Towards a generalized interaction scheme for information access

We introduce the formal framework of a generalized interaction scheme for information access between users and information sources. Within this framework we describe an interaction manager which supports more complex interaction schemes than those that are supported by existing systems, including: query by example, answer enlargement/reduction, query relaxation/restriction, index relaxation/contraction, 'relevance' feedback, and adaptation facilities. We give the foundations of this interaction manager from a mathematical point of view, in terms of an abstract view of an information source.