Information retrieval on the Web

In this paper we review studies of the growth of the Internet and technolog ies that are useful for information search and retrieval on the Web. We pre sent data an the Internet from several different sources, e.g., current as well as projected number of users, hosts, and Web sites. Although numerical figures vary, overall trends cited by the sources are consistent and point to exponential growth in the past and in the coming decade. Hence it is no t surprising that about 85% of Internet users surveyed claim using search e ngines and search services to find specific information. The same surveys s how, however, that users are not satisfied with the performance of the curr ent generation of search engines; the slow retrieval speed, communication d elays, and poor quality of retrieved results (e.g., noise and broken links) are commonly cited problems. We discuss the development of new techniques targeted to resolve some of the problems associated with Web-based informat ion retrieval,and speculate an future trends.