I Don't Think We've Met: Encouraging Collaboration via Topic-Based Search

Thomas S. Methven, Stefano Padilla, Mike J. Chantler

Abstract: We present PaperPilot1 (bit.ly/paperpilot) a new tool which performs smart collaborator search using research concepts automatically extracted from the CSCW domain, as characterized by 5,516 papers taken from four conferences in the area. PaperPilot infers how a paragraph of text (say an abstract or news article) relates to these research concepts and uses this information to retrieve the 100 most similar papers and identify the most relevant topic for each. These topics can be used both to obtain a quick overview of the papers and as an ice breaker for opening conversations with potential collaborators. To ensure the smart collaborator search is relevant to CSCW 2015 attendees, all accepted papers and authors will also be included.