Filippo Menczer

Title: Filippo Menczer

Main Research Question: How well do link and lexical topologies of the Web correlate with each other?

Methodology: The study used a quantitative approach to validate two conjectures: the link-content conjecture and the link-cluster conjecture. The link-content conjecture states that a page is similar to the pages that link to it, meaning that one can infer the lexical content of a page by looking at the pages that link to it. The link-cluster conjecture states that pages about the same topic are clustered together, meaning that one can infer the meaning of a page by looking at its neighbors.

Results: The study found that pages with similar textual content are also close in the link topology, and vice versa. This suggests a positive correlation between link and lexical topologies. The study also found that lexical inferences based on link cues are quite heterogeneous across Web communities.

Implications: These results explain the success of modern search engines and open the way for more dynamic and scalable methods to locate information based on topic or user-driven interests. The study's findings have significant implications for the field of information retrieval and the design of search engines.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0108004v1 Authors: arXiv ID: 0108004v1