A graph-theoretic approach to extract storylines from search results

Abstract

We present a graph-theoretic approach to discover storylines from search results. Storylines are windows that offer glimpses into interesting themes latent among the top search results for a query; they are different from, and complementary to, clusters obtained through traditional approaches. Our framework is axiomatically developed and combinatorial in nature, based on generalizations of the maximum induced matching problem on bipartite graphs. The core algorithmic task involved is to mine for signature structures in a robust graph representation of the search results. We present a very fast algorithm for this task based on local search. Experiments show that the collection of storylines extracted through our algorithm offers a concise organization of the wealth of information hidden beyond the first page of search results.