Computer,October 2005 (Vol. 38, No. 10) This issue of computer is all about search. Link above would I guess work for members of the IEEE Computer Society. Mere mortals who are affiliated with research institutions could try this link.
Updating already: So this is interesting, from the overview by the area editor..."Another school of
thought recognizes that the input query is at best an imprecise description of the user’s information need and that we must engage the user in a dialog to encourage an evolving understanding of what the user was looking for. In “Intelligent Search Agents Using Web-Driven Natural-Language Explanatory Dialogs,” Anita Ferreira and John Atkinson present a system that aims to do precisely this, in much the same way as we would interact with a librarian."

So, they get us, and are trying to replicate us. hm.  ¶ 2:38 PM| |cites (technorati) |