Schedule information more than a class or two ahead of the current date is tentative. Events in the classroom may cause shifts, but the information should be a useful guideline. "CMS" refers to the Croft et al text, Search Engines. "MRS" refers to the Manning et al text, Intro to IR. Unless indicated otherwise, either text may be read when both are listed.
| Class # | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Tues, Sept 8 | Class canceled on account of graduate orientation. | |
| 1 | Thurs, Sept 10 | Administrivia [pdf] and introduction [pdf] |
| 2 | Tues, Sept 15 | Evaluation basics [pdf]. Please read CMS 8.1, 8.2, and 8.4 and/or MRS 8.1-8.4 beforehand. (This assignment was made late, so there will be no assumption that this material was read in advance. But you should if you can.) |
| 3 | Thurs, Sept 17 | Retrieval models [pdf]. Read CMS 7.1-7.3 and/or MRS 6.3, 11.1-11.3, 12.1-12.2. |
| 4 | Tues, Sept 22 | Retrieval models, wrapping up sketch of language modeling, then onto vector space, including LSI [pdf]. |
| 5 | Thurs, Sept 24 | Retrieval models, binary independence model [pdf]. Also, the first quiz [Q1,pdf]. |
| 6 | Tues, Sept 29 | Retrieval models, complete probabilistic, also inference networks and logic models [pdf]. |
| Weds, Sept 30 | Programming homework P1 is due at 8:00pm. | |
| 7 | Thurs, Oct 1 | Text statistics [pdf]. Read CMS 4.1-4.4 and the rest of the chapter if it grabs your attention. MRS 5.1 is also useful but less thorough. |
| 8 | Tues, Oct 6 | Guest lecture on relevance models [pdf] by Niranjan Balasubramanian. |
| 9 | Thurs, Oct 8 | Complete text statistics [pdf], talking about estimating weights. Start talking about file organization--i.e., some issues involved in how an IR system is actually implemented [pdf]. Homework H1 is due before class today. |
| Tues, Oct 13 | No class today because the University is running a Monday schedule. | |
| 10 | Thurs, Oct 15 | Complete presentation of file organization, specifically inverted files [pdf]. A pop quiz [Q2,pdf]. Discussion of class projects. Readings: For CMS, look at Chapter 5, particularly 5.3 for inverted lists. For MRS the inverted list is introducted in 1.2, built on in 2.3 and 2.4, and wildcards are in 3.2. |
| 11 | Tues, Oct 20 | Compression. Handed back HW1 (solution [pdf]) Readings: For CMS, look at Chapter 5, particularly 5.4 for compression. For MRS, compression is 5.4 (though you'll need more of chapter 5 for background). |
| 12 | Thurs, Oct 22 | Complete compression [pdf]. |
| 13 | Tues, Oct 27 | Clustering for IR, largely from a vector space view [pdf] |
| 14 | Thurs, Oct 29 | Clustering for IR, largely from a language modeling (including topic modeling) perspective [pdf]. Also a pop quiz [Q3,pdf]. |
| 15 | Tues, Nov 2 | Web retrieval basics, including NDCG [pdf]. HW2 [pdf] is due but will be accepted until Thursday. |
| 16 | Thurs, Nov 4 | Midterm review with some discussion questions (but no answers) [pdf]. HW2 due today (here is the solutoin [pdf]). |
| 17 | Tues, Nov 10 | In-class, open book midterm exam. You may bring electronic devices, but only if you can convincingly demonstrate that they cannot access the outside world. |
| 18 | Thurs, Nov 12 | Optional class. Project "workshop", helping groups clean up project specifications and sort out the details of what needs to be done. |
| Mon, Nov 16 | By 5:00pm, submit a project description (see Project tab above). Also prepare a project pitch presentation (one or two slides) for Tuesday and send the presentation to the professor before 7:00am tomorrow (Tuesday the 7th). | |
| 19 | Tues, Nov 17 | Project pitches. Send your presentation (if any) to the professor before 7:00am today. Also bring a backup presentation mechanism in case it won't work. In particular, if you're a Keynote user there may be issues.... |
| 20 | Thurs, Nov 19 | Learning to rank. |
| 21 | Tues, Nov 24 | Probably MapReduce |
| Thurs, Nov 26 | No class today because it is Thanksgiving break. | |
| 22 | Tues, Dec 1 | Topic TBA. P2 is due by 8:00pm today. |
| 23 | Thurs, Dec 3 | Topic TBA. Draft version of final project writeup due to professor. |
| 24 | Tues, Dec 8 | Final project presentations, part 1 of 2. (This is National Computer Science Education Week!) |
| 25 | Thurs, Dec 10 | Final project presentations, part 2 of 2. Last class. (This is National Computer Science Education Week!) |