iAggregator: Multidimensional relevance aggregation based on a fuzzy operator

OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. Recently, an increasing number of information retrieval studies have triggered a resurgence of interest in redefining the algorithmic estimation of relevance, which implies a shift from topical to multidimensional relevance assessment. A key underlying aspect that emerged when addressing this concept is the aggrega-tion of the relevance assessments related to each of the considered dimensions. The most commonly adopted forms of aggregation are based on classical weighted means and linear combination schemes to address this issue. Although some initiatives were recently proposed , none was concerned with considering the inherent dependencies and interactions existing among the relevance criteria, as is the case in many real-life applications. In this article, we present a new fuzzy-based operator, called iAggregator, for multidimensional relevance aggregation. Its main originality, beyond its ability to model interactions between different relevance criteria, lies in its generalization of many classical aggregation functions. To validate our proposal, we apply our operator within a tweet search task. Experiments using a standard benchmark, namely, Text REtrieval Conference Microblog, 1 emphasize the relevance of our contribution when compared with traditional aggregation schemes. In addition, it outperforms state-of-the-art aggregation operators such as the Scoring and the And prioritized operators as well as some representative learning-to-rank algorithms.