Describes a prototype natural language text knowledge system (TKS) that was used to organize 50 pages of a handbook on artificial intelligence as an inferential knowledge base with natural language query and command capabilities. Representation of text, database navigation, query systems, discourse structuring, and future research needs are…

Examines novel computer filing systems which have particular application to office information storage and retrieval requirements. A variety of filing systems and their major characteristics are reviewed, ranging from network-based file servers to digital image storage and retrieval systems. Desirable characteristics of a modern electronic office…

Includes a report on a use study of the Excerpta Medica system. (PF)

Identifies requirements for representing structural aspects of nonconventional information system applications and demonstrates how recursive data models support information systems better than record-based database modelling tools. Structural concepts for representing office data objects are discussed and applied to an office example. Language…

Proposes a "Model of Querying" for users of office filing facilities and discusses its motivation, aspects, attributes, and advantages. A review of current information systems and attempts to combine information retrieval, artificial intelligence, and database management techniques leads to conclusion that no resultant system is adequate…

Investigates the role of information retrieval in the enhancement from database management to knowledge base management and considers the relationship between information retrieval and artificial intelligence. Highlights include unstructured databases; storage of internal forms of documents; an example with relational database operations; and…

Suggests a unified concept of a lexical subsystem as part of an information system to deal with lexical problems in local and network environments. The linguistic and control functions of the lexical subsystems in solving problems for large computer systems are described, and references are included. (Author/BK)

Discusses data model role in an office filing facility, office data model requirements, and various modelling paradigms for office data modelling. Data model application to a typical collection of office data is presented, filing and retrieval operations are illustrated, and proposed research into other office data modelling aspects is outlined.…

Discussion of the need for distributed information retrieval systems focuses on a model system, Fulcrum FUL/Text. Differences from distributed database management systems are described; system design is discussed; implementation requirements are explained including remote operation calls (ROC's); and a prototype simulation model based on FUL/Text…

Reports on two empirical studies that examined the nature and causes of information management indeterminism in an online research environment. A knowledge-based design for alleviating indeterminism which contains a system-generated thesaurus and an inferencing engine is proposed. (Contains 63 references.) (JLB)

Suggests new method of external distribution called tree partitioning that involves use of binary tree to split incoming file into successively smaller partitions for internal sorting. Number of disc accesses during a tree-partitioning sort were calculated in simulation using files extracted from British National Bibliography catalog files. (19…

Review of office filing facility filing and retrieval mechanisms for unstructured and mixed media information focuses on free text methods. Also discussed are the state of the art in handling voice and image data, problems with searching text surrogates to implement free text content retrieval, and work of Project Minstrel. (Author/MBR)

Brief discussion of state-of-the-art of modeling complex information systems distinguishes between macrolevel and microlevel modeling of such systems. Network layout and hierarchical system models, simulation, information acquisition and dissemination, databases and information storage, and operating systems are described and assessed. Thirty-four…

Discusses the shift of information access from a data-centered to a user-centered model and describes the Daltext system, a prototype user-centered information system that allows the user to determine how the data will be viewed (i.e., within a datastream model, a set model, a relational model, and/or a hierarchical model). (Contains 30…

Current awareness services at AT&T Bell Laboratories are described: bulletins announcing over 80,000 externally published items/year; production of four commercial machine-readable databases and camera-ready bulletin copy by Bell Laboratories Publication, Alerting, and Retrieval System (BELLPAR); photocopy service. Improvements in service are…