We have made many advancements in the field of search and recommendation over the last few decades. However, there are still challenges and opportunities to address information access issues that involve solving tasks and accomplishing goals for a wide variety of users. Specifically, we lack intelligent systems that can detect not only the request a user is making (what), but also understand and utilize the intention (why) and strategies (how) while providing information. Many scholars in the fields of search, Recommender Systems, and AI have recognized the importance of extracting and understanding a user’s task and the intention behind doing that task in order to serve them better. However, we are still struggling to get out of single-query or single-turn interactions. The proliferation of intelligent agents that come integrated with smartphones and smart speakers has opened up new modality for interacting with information. But these agents will need to be able to work more intelligently in understanding the context and helping the users at the task level. Several events have taken place over the past few years around this topic, indicating continual and increased interest by scholars, but also highlighting the need for doing more.
This two-day workshop in the Seattle area will bring together scholars, students, and leaders working or interested in this domain. The participants will be invited from different disciplines that include but not limited to search and AI. The workshop will have three primary goals: (1) learn and share about the current state of scholarship around intelligent systems for information access for solving tasks; (2) identify gaps in our knowledge and opportunities for developing new models, theories, and systems in this space; and (3) consolidate these discussions and insights to broader audiences through compilation of a report. The outcomes of this workshop will include a proceedings, a technical report, and a curriculum for teaching the topics covered through this workshop to undergraduate and graduate students.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
