The final quiz (Quiz 10) will be out next Monday (April 7), and due that evening. As a reminder: your two lowest quiz grades will be dropped when computing your final quiz grade.
Project proposal discussion (Thursday lecture). We will discuss feedback on the project proposals, and meet in groups to discuss possible revisions and preparing for the final project.
Assignment 3 will be released early this week, and will be due next Tuesday in Week 13 (Apr 8).
Readings: See PyTerrier slides; other sources may be shared later in the week.
Course Evaluation (SmartEvals): The SmartEvals system will ask for anonymous course evaluations in the coming days -- please take a moment to fill this out (at the latest, before Reading Day). This course has been improved over the years due to feedback from students. It is particularly helpful to know what worked for you in the course, and what changes may have been helpful for you.
Lecture next Tuesday is cancelled (and will be recorded off-line). A lecture recording will be posted in MyCourses by sometime next Tuesday. Next Thursday's lecture will be in-person as usual.
(Apr 8) Multi-modal search talk for Science + AI. On Tuesday next week Prof. Zanibbi is giving a short talk on multi-modal search in research papers at a (Physics) Theory + AI Symposium being held Ape 7-8 at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada next week. Other speakers/participants at the symposium include Geoff Hinton (speaker list). Zoom/web links should be available during the symposium for those interested; the meeting is a combination of talks and panel discussions.
Week 11
Quiz 9 will be out next Monday (March 31), and due that evening.
Reminder: You can submit a revised version of the first paper summary until Thursday at 11:59pm (Mar 27). Remember to add the prefix "REVISED_" to the file name so that we can find your revision.
Project proposal is due on Friday. Try to submit on-time -- we will be discussing course projects in lecture next Thursday, and if you submit very late you may not receive feedback before this discussion.
Assignment 3 will be released this week and due next Friday (Wk 12). The assignment will include an introduction to PyTerrier.
Readings: We will finish up the evaluation metric material from last week. This week the 'readings' are provided in the lecture slides, adapted from PyTerrier tutorials.
Week 10
Quiz 8 will be out next Monday (March 24), and due that evening.
*EXTENSION: The second research paper summary (on SPLADE) is due on Friday (March 21).
*EXTENSION: Project: proposal is due next Friday, Week 11. Please see notes below and materials in MyCourses for additional information.
Syllabus update: A revision policy has been added for research paper summaries and the project proposal in the Syllabus (see the section "Grading Criteria"). This provides is an opportunity to have summaries and proposals regraded after addressing comments (see Syllabus for details).
Readings: See the course schedule for topics and associated readings. We will be using parts of Ch. 3 in the MathIR book this week (on evaluation), along with the Croft text materials on evaluation.
Week 8
*There will be no quiz this week, because there are no classes next week. Enjoy the Spring Break week (next week, Week 9 starting March 10th)!
The Second Research Paper (on SPLADE) has been posted. We discussed the paper last Thursday. Make sure to break the paper apart, record questions, and check other sources (briefly) as needed (see notes in the discord channel). You are strongly encouraged to discuss the paper with other students in the class, but your written summary must be your own work. *Extension: Summaries are now due Tuesday after break (March 18).
Project: Project groups are expected to now be searching the literature and running candidate systems that they find. Make sure to consult the document recommending how to approach the project (provided in the project Google Drive with templates, etc.). The proposal is due Tuesday of Week 11 (2nd Tuesday after spring break).
Readings: See the course schedule for topics and associated readings.
Career Fair is this Wed/Thurs/Fri(?) (Wk 8). Make sure to check the class discord #jobs-coop channel for information related to this, and best of luck.
Week 7
Quiz 7 will be out/due Monday of next week.
Assignment 2 is available, and is due on Friday (Feb 28)
The Second Research Paper (on SPLADE) has been posted. We will discuss this in-class on Thursday -- read the paper and bring notes and questions. Your summary will be due next following Tuesday (March 4, in Wk 8).
Project: Project groups have been selected. Contact your group ASAP and beging searching the literature and running systems. See the additional notes in the document recommending how to approach the project (provided in the project Google Drive with templates, etc.). Starting early will be very helpful for the proposal.
Readings: See the course schedule for topics and associated readings.
