Exploiting semantic result clustering to support keyword search on linked data

Abstract

Keyword search is by far the most popular technique for searching linked data on the web. The simplicity of keyword search on data graphs comes with at least two drawbacks: difficulty in identifying results relevant to the user intent among an overwhelming number of candidates and performance scalability problems. In this paper, we claim that result ranking and top-k processing which adapt schema unaware IR-based techniques to loosely structured data are not sufficient to address these drawbacks and efficiently produce answers of high quality. We present an alternative solution which hierarchically clusters the results based on a semantic interpretation of the keyword instances and takes advantage of relevance feedback from the user. Our clustering hierarchy exploits graph patterns which are structured queries clustering together result graphs of the same structure and represent possible interpretations for the keyword query. We present an algorithm which computes r-radius Steiner patterns graphs using exclusively the structural summary of the data graph. The user selects relevant pattern graphs by exploring only a small portion of the hierarchy supported by a ranking of the hierarchy components.Our experimental results show the feasibility of our system by demonstrating short reach times and efficient computation of the relevant results.