IITB Intranet Search

The goal of this project is to enable queries on the IITB intranet and retrieval of precise information. Now, is it such a big deal? Yes, there are several challenges in high precision intranet search, in contrast to the standard internet search. But before we plunge into the challenges, let us take a peek into issues with the off-the-shelf search systems.These systems are complex & monolithic, making it difficult for non-experts too understand and maintain them. Moreover, since the intranet pages are not very much hyperlinked, page-rank-based algos will mean little. Even with hyperlinks, measures of popularity will not be any avail for precise queries. In summary, achieving high search result quality in an intranet is NOT a one-shot install configure run task. It will requires continuous monitoring and customization to respond to new data, new users, and new queries. The challenge is: How does one design a search system that is amenable to such Search Quality Management?