Career Fair is next Wed/Thurs/Fri(?) (Wk 8). Make sure to check the class discord #jobs-coop channel for information related to this, and best of luck.
Week 6
Quiz 6 will be out and due Monday of next week.
Assignment 2 is available, and is due next Friday (Wk 7)
The Second Research Paper (on SPLADE) has been posted. We will discuss this in-class next Thursday -- read the paper and prepare notes and questions in advance. Your summary will be due the following Tuesday (March 4, in Wk 8).
Project requirements have been posted. Group sign-ups (through MyCourses, under the "Groups" link) are dueFriday (Feb. 21 @ 11:59pm). Please note: after the deadline, any unassigned students will be randomly placed in a group of less than 3 students automatically by MyCourses.
Reading this week: Please see the course schedule for topics and associated readings for this week.
Week 5
Quiz 5 will be out and due Monday of next week.
Assignment 2 is available, and is due Friday of Wk 7.
Project requirements will be posted by Friday evening, and group sign-ups (through MyCourses, under the "Groups" link) are duenext Friday (Wk 6, Feb. 21 @ 11:59pm). Please note: after the deadline, any unassigned students will be randomly placed in a group of less than 3 students automatically by MyCourses.
Reading this week: Please see the course schedule for readings this week. We will start by finishing up material from Wk 4 on Tuesday, and then moving into the Wk 5 readings from Z&M and Croft.
Week 4
Quiz 4 will be out/due Monday of next week.
Our 1st Research Paper ("Interactions with Generative Information Retrieval Systems" by Zamani et al., 2025) is available in MyCourses. The evaluation criteria and paper to read can be found under "Assignments." Read the paper and bring your notes to class for a discussion on Thursday. Your final summary is due this Friday (Wk 4) at 11:59pm.
Reading this week: Finishing up readings from Wk3, moving on to readings listed for Wekk 4 in the schedule (link above -- more Zobel & Moffat + readings from the Croft textbook).
Week 3
Office Hours this Week: Back to regular schedule, Tues 3:30-5pm, Thurs 10:30am-12pm.
Quiz 2 is due by Monday evening (available in MyCourses). Quiz 3 will be due Monday evening of Wk 4 (next week).
Assignment 1 is due Friday evening.
The 1st Research Paper ("Interactions with Generative Information Retrieval Systems" by Zamani et al., 2025) has been posted on MyCourses. The evaluation criteria and paper to read can be found under "Assignments." Read the paper and bring your notes to class for a discussion next Thursday. Your final summary is due next Friday (Wk 4) at 11:59pm.
Reading this week: Demartini article on using LLMs in relevance assessment + Hearst online text (see sections in Schedule). Zobel & Moffat Secs 3-5 (pp. 8-16), Croft section 5.1-5.3
Week 2
Office Hours this Week: I will hold office hours Tuesday 3:30-4, and 4:30-5pm due to a conflict. Thursday office hour will run from 9:30-11am rather than the usual time, due to another conflict.
Assignment 1 is due Friday of Wk 3 (next week).
Quiz 1 is available in MyCourses, and is due Tuesday at 11:59pm.
Reading this week: Demartini article on using LLMs in relevance assessment + Hearst online text (see sections in Schedule)
Week 1
These are the web pages for the information retrieval coursein the RIT CS department for Spring 2025. This course is cross-listed: CSCI 536 (undergrad) and CSCI 636 (grad). Prof. Zanibbi is the course instructor.
These web pages are used to communicate course information, including news, deadlines, etc. A class discord server will also be used for additional discussion/updates outside of class. The link to join the server will be shared in MyCourses early in Wk 1.
Assignments, projects, and quizzes will be distributed and submitted using MyCourses.
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00pm - 3:15pm Louise Slaughter Hall, Room 2150(78-2150)
Lectures attendance in-person is strongly recommended. Lectures will be recorded from the instructor's laptop, and available after class through MyCourses (Zoom).
For Wk 1: Reading (for Thursday lecture): Zobel & Moffat pp. 1-8 (Sections 1 and 2) (Update) Quiz 1 will be released and be due Tuesday of Wk 2 (11:59) Assignment 1 will be assigned early in Wk 2.
CSCI 536/636 Information Learning, Spring 2025 RIT Department of Computer Science