Examines the processes that occur when a searcher searches for documents in a reference database, and what relationships exist between psychological descriptions of these processes and models from the domain of information retrieval. Highlights include associational psychological modeling; empirical testing; and information science and psychology.…

Discusses object-centered knowledge representation and information retrieval. Highlights include semantic networks; frames; predicative (declarative) and associative knowledge; cluster analysis; creation of subconcepts and superconcepts; automatic classification; hierarchies and pseudohierarchies; graph theory; term classification; clustering of…

This article provides an introduction to the Internet and the World Wide Web for individuals interested in using it to access resources concerning disabilities. It covers such aspects as getting connected, electronic mail, electronic discussion groups (mailing lists and usenet newsgroups), and information retrieval. An extensive list of resources…

Presents a five-part framework for an information infrastructure: (1) aggregating (digital storage); (2) organizing (imposing higher-level structure); (3) using (retrieval processes); (4) tool building (designing and developing technologies for steps 1-3); and (5) policy making (metadata, selection criteria, use policies). Applies the framework to…

Discusses the concept of information scent in a Web site, which is based on mental associations between concepts. Describes research in the field of human-computer interaction, including how humans locate information and semantic networks; and discusses navigation success, user testing, good links, and facet-based browsing. (LRW)

Explores inter-record linkage relationships of a bibliographic hypertext system through the use of descriptor term co-occurrences. Using term distribution and term exhaustivity data for an existing system, three models of term co-occurrence are developed and tested against the observed data. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of the use of information retrieval techniques for automatic generation of semantic hypertext links focuses on automatic text summarization. Topics include World Wide Web links, text segmentation, and evaluation of text summarization by comparing automatically generated abstracts with manually prepared abstracts. (Author/LRW)

Describes a prototype system for software documentation management called SLEUTH (Software Literacy Enhancing Usefulness to Humans) being developed at the University of Virginia. Highlights include information retrieval techniques, hypertext links that are installed automatically, a WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine, user…

Describes the Konstanz Hypertext System which offers a domain-specific developmental environment for the construction of large hypertexts. Highlights include the integration of external information, and three examples: resource discovery of online databases, management of electronic mail, and the compilation of an electronic journal issue.…

Focuses on the user and human-computer interaction aspects of the research based on the Okapi text retrieval system. Three experiments implementing different approaches to query expansion are described, including the use of graphical user interfaces with different windowing techniques. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the importance of research on the use of mathematical, logical, and formal methods in information retrieval to help enhance retrieval effectiveness and clarify underlying concepts of information retrieval. Highlights include logic; probability; spaces; and future research needs. (Author/LRW)

Explains intelligent agents, special software tools that help make the Web more interactive by helping with information retrieval. Describes major types of agents, including search agents and agents for specialized tasks including monitors and knowledge management; and lists relevant Web sites. (LRW)

Presents a user-based approach to exploring the possibility of adding user-oriented class associations to hierarchical library classification schemes. Classes not grouped in the same subject hierarchies yet relevant to users' knowledge are obtained by analyzing a log book of a university library's circulation records, using collaborative filtering…

Describes digital community information systems (CIS) and the need for improvements in system design. Proposes a layered evaluation framework to guide the evaluation of digital CIS from the perspective of information retrieval, following a selective review of digital CIS and evaluation approaches. Contains 59 references. (Author/LRW