Presents a genetic relevance optimization process performed in an information retrieval system that uses genetic techniques for solving multimodal problems (niching) and query reformulation techniques. Explains that the niching technique allows the process to reach different relevance regions of the document space, and that query reformulations…

Discusses genetic algorithms in information retrieval, especially for relevance feedback, and evaluates the efficacy of a genetic algorithm with various order-based fitness functions for relevance feedback in a test database. Compares results with the Ide dec-hi method, one of the best traditional methods. (Contains 56 references.) (Author/LRW)