Conversational Search -- A Report from Dagstuhl Seminar 19461
This is an incremental report that synthesizes existing knowledge to outline research directions for conversational search, primarily benefiting researchers in information retrieval and related areas.
The report summarizes a 2019 Dagstuhl seminar where 44 researchers discussed conversational search, covering its definition, evaluation, and applications, aiming to guide future research in the field.
Dagstuhl Seminar 19461 "Conversational Search" was held on 10-15 November 2019. 44~researchers in Information Retrieval and Web Search, Natural Language Processing, Human Computer Interaction, and Dialogue Systems were invited to share the latest development in the area of Conversational Search and discuss its research agenda and future directions. A 5-day program of the seminar consisted of six introductory and background sessions, three visionary talk sessions, one industry talk session, and seven working groups and reporting sessions. The seminar also had three social events during the program. This report provides the executive summary, overview of invited talks, and findings from the seven working groups which cover the definition, evaluation, modelling, explanation, scenarios, applications, and prototype of Conversational Search. The ideas and findings presented in this report should serve as one of the main sources for diverse research programs on Conversational Search.