A Generative Theory of Relevance

A modern information retrieval system must have the capability to find, organize and present very different manifestations of information – such as text, pictures, videos or database records – any of which may be of relevance to the user. However, the concept of relevance, while seemingly intuitive, is actually hard to define, and it's even harder to model in a formal way.

Lavrenko does not attempt to bring forth a new definition of relevance, nor provide arguments as to why any particular...