RAVE User Instructions

Basic task
Two types of queries
Relevance assessment scale
Other buttons

Basic task

You have been assigned three queries into specialized areas of artificial intelligence (AI), and will be shown a series of "documents" (thesis abstracts restricted to the area of AI). For each document, with respect to each of the queries, you are to decide if that document is RELEVANT to that query.

To make the exercise concrete, imagine you were working as an AI reference librarian and a library patron has come to you with one of these queries. Imagine also that you had been assigned a single, random file drawer full of documents. You must now go through this drawer to decide which of these documents the patron might be interested in reviewing.

NB: All the patrons' queries are ASSUMING that the search is restricted to AI documents, and are expressing MORE SPECIFIC interests.

Two types of queries

Two of the queries are short and of the form "I want documents ABOUT ..." The third is a little different: "I want to find OTHER DOCUMENTS LIKE THIS ONE." That is, the third query is in terms of another document, and you are to find documents you think are similar to it.

The first time you execute RAVE, you will be shown the three queries in the bottom third of the window: two 'short' queries in a WHITE middle strip. The third query, at the very bottom and also with a WHITE background, is a 'long' query corresponding to a document which (you are to imagine) is SIMILAR to documents you seek. Spend a minute reading these queries and getting them in mind; these will remain constant throughout your session.

After having a clear conception of the three queries, read the document at the top of the screen with the LIGHT BLUE background and evaluate its relevance (see below for details). After you've done that WITH RESPECT TO EACH OF THE THREE QUERIES, click on the NEXT DOCUMENT button and evaluate its relevance in the same manner. This cycle will be repeated until you've evaluated all of the documents assigned to you, or you have worked for as long as you are expected.

Relevance assessment scale

Your assessment need not be all or nothing. Most of the documents you see will NOT be relevant whatsoever to any of the three queries, and so the default relevance assessment is "NOT" (relevant). However, if you believe a document is relevant, you can respond according to the following three-point scale:
3: Critically (relevant)
2: Relevant
1: Possibly (relevant)
To make these assessments more concrete, CRITICAL documents are those that would be a major ommission in a survey article on the query's topic. POSSIBLY relevant documents are those that might be of interest, for example as part of an exhaustive literature review. RELEVANT is between these two extremes, and should be used if you believe it is relevant to the query, but are unsure about qualifying it further.

Other buttons

Quit after this one

You need not spend your entire time on this task all in one sitting. If you click on the QUIT AFTER THIS ONE button, RAVE will remember where you left off and begin there next time.

Next document

After you have evaluated the current document WITH RESPECT TO ALL THREE QUERIES, click on the NEXT DOCUMENT button to view the next document.
These instructions can be reviewed at anytime by simply returning to this page. After you do so, please log in again.
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Last updated by rik on 2 Dec 99