{
  "altLabels": [
    "Filtering"
  ],
  "definition": "An IR task in which a system identifies items from a stream or changing collection that satisfy a relatively stable information need, profile, or topic.",
  "distinctions": [
    {
      "reason": "Information filtering uses stable needs or profiles over incoming items; ad hoc retrieval uses new queries or topics against a known collection.",
      "statement": "Information Filtering is not Ad Hoc Retrieval.",
      "target": "ad-hoc-retrieval",
      "targetLabel": "Ad Hoc Retrieval",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/ad-hoc-retrieval/"
    },
    {
      "reason": "Faceted search is an interactive refinement pattern; information filtering is a task formulation for selecting relevant incoming information.",
      "statement": "Information Filtering is not Faceted Search.",
      "target": "faceted-search",
      "targetLabel": "Faceted Search",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/faceted-search/"
    },
    {
      "reason": "Information filtering selects relevant incoming items for a standing need; result filtering applies constraints to a result set or retrievable subset.",
      "statement": "Information Filtering is not Result Filtering.",
      "target": "result-filtering",
      "targetLabel": "Result Filtering",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/result-filtering/"
    }
  ],
  "id": "information-filtering",
  "kind": "Task",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "links": [
    {
      "label": "The TREC-8 Filtering Track Final Report",
      "type": "definingReference",
      "url": "https://trec.nist.gov/pubs/trec8/papers/filtering_new.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "modifiedAt": "2026-09-14T06:43:46Z",
  "prefLabel": "Information Filtering",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Searchplex",
    "url": "https://searchplex.net/"
  },
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "retrieval",
      "type": "broader"
    },
    {
      "note": "Information filtering uses stable needs or profiles over incoming items; ad hoc retrieval uses new queries or topics against a known collection.",
      "target": "ad-hoc-retrieval",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Faceted search is an interactive refinement pattern; information filtering is a task formulation for selecting relevant incoming information.",
      "target": "faceted-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Information filtering selects relevant incoming items for a standing need; result filtering applies constraints to a result set or retrievable subset.",
      "target": "result-filtering",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "target": "relevance-judgment",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "routing",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "representations": {
    "html": "https://id.searchplex.net/information-filtering/",
    "json": "https://id.searchplex.net/information-filtering.json",
    "jsonld": "https://id.searchplex.net/information-filtering.jsonld"
  },
  "scheme": "https://id.searchplex.net/scheme/",
  "scopeNote": "Information filtering emphasizes ongoing selection of relevant incoming items, often using persistent user profiles or topics. It is distinct from result filtering, which restricts already retrieved or retrievable results by constraints, and from ad hoc retrieval over a fixed collection.",
  "status": "published",
  "terms": [
    {
      "community": "academic",
      "label": "Adaptive Filtering",
      "usage": "nearSynonym"
    }
  ],
  "uri": "https://id.searchplex.net/information-filtering/"
}