Semester.ly

Johns Hopkins University | EN.600.466

Information Retrieval and Web Agents

3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

(3.96)

An in-depth, hands-on study of current information retrieval techniques and their application to developing intelligent WWW agents. Topics include a comprehensive study of current document retrieval models, mail/news routing and filtering, document clustering, automatic indexing, query expansion, relevance feedback, user modeling, information visualization and usage pattern analysis. In addition, the course explores the range of additional language processing steps useful for template filling and information extraction from retrieved documents, focusing on recent, primarily statistical methods. The course concludes with a study of current issues in information retrieval and data mining on the World Wide Web. Topics include web robots, spiders, agents and search engines, exploring both their practical implementation and the economic and legal issues surrounding their use. Recommended Course Background: EN.600.226

Spring 2013

(3.89)

Spring 2014

(4.18)

Spring 2015

(3.8)

Spring 2013

Professor: David Yarowsky

(3.89)

The best aspects of this course included the interesting programming assignments, the broad range of material covered, and the opportunity to build robots. One student felt that the lectures were often disorganized. Another student felt that the grades and/or feedback were not returned in a timely manner. Suggestions included al owing students to use any scripting language (Python or PHP) and having the course content fol ow what’s in the book. Prospective students should be prepared to work with Perl. 85

Spring 2014

Professor: David Yarowsky

(4.18)

The best aspects of this class include the assignments that are programming heavy, the insightful techniques, and material that is useful and can work in portfolios. Many students found the lectures confusing and hard to fol ow, and thought there were too few opportunities for graded work. Suggestions for improving the course were to label the slides and make them available before lecture and give several smaller assignments rather than four large assignments. Prospective students should be familiar with pearl and some HTTP. The workload is dependent on your previous knowledge, but the class is useful and recommended.

Spring 2015

Professor: David Yarowsky

(3.8)

The best aspects of the course included the interesting subject matter, the enjoyable homework assignments that facilitated hands-on learning, and the opportunity to learn PERL. Many students found the lectures to be confusing and unengaging, and encountered problems with the provided “skeleton code” for assignments, which took away from the more important and creative elements. Students suggested that the course would benefit from having a Piazza discussion site, or some other means of communicating problems encountered. Prospective students should be motivated to study the material on their own throughout the semester, as the only exam given is the final.