D. Interaction with the User
One of the criticisms frequently made of research in the
CLIR domain is that too much attention has been given to
questions of retrieval functionality and effectiveness with
little regard to the real needs of the end user [14]. Interactive
query expansion (IQE) [15] is a potentially useful technique
to help searchers formulate improved query statements, and
ultimately retrieve better search results. However, IQE is
seldom used in operational settings because IQE is generally
not integrated into searchers’ established informationseeking behaviours (e.g., examining lists of documents), and
it may not be offered at a time in the search when it is needed
most (i.e., during the initial query formulation). These
challenges can be addressed by coupling IQE more closely
with familiar search activities, rather than as a separate
functionality that searchers must learn.