Princeton University
Computer Science Dept.

Computer Science 435
Information Retrieval, Discovery, and Delivery

Andrea LaPaugh

Spring 2013
Directory
General Information | Schedule and Assignments |  Project Page | Announcements

Course Summary

This course examines the methods used to gather, organize and search for information in large digital collections (e.g. web search engines). We study classic techniques of indexing documents and searching text and also algorithms that exploit properties of the Web (e.g. links),  of social networks and of other digital collections, including multimedia collections. Techniques include those for relevance and ranking of documents, exploiting user history, and information clustering. We also examine systems aspects of search technology: how distributed computing and storage are used to make information delivery efficient.

Prerequisites

COS  226.

Administrative Information

Meeting time:  Monday, Wednesday 1:30-2:50pm
Meeting place:  Friend Center 008
Extra meetings: If we need to make up a class due to my schedule, we may have a class during reading period and/or an evening class during the semester. Class participants will be consulted before any make-up class time is chosen.

Professor: Andrea LaPaugh, aslp@ ...
304 Computer Science Building, 258-4568
Office hours: TBA or by appointment.  Easiest way to make an appointment is by email.

Teaching Assistant:  Arpan Ghosh, akghosh@ ...
003 Computer Science Building
Office hours:  TBA

Course secretary: Mitra Kelly, 323 CS building, 258-4562, mkelly@ ...

All email addresses are at cs.princeton.edu

Reading

Required reading:

Supplemental reading (check back for additions as we progress in the semester):

On reserve at Engineering Library:


Work of the Course

The course will have the following components weighted as indicated:

Problem sets

There will be 6 problem sets distributed throughout the semester. 

Exam

There will two take-home exams during the semester, each covering roughly half the course material. There is no exam during final exam period.

Project

Each student or pair of students will do a final project of his/her or their choosing related to the material of the course. The project must be approved in advance by the course instructor.  See the project page for more information and a list of suggested projects.

Communication

We will use the Blackboard course Web site for all course announcements and course materials, including assignments, "handouts" and pdf versions of any transparencies used in class.  All important course announcements will appear on the  Blackboard course home page.  All materials will be found in the Course Materials area of the Blackboard course site (use left menu).    The Schedule and Assignments page in Course Materials will give all reading and homework assignments.    Schedule changes will be made on the Schedule and Assignments page and announced on Announcements.

We will use Piazza for quick questions and discussions. Students are responsible for registering on Piazza and adding themselves to the Spring 2013 COS 435 enrollment.   This can be done by logging in on Blackboard, selecting COS435_S2013 Information Retrieval, Discovery, and Delivery and selecting Piazza from the menu at left.   Students are also responsible for monitoring the announcements on Blackboard and the postings on the Piazza COS 435 Q&A page. 

Piazza is great for sharing questions and answers with the class (private questions addressed only to the instructors are also possible).  However, an old fashioned face-to-face meeting is still best for addressing deeper confusions and other technical discussions.

Syllabus

(This is the general list of topics and probably a superset of what we will have time to cover.  Please see Schedule and Assignments for specific topics and reading assignments as the semester progresses)

A.S. LaPaugh content last changed  Tue Feb  5 12:21:20 EST 2013