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1 – 10 of over 2000Valery J. Frants, Jacob Shapiro and Vladimir G. Voiskunskii
This review reports on the current state and the potential of tools and systems designed to aid online searching, referred to here as online searching aids. Intermediary…
Abstract
This review reports on the current state and the potential of tools and systems designed to aid online searching, referred to here as online searching aids. Intermediary mechanisms are examined in terms of the two stage model, i.e. end‐user, intermediary, ‘raw database’, and different forms of user — system interaction are discussed. The evolution of the terminology of online searching aids is presented with special emphasis on the expert/non‐expert division. Terms defined include gateways, front‐end systems, intermediary systems and post‐processing. The alternative configurations that such systems can have and the approaches to the design of the user interface are discussed. The review then analyses the functions of online searching aids, i.e. logon procedures, access to hosts, help features, search formulation, query reformulation, database selection, uploading, downloading and post‐processing. Costs are then briefly examined. The review concludes by looking at future trends following recent developments in computer science and elsewhere. Distributed expert based information systems (debis), the standard generalised mark‐up language (SGML), the client‐server model, object‐orientation and parallel processing are expected to influence, if they have not done so already, the design and implementation of future online searching aids.
BRIAN VICKERY and ALINA VICKERY
There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely…
Abstract
There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.
G. HARRY MCLAUGHLIN and Gordon H. Wright
Librarians and teachers have essentially the same function—providing information. However, they cannot claim with Dr Johnson: ‘Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not…
Abstract
Librarians and teachers have essentially the same function—providing information. However, they cannot claim with Dr Johnson: ‘Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.’ Both librarian and teacher should present knowledge in such a way that the inquirer is able to comprehend it. One way is to guide the inquirer into working out ideas for himself. Such guidance involves presenting the information in a coherent sequence of easily assimilated steps, after each of which a question is posed to check that that step has been understood. This is what a good tutor does. This, too, is what Programmed Instruction does.
Items of information that have been stored in a computer normally need to be accessed via their contents. In principle this is always possible by doing an exhaustive scan of the…
Abstract
Items of information that have been stored in a computer normally need to be accessed via their contents. In principle this is always possible by doing an exhaustive scan of the entire file of information, but to achieve the access efficiently we use some sort of organizing principle, a file organization or file structure, to reduce the amount anning. Typically the items retrieved are a response to a request which fully or partially specifies their contents. Often the file organization requires pre‐processing of the body of information so that a secondary body of information (an index or directory) may be created which in some sense reveals the contents of the file. So, ultimately file structures are time saving devices, where we pay for the time saved by extra storage. They enable us quickly to find items of information by completely or partially specifying their contents.
J. Tuomas Harviainen and Amon Rapp
The purpose of this paper is to expand the research of games as information systems. It illustrates how significant parts of massively multiplayer online role-playing function…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand the research of games as information systems. It illustrates how significant parts of massively multiplayer online role-playing function like information retrieval from a library database system.
Design/methodology/approach
By combining ideas from earlier contributions on the topics of game environments as information systems, the paper explores how gameplay connects to information retrieval, restricted content access, and information system structure. The paper then proceeds to examine this idea through an ethnographic study conducted in World of Warcraft during 2012-2016.
Findings
By discussing how multiplayer digital game play is a form of information retrieval, the paper shows that players enjoy the well-restricted access to information that is a constitutive element of gameplay. Examining controlled access, procedural literacies and emphatic keywords, the paper finds that content relevances and system use may be influenced by hedonic concerns rather than task efficiency.
Originality/value
The study of retrieval issues related to gaming enriches our knowledge on inferences in retrieval. It shows that people may prefer that their access to information be limited, in order to make system use more interesting.
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A. Macfarlane, S.E. Robertson and J.A. Mccann
The progress of parallel computing in Information Retrieval (IR) is reviewed. In particular we stress the importance of the motivation in using parallel computing for text…
Abstract
The progress of parallel computing in Information Retrieval (IR) is reviewed. In particular we stress the importance of the motivation in using parallel computing for text retrieval. We analyse parallel IR systems using a classification defined by Rasmussen and describe some parallel IR systems. We give a description of the retrieval models used in parallel information processing. We describe areas of research which we believe are needed.
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Thomas Mandl and Christa Womser‐Hacker
A framework for the long‐term learning of user preferences in information retrieval is presented. The multiple indexing and method‐object relations (MIMOR) model tightly…
Abstract
A framework for the long‐term learning of user preferences in information retrieval is presented. The multiple indexing and method‐object relations (MIMOR) model tightly integrates a fusion method and a relevance feedback processor into a learning model. Several black box matching functions can be combined into a linear combination committee machine which reflects the user's vague individual cognitive concepts expressed in relevance feedback decisions. An extension based on the soft computing paradigm couples the relevance feedback processor and the matching function into a unified retrieval system.
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David Roberts and Clive Souter
This article discusses the possibility of the automation of sophisticated subject indexing of medical journal articles. Approaches to subject descriptor assignment in information…
Abstract
This article discusses the possibility of the automation of sophisticated subject indexing of medical journal articles. Approaches to subject descriptor assignment in information retrieval research are usually either based upon the manual descriptors in the database or generation of search parameters from the text of the article. The principles of the Medline indexing system are described, followed by a summary of a pilot project, based upon the Amed database. The results suggest that a more extended study, based upon Medline, should encompass various components: Extraction of ‘concept strings’ from titles and abstracts of records, based upon linguistic features characteristic of medical literature. Use of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) for identification of controlled vocabulary descriptors. Coordination of descriptors, utilising features of the Medline indexing system. The emphasis should be on system manipulation of data, based upon input, available resources and specifically designed rules.
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Ross Wilkinson and Philip Hingston
The task of a document retrieval system is to match a query, perhaps in natural language, against a large number of natural language documents. Neural networks are known to be…
Abstract
The task of a document retrieval system is to match a query, perhaps in natural language, against a large number of natural language documents. Neural networks are known to be good pattern matchers. This article describes investigations in implementing a document retrieval system based on a neural network model. It shows that many of the standard strategies of information retrieval are applicable in a neural network model.