Presents a metric for comparing the performance of common classes of Internet information retrieval tools, including human indexed catalogs of Web resources and automatically indexed databases of Web pages. The benefit of the proposed metric is that it is relevance-based, and it facilitates the comparison of the performance of different classes of…

The concept of premature discovery in science entails the publication of an important idea which remains uncited for a long period. Thereafter, a deluge of citations of its substance would occur. An overlooked example concerns the discovery in 1963 of how lung cancer cells stimulate the formation of new lymph vessels in man. Subsequently called…

This study explores a labelling feature that allows students to tag parts of their online messages. Data comes from four sequentially offered sessions of a graduate education course. Students engaged in two to three online activities in groups of three or four. Students (n = 53) contributed from 0 to 56 labels (M = 12.42, SD = 13.50) and 18 to 114…

Corpus consultation is gaining in prominence as a language learning tool. This approach to language analysis has made its way into the language classroom where its presence ranges from the presentation of printed concordance data with accompanying tasks to the direct use of concordancing software by learners themselves to carry out analyses of…

This chapter looks at the development and nature of learning objects, meta-tagging standards and taxonomies, learning object repositories, learning object repository characteristics, and types of learning object repositories, with type examples. (Contains 1 table.)

Keying in the search term "Martin Luther King" on Google would result in retrieving martinlutherking.com as the topmost hit. At first glance, it seems like a neutral informational site, but clicking on a few articles will unmask the hate. This site, which is owned by Don Black, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, references King as a…

Since July 1978 the general reference section of the Pennsylvania State University library has compiled statistical information related to the use of online searching for reference purposes. An evaluation form completed by the librarian for each online reference search recorded such information as search date; status of requestor; printed sources…

This report provides a brief general summary of progress in a 2-year project renewing earlier work on the development of Individualized Instruction for Data Access (IIDA)--a system for teaching online searching techniques for bibliographic data bases--as well as an in-depth report on the IIDA computer system design. The Connector for Networked…

Focuses on the training of students in online bibliographic searching as introduced by school library media centers. The online process, teaching students to search, search steps, negative and positive aspects, and implications for school library media programs in three areas (student instruction, collection development, service goals) are…

Examines fashioning of model for surrogate to facilitate user selection of appropriate film or video work for particular use. A matrix of time line and film or video document characteristics is proposed as primary aspect of surrogate graphic record, raising issues of description and sampling within abstracting process. (47 references) (EJS)

Controlled experiments conducted to compare effectiveness of enhanced experimental computer intermediary system, CONIT, with that of human expert intermediary search specialists indicate that experimental intermediary techniques are now capable of providing search assistance whose effectiveness at least approximates that of human intermediaries in…

Presents methods of information query building in selective dissemination of information systems based on user's publications and examines possible compatibility between user's information queries and his publications. Methods of information query construction determined by logical operators AND, OR, NOT and set of weighted keywords are described.…

Description of classification schemes for fiction book retrieval covers traditional methods, universal systems, special systems, genre systems, and development of the AMP-classification system based on multidimensional analysis of users' requests (subject matter, setting, author's intention, accessibility). Trial applications and retrieval tests,…

Evaluates database searching and compares results of online and manual literature retrieval conducted in support of environmental research. Discussion covers search topic and construction of online profile, results and costs of online searches, results of manual searching, relevant references missed by online searching, and availability and…

WQ is a Web-based system that reflects some of the ideas found in WebQuests. This paper analyzes the characteristics that make the WebQuests so popular and determines which of their components give them the greatest educational value. The WQ system, which the authors have implemented, presents sites to be browsed and searched. It allows students…