A framework for aggregating and retrieving relevant information on-the-fly in support of maize production

Abstract

Conventional web browsing requires users to open a web browser and look for relevant content from multiple different websites which can be a tedious task. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) provides a mechanism to aggregate content from different webs and push the content to users at scheduled intervals. RSS can be a solution to the tedious conventional web browsing. Maize is the main staple food in Kenya and there is need to provide farmers with the relevant information to support maize farming and consequently improve production. Due to information overload, getting the right information from the internet has been very elusive for many people interested in maize information. One of the reasons has been due to lack of effective ways of aggregating and retrieving relevant maize information based on user preferences. A framework for aggregating and retrieving relevant information in support of maize production was proposed as a solution. The framework makes use of Really Simple Syndication technology and retrieves relevant information through the use of Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF). A new hybrid approach of using TF-IDF that integrates Term Proximity with TF-IDF was used for better performance. This approach is able to ensure maize farmers get relevant information to assist them in maize production.