Discusses information retrieval techniques used on the World Wide Web. Topics include machine learning in information extraction; relevance feedback; information filtering and recommendation; text classification and text clustering; Web mining, based on data mining techniques; hyperlink structure; and Web size. (LRW)

Discusses the difficulty of locating relevant information on the Web and studies two approaches to addressing the low precision and poor presentation of search results: meta-search and document categorization. Introduces MetaSpider, a meta-search engine, and presents results of a user evaluation study that compared three search engines.…

This study found that a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm for browsing can categorize a large and eclectic Internet-information space into manageable sub-spaces that users can navigate to find relevant home pages. An automatically generated concept-space algorithm for searching was shown to enhance keyword-based Internet searching.…

Summarizes a prototype geographical image retrieval system that demonstrates how to integrate image processing and information analysis techniques to support large-scale content-based image retrieval. Describes an experiment to validate the performance of this image retrieval system against that of human subjects by examining similarity analysis…

Describes a study that investigated the use of a natural language processing technique called noun phrasing to determine whether it is a viable technique for medical information retrieval. Evaluates four noun phrase generation tools for their ability to isolate noun phrases from medical journal abstracts, focusing on precision and recall.…

This study tested two Web personal spiders (i.e., agents that take users' requests and perform real-time customized searches) based on best first-search and genetic-algorithm techniques. Both results were comparable and complementary, although the genetic algorithm obtained higher recall value. The Java-based interface was found to be necessary…

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…

Grounded on object filtering, automatic indexing, and co-occurrence analysis, an experiment was performed using a parallel supercomputer to analyze over 400,000 abstracts in an INSPEC computer engineering collection. A user evaluation revealed that system-generated thesauri were better than the human-generated INSPEC subject thesaurus in concept…

Searching for useful information on the World Wide Web has become increasingly difficult. While Internet search engines have been helping people to search on the Web, low recall rate and outdated indexes have become more and more problematic as the Web grows. In addition, search tools usually present to the user only a list of search results,…

Presents an overview of machine learning research and reviews methods used for evaluating machine learning systems. Ways that machine-learning algorithms were used in traditional information retrieval systems in the "pre-Web" era are described, and the field of Web mining and how machine learning has been used in different Web mining…

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.…

Two studies of the cognitive processes involved in online document-based information retrieval were conducted. These studies led to the development of five computational models of online document retrieval which were incorporated into the design of an "intelligent" document-based retrieval system. Both the system and the broader implications of…

Presents an algorithmic approach to addressing the vocabulary problem in scientific information retrieval and information sharing, using the molecular biology domain as an example. A cognitive study and a follow-up document retrieval study were conducted using first a conjoined fly-worm thesaurus and then an actual worm database and the conjoined…

Describes the growth and accomplishments of Digital Libraries Initiative Phase 2 (DLI-2), lists performer and abstract information for Fiscal Year 1999 awards; progress in reference linking for journal articles with model; presents a Geospatial Knowledge Representation System (GKRS) prototype that integrates multiple knowledge sources to support…