Collaborative research systems

A method comprising:

• receiving a search query that includes one or more search terms;
• presenting at least one of the search terms to a lexicon, the lexicon including a plurality of defined terms, each defined term including one or more definitions and at least one of an antonym, a synonym, and a variant for the defined term;
• identifying one or more additional search terms from the lexicon corresponding to the at least one of the search terms;
• and
• constructing a revised query that includes the at least one of the search terms in Boolean combination with the one or more additional search terms;
• and
• presenting the revised query to a searchable resource.

A method comprising:

• performing a structured search of one or more network resources to obtain a search result;
• publishing the search result in a network-accessible format, access to the search result being restricted to one or more authorized users;
• iteratively refining the search result through at least one of receiving a request from one of the authorized users to exclude a document in the search result, receiving a request from one of the authorized users to include a document not in the search result, and receiving a request from one of the authorized users to modify the structured search;
• storing the iteratively refined search result in an unmodifiable form;
• and
• publishing the unmodifiable form of the iteratively refined search result in a network-accessible format, access to the iteratively refined search result being unrestricted.

A system comprising:

• interest providing means for providing an interest, the interest including a textual description of a topic;
• interest refining means for refining the interest using one or more lexicons, the one or more lexicons providing other words to combine with the one or more words of text to form a search query;
• searching means for searching a plurality of resources available through a network based upon the search query to obtain search results, each search result being responsive to the search query;
• organizing means for organizing the search results into a shoebox that stores the search results;
• and
• publishing means for publishing the search results in the shoebox with an access level that determines one or more authorized users who may view the search results.

A system comprising:

• a client with which a user provides an interest, the interest including a textual description of a topic, the client configured for the user to refine the interest using one or more lexicons, the one or more lexicons providing other words to combine with the one or more words of text to form a search query;
• a network device that uses the search query to search a plurality of resources available through a network to obtain search results, each search result being responsive to the search query;
• the client further configured to receive the search results and present the search results to a user, and to receive instructions from the user to organize the search results into a shoebox that stores the search results;
• and
• the network device further configured to publishing the search results in the shoebox with an access level that determines one or more authorized users who may view the search results.

A computer program product comprising:

• computer executable code for providing an interest, the interest including a textual description of a topic;
• computer executable code for refining the interest using one or more lexicons, the one or more lexicons providing other words to combine with the one or more words of text to form a search query;
• computer executable code for searching a plurality of resources available through a network based upon the search query to obtain search results, each search result being responsive to the search query;
• computer executable code for organizing the search results into a shoebox that stores the search results;
• and
• computer executable code for publishing the search results in the shoebox with an access level that determines one or more authorized users who may view the search results.