The concept of learning objects has been applied in the e-learning field to promote the accessibility, reusability, and interoperability of learning content. Learning Object Metadata (LOM) was developed to achieve these goals by describing learning objects in order to provide meaningful metadata. Unfortunately, the conventional LOM lacks the…

Presents an overview of artificial-intelligence-based inductive learning techniques and their use in information science research. Three methods are discussed: the connectionist Hopfield network; the symbolic ID3/ID5R; evolution-based genetic algorithms. The knowledge representations and algorithms of these methods are examined in the context of…

Examines the structure and components of information storage and retrieval systems and information filtering systems. Identifies 13 components as representations of data objects (copies, excerpts, descriptions, abstractions, and identifying references) and functions that operate on them. Reduces the functional components to transformation and…

The Latent Semantic Indexing and MatchPlus systems examine similar contexts in which words appear and create representational models that capture the similarity of meaning of terms and then use the representation for retrieval. Text Retrieval Conference experiments using these systems demonstrate the computational feasibility of using…

Reports on two studies in the second Text Retrieval Conference (TREC-2) program that investigated the effect on retrieval performance of combination of multiple representations of TREC topics. Six methods of query combinations and the combination of the same queries on different databases are examined. Results show that combining evidence from…

This research reports an algorithmic approach to the automatic generation of thesauri for electronic community systems. The techniques used include term filtering, automatic indexing, and cluster analysis. The Worm Community System, used by molecular biologists studying the nematode worm C. elegans, was used as the testbed for this research.…

A model is proposed for the general abstracting process (using disciplines such as linguistics, logic, and psychology) that is based on a system of combined strategies with four stages: reading-understanding; selection; interpretation; synthesis. (Author/JKP)

The accelerating rate of data generation and resulting publications are taxing the ability of scientific investigators to stay current with the emerging literature. This problem, acute in science, is not uncommon in other areas. New approaches to managing this explosion of information are needed. While it is only possible to read one paper or…

CIRCSIM-Tutor is a computer tutor designed to carry out a natural language dialogue with a medical student. Its domain is the baroreceptor reflex, the part of the cardiovascular system that is responsible for maintaining a constant blood pressure. CIRCSIM-Tutor's interaction with students is modeled after the tutoring behavior of two experienced…

This set of papers offers insights into some of the major developments in the field of classification and knowledge organization, and highlights many of the fundamental changes in views and theories which have taken place during the last 40 years. This document begins with a series of reminiscences from former delegates of the first International…