Bilkent University
Department of Computer Engineering
S E M I N A R
Integrating Social Factors into Mobile Local Search
Basri Kahveci
MSc Student
Computer Engineering Department
Bilkent UniversityRecent developments in mobile technologies and wide availability of Internet access on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have allowed users to access different kinds of information while on the go. The location information on these devices has enabled mobile local search that utilizes user location as the main factor to search for local entities (e.g., restaurants). Mobile local search is inherently different than general web search. It focuses on local businesses that are related to a given query, while web search handles various web-related objects, mostly webpages. Additionally, mobile local searches are context-aware and more actionable. Considering these differences, many new features may be introduced and utilized to improve the experience of mobile local search. Recent studies showed that contextual features such as distance between the query point and the local business, time of the day, day of the week, weather are important for relevance of local businesses to a local search query. In this study, we extend the context by integrating social features into mobile local search such as number of people that has been there at the time of the query, a positive or a negative comment about a local business that is in the search results. We have developed a local search application on Android platform to trace local search queries of users and generate a data set for our study. We aim to contribute to mobile local search area by measuring the effect of social factors to business clicks during search sessions.
DATE: 31 March, 2014, Monday @ 15:40
PLACE: EA-409