Keynotes

Abstract:
The amount of information on the Internet is increasing rapidly and continuously, mainly due to the "growth of the Web", the emergence of "rich information," and the growing importance of "emerging sensor technologies." This phenomenon is often referred to as the "information explosion." In this era of information explosion, information retrieval engines are indispensable to the Internet users.
However, in current search services, there are some practical problems.
That is, search engines do not analyze information from the user's viewpoint. Consequently, there is the danger of having undesired information, often called garbage information and harmful information, show up at a higher rank in the search results. Under this premise, our program "Very Large Information Integration and Application Platform" plans to construct a safe and intelligent platform for information retrieval. This program, which started in the fiscal year 2007, is one of the strategic programs established by the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) in Japan. Through the collaboration of four government ministries' sponsored projects in Japan, such a platform would contribute toward the development of an information-rich society.