Examines traditional and interactive models that have emerged in information retrieval (IR), and proposes an interactive IR model based on different levels in the interactive processes. Analyzes strengths and weaknesses of the traditional model. Concludes with general remarks on the state of IR interaction research. (Author/AEF)

Extensionists need to make the "ASIAn Connection"--become Aware of the spectrum of research, Select program-related research, Integrate research from many disciplines, and Apply it in a way useful to clientele. Extensionists currently use a wide variety of traditional techniques to make the "ASIAn Connection." One relatively new technique has…

Almost all work on music information retrieval to date has concentrated on music in the audio and event (normally MIDI) domains. However, music in the form of notation, especially Conventional Music Notation (CMN), is of much interest to musically trained persons, both amateurs and professionals, and searching CMN has great value for digital music…

Discusses ways to apply traditional search strategies to online information seeking. Highlights include explore and browse search features; hierarchical features (knowledge/topic/subject trees, categories, distribution lists); analytical search features; and the process approach. (AEF)

Computer vision offers a variety of techniques for searching for pictures in large collections of images. Appearance methods compare images based on the overall content of the image using certain criteria. Finding methods concentrate on matching subparts of images, defined in a variety of ways, in hope of finding particular objects. These ideas…

Examines several alternative document summarization techniques to determine which is the most effective for saving time when a human judge must certify the output of an automatic categorization system. That is, how useful is the summarization technique as compared to reading the entire document. Users in this case are molecular biologists wanting…

A pathfinder diskette contains a customized Web page that links the student immediately to content-rich Web sites, eliminating the false starts and dead ends inherent in preliminary Web searches. Suggestions are provided for creating pathfinders that meet multiple information needs within the school. (AEF)

A successful one-year medical information system pilot project responded to 240 questions by 47 physicians in 10 rural Alberta (Canada) communities. On average, each physician submitted 5.1 questions, and each community submitted 24 questions. Physicians received responses in a median of 7.3 hours or could conduct their own searches. (Author/MSE)