Describes the design of an information retrieval system that permits the personalization of a search by developing a user profile in order to reduce noise and increase the number of relevant items retrieved. The preorientation system is explained and an example using full-text natural language processing tools is presented. (Author/LRW)

Describes the design and construction of Resume Automatique a Fragments Indicateurs (RAFI), a system of automatic text summary which sums up scientific and technical texts. The RAFI system transforms a long source text into several versions of more condensed texts, using discourse analysis, to make searching easier; it could be adapted to the…

Investigates engineers' information-seeking practices based on case studies in two organizations. Results show engineers search for documents to find people, search for people to get documents, and interact socially to get information without engaging in explicit searches. Discusses the design task and how computer systems could support searches…

Discusses a user interface that simplifies NF Squared (non-first-normal-form) relational query formulation in which query specification remains compact and straightforward. This interface allows for nesting and general hierarchical structures and restructuring which provides for more effective retrieval and query formulation. (Author/JKP)

Describes the University of California at Berkeley's participation in the TREC (Text Retrieval Conference) interactive track experiments. Highlights include results of searches on two systems, Cheshire II and ZPRISE; system design goals and implementation; precision and recall results; search questions by topic and system; and results of…

This study uses the human approach to examine the sources and effectiveness of search terms selected during 40 mediated interactive database searches and focuses on determining the retrieval effectiveness of search terms identified by users and intermediaries from retrieved items during term relevance feedback. (Author/JKP)

Reports on the design of an automated query system to help pharmacologists access the Derwent Drug File (DDF). Topics include knowledge types; knowledge representation; role of the search intermediary; vocabulary selection, thesaurus, and user input in natural language; browsing; evaluation methods; and search statement generation for the World…