How can IR Agents be evaluate ?

Giacomo Fiorentini (fiorenti@cirano.cpr.it)
Sat, 10 Aug 96 15:56:02 MET DST

Hi,
I'm developing a IR system based on multi-agents paradigm, in my thesis.
My questions are :

How can IR agents be evaluate ? Does exist any standard evaluation methods ? Where can I find useful information ? Is it correct to compare Internet Search Engine like Lycos, Altavista.... with IR agent systems ? I think that they are complementary, dont'you ?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks. Bye.

-G-
PS
IR = Information Retrieval