the development and execution of digital content projects autonomously working in multidisciplinary teams. C4: Capacity for continuous autonomous learning that facilitates adaptation to new situations and the updating of knowledge in the field of digital information.
Description of contents: programme
THEORETICAL CONTENT LEARNING UNIT 1: Introduction to Information Retrieval Systems (IRS). - Lesson T0: Information Retrieval (IR) in text databases - Lesson T1: The theoretical framework for IR: Relation to Indexing; difference with Data Retrieval LEARNING UNIT 2: Main formal models of IR (as D. Blair). - Lesson T2: Basic models (Models 1-4): one descriptor, several descriptors, cutoff value and ordered output - Lesson T3: Models with weighted descriptors (Models 5-8): weighted search only, only weighted indexing, weighted search and indexing and search in a vector space - Lesson T4: Models with Boolean search (Models 9 and 10): Boolean search and peculiarities on free text - Lesson T5: thesaurus-based models (Models 11 and 12): Search with binary and weighted thesauri LEARNING UNIT 3: Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems. - Lesson T6: Principles for evaluating the effectiveness of retrieval: Relevance, Recall and Precision and its complements; relationship between P and R; other measures - Lesson T7: Difficulties in obtaining indicators: The problem of Silence; Relevance, as Affinity (relatedness) and Utility; Relevance, as binary or weighted PRACTICAL CONTENT - Exploration and evaluation of web crawlers. - Practical exercises for term weighting with R (TF-IDF). - Boolean logic exercises - Designing a model for an SRI - SRI evaluation exercises - Building a search engine and its evaluation: selection of seeds, crawling system, positioning system, putting into production and evaluation of the results.
Learning activities and methodology
- Acquisition of theoretical knowledge (total 3 credits ECTS) through lectures, teaching materials prepared by the teacher, online tutorials, specialized readings and discussions (1.2 ECTS), and the personal study and work of students (1.8 ECTS). It relates to the abilities 1 to 3. - Acquisition of practical skills (total 3 ECTS) through various practical assumptions of information retrieval in different environments (local systems, online and other websites), with which they can acquire skills and develop abilities 4 to 10. - Tutorship: The schedule of tutorship sessions could be looked up in the Aula Global space for the course. In addition to the tutorship at the times and places officially set for the course, students can apply for other outside these hours and to be held by digital media.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination/test 60
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 40

Calendar of Continuous assessment


Extraordinary call: regulations
Basic Bibliography
  • BLAIR, D.C.. Language and Representation in Information Retrieval.. Elsevier Science Publishers. 1990
  • Baeza-Yates, R.; Ribeiro-Neto, B. Modern information retrieval. Addison-Wesley. 1999
  • CHOWDHURY, G.G.. Introduction to modern information retrieval (3ª ed.). Library Association. 2010
  • LANCASTER, F.W. El control del vocabulario en la recuperación de la información (2ª ed. corr.). Universitat de València. 2002
  • MEADOW, CH.T.; BOYCE, B.R.; KRAFT, D.H. Text information retrieval systems (3ª ed.). San Diego, Academic Press. 2007
Additional Bibliography
  • Buckland, M.K.. Information and Information Systems. Greenwood Pres. 1991
  • Chamis, A.Y.. Vocabulary Control and Search Strategies in Online Searching. Greenwood Press. 1991
  • Manning, C.D.; Raghavan, P.; Schütze, H.. Introduction to Information Retrieval.. Cambridge University Press. 2008
  • Meadow, Ch.T. Text information retrieval systems. Academic Press. 2000
  • Salton, G. Automatic text processing: The Transformation, Analysis, and Retrieval of Information by Computer. Addison Wesl. 1989
  • Ávila Barrientos, E.. Recuperación de información con datos abiertos enlazados. UNAM. Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas y de la Información. 2022

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.