A Survey On Information Re-Finding Techniques

Purpose - Observing that people re-access what they have seen or used in the past is very common in real lives. The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of information re-finding comprehensively, and introduce to readers the underlying techniques and mechanisms used in information re-finding.Design/methodology/approach - After analyzing users' information re-finding behaviors and their requirements, the paper studies the natural way of re-finding in human memory, and reviews state-of-the-art techniques and tools developed in the fields of web and personal information management for information re-finding.Findings - Four main re-finding support techniques on the Web are: re-finding tools in Web browsers; history service; re-finding search engine; and voice-based re-finding. Three main re-finding approaches are used in PIM: browse-based approaches; content-based search; and context-based search.Practical implications - Following the recalling mechanisms in human memory, the method of recall-by-context in both fields of web usage and personal information management can make users feel easy to re-find information.Originality/value - The paper gives a comprehensive overview of information re-finding techniques.