USER-ENHANCED RANKING OF INFORMATION OBJECTS

1 . A method for user-enhanced ranking of information objects, comprising:

accessing a computer-based database comprising a collection of information objects interrelated by a collection of directional links,

generating a graphical user-interface on a display, the graphical user-interface comprising a graph, wherein the graph comprises a plurality of icons each representing an information object of the collection of information objects and a plurality of connectors connecting the icons, each connector representing at least one link of the collection of links,

modifying the graph by generating an additional connector between the icons in response to graph modification commands received from a user-controlled interaction means,

storing an additional link in the database as a function of the additional connector,

wherein the additional link interrelates information objects represented by the icons connected by the additional connector,

computing a link-based rank for an information object of the collection of information objects as a function of the additional link and the collection of links.

2 . A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a structure-based layer and a user-generated layer, wherein the additional link is stored in the user-generated layer.

3 . A method in accordance with claim 2 , further comprising storing links generated by a plurality of users in the user-generated layer.

4 . A method in accordance with claim 3 , further comprising selecting a subset of the links stored in the user-generated layer, wherein the link-based rank is computed as a function of the selected subset of the links stored in the user-generated layer.

5 . A method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the subset of the links is selected as a function of one of a vote by the plurality of users, an administrator's decision and a link repetition measurement.

6 . A method in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the structure-based layer stores information objects and links obtained by crawling web sites, wherein the information objects stored in the structure-based layer represent documents found on the web sites, wherein the links stored in the structure-based layer represent hypertext links between the documents.

7 . A method in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the structure-based layer stores information objects and links representing a bibliographical index, wherein the information objects comprise documents and authors' profiles, wherein the links comprise citation links that interrelate documents and authorship links that interrelate authors' profiles with documents.

8 . A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the additional link comprises a positive link, wherein the link-based rank computation takes into account the positive link so as to increase the link-based rank of the information object pointed to by the positive link.

9 . A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the additional link comprises a negative link, wherein the link-based rank computation takes into account the negative link so as to decrease the link-based rank of the information object pointed to by the negative link.

10 . A method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a search query, and

retrieving information objects that match the search query from the collection of information objects, wherein the icons of the graph only represent information objects that match the search query.

11 . A method in accordance with claim 10 , further comprising:

computing link-based ranks for the information objects that match the search query, wherein the generated graph comprises an icon representing a best-ranked information object in a central portion of the graph.

12 . A method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the generated graph comprises further icons representing further information objects having a lower rank than the best-ranked information object, wherein the further icons are disposed around the central portion of the graph.

13 . A computer program comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the method in accordance with claim 1 when executed.

14 . A computer system for user-enhanced ranking of information objects, comprising:

a computer-based database comprising a collection of information objects interrelated by a collection of directional links,

a display,

a control module adapted to generate a graphical user-interface on the display, the graphical user-interface comprising a graph, wherein the graph comprises a plurality of icons each representing an information object of the collection of information objects and a plurality of connectors connecting the icons, each connector representing at least one link of the collection of links,

a user-controlled interaction means adapted to send graph modification commands to the control module, the control module being adapted to modify the graph by generating an additional connector between the icons in response to the graph modification commands and to store an additional link in the database as a function of the additional connector, wherein the additional link interrelates information objects represented by the icons connected by the additional connector,

and a rank computation module adapted to compute a link-based rank for an information object of the collection of information objects as a function of the additional link and the collection of links.

15 . A system in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the user-controlled interaction means is further adapted to send graph navigation commands to the control module, the control module being adapted to display a different view of the graph in response to the graph navigation commands.