Discusses how imprecision and uncertainty are dealt with in the UFO (Uncertainty and Fuzziness in an Object-oriented) database model. Such information is expressed by means of possibility distributions, and modeled by means of the proposed concept of "role objects." The role objects model uncertain, tentative information about objects,…

Traditional themes of information science must be expanded to accommodate systematic understandings of ways to design effective documentary systems and anticipate their social consequences. The field of social informatics offers important concepts, theories, and methods that give this kind of inquiry a sound scientific basis. Social informatics…

This book aims to facilitate more effective and efficient use of World Wide Web search engines by helping the reader: know the basic structure of the major search engines; become acquainted with those attributes (features, benefits, options, content, etc.) that search engines have in common and where they differ; know the main strengths and…

Presents a new method to improve the performance of query processing in a spatial database. Experiments demonstrated that performance of database systems can be improved because both the number of objects accessed and number of objects requiring detailed inspection are much less than those in the previous approach. (AEF)

A statistical method of drawing index terms or "highlights" from text is presented that uses no stop list, stem or other language- and domain-specific components, allowing operation in any domain or language with minimal modification. Some experimental results are presented, showing operation in six different languages. (67 references)…

Describes the development of a system to retrieve images for an international project that is producing a pictorial dictionary of classical mythology, the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Applications to other types of information are discussed, two classification systems for Art History are described, and design principles for…

Outlines the file structure requirements for a microcomputer-based information retrieval system using FoxPro, a relational database management system (DBMS). Issues relating to the design and implementation of such systems are discussed, and two possible designs are examined in terms of space economy and practicality of implementation. (15…

Discusses how to increase user satisfaction by designing information retrieval systems that inform the user while the user is interacting online. Models the information processing operations of a user who has received an information message from the system and is stimulated into grasping at a higher understanding of the information need. (Contains…

Presents a heuristic, attribute-based, noise-tolerant data mining program, HCV (Version 2.0) based on the newly-developed extension matrix approach. Outlines some techniques implemented in the HCV program for noise handling and discretization of continuous domains; an empirical comparison shows that rules generated by HCV are more compact than the…

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)

Discussion of terms and how they are used in queries in information retrieval focuses on a transaction log analysis of queries posed on an Internet search service that isolated basic query structure syntactic patterns. Describes a linguistic model that classified Web queries and suggests implications for information retrieval system design.…

Presents a session abstract that included speakers discussing current studies in successive searching during the information seeking process. Highlights include mediated successive searching; end-user successive searching; designing information retrieval systems to support successive searching; and search histories for user support in legal…

Presents an abstract for a planned session on the need to coordinate user studies and information retrieval system design research. Topics include human-based research and system-based research; children's information use; usability and cartographic information systems; and ethnomethodology and system design. Panelists included: Nick Belkin, Dania…

Distance education created new challenges regarding the delivery of large size isochronous continuous streaming media (SM) objects. In this paper, we consider the design of a framework for customized SM presentations, where each presentation consists of a number of SM objects that should be retrieved and displayed to the user in a coherent…

Argues that access to hypertext documents in read-only forms contradicts the assumption that hypertext removes the distinction between author and reader, and discusses the implications for authors of hypertext documents. The creation of hypertext versions of journal articles and a database of such articles are described. (four references) (CLB)