Explains how a competition-based connectionist model for diagnostic problem-solving is adapted to information retrieval. Topics include probabilistic causal networks; Bayesian networks; the neural network model; empirical studies of test collections that evaluated retrieval performance; precision results; and the use of a thesaurus to provide…

Integrates structured data and text using the unchanged, standard relational model. The performance of a parallel relational database system and the effect of query reduction on accuracy were tested, and it was found that queries can be reduced prior to their implementation without incurring significant loss in precision/recall. (AEF)

Introduces a new concept and technique for information retrieval called colinked descriptors. Highlights include bibliometrics and information retrieval, cited references and linked thesaurus terms, cocited references, examples of colinked descriptors in the "Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors," and experiments that tested the colinked…

Describes a study that sought to understand the pragmatic or operational nature of relevance by examining five individuals' pertinence behavior. Kelly's Personal Construct Theory is applied to the concept of pertinence, personal constructs concerning pertinence are examined, and implications for information science are considered. (Contains nine…

Discusses why it is important to think critically about web searching; how the size of the web affects searching; how the quality of material on the web affects searching; some good approaches to searching effectively; and how searching can become truly productive inquiring. Notes various data on the size of the web. (SR)

Discussion of user-relevance judgments in information retrieval focuses on findings from four separate studies of relevance judgments by 55 users conducting their initial online search on a particular information problem. Highlights include a theoretical framework, models of relevance, and implications for information-retrieval system design and…

Introduces the basic ideas that underpin applications of machine learning to information retrieval. Describes applications of machine learning to text categorization. Considers how machine learning can be applied to the query-formulation process. Examines methods of document filtering, where the user specifies a query that is to be applied to an…

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.…

Describes an automatic approach designed to improve the retrieval effectiveness of very short queries such as those used in Web searching based on the observation that stemming, which is designed to maximize recall, often results in depressed precision. Discusses pseudo-feedback and reranking documents based on unstemmed query terms in the…

Individuals influence each others' decisions about cultural products such as songs, books, and movies; but to what extent can the perception of success become a "self-fulfilling prophecy"? We have explored this question experimentally by artificially inverting the true popularity of songs in an online "music market," in which 12,207 participants…

Purpose: This paper seeks to report selective findings of a wider study to identify the mechanisms that end users employ to overcome their information seeking failure on the web. Design/methodology/approach: Data collection was conducted by semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The study adopted a qualitative approach and was carried out based…

Correct spelling is increasingly important in our technological world. We examined children's and adults' Web search behavior for easy and more difficult to spell target keywords. Grade 4 children and university students searched for the life cycle of the lemming (easy to spell target keyword) or the ptarmigan (difficult to spell target keyword).…

In the late 1990s the Archives of Ontario adopted a version of the Australian "series system" for the arrangement of Government of Ontario records. Series-based systems of arrangement and description provide an alternative means for archives to represent the relationships between a body of records, the functions and activities that…

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether costs invoked by the presence of an irrelevant singleton distractor in a visual search task are due to attentional capture by the irrelevant singleton or spatially unrelated filtering costs. Measures of spatial effects were based on distance effects, compatibility effects, and differences…

Even with President Barack Obama's promises to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and withdraw troops from Iraq, the subject of torture keeps making the news. With all that detainees have had to endure during their incarcerations--the recent memos detail stress positions, cramped confinement, and waterboarding, among other tactics--perhaps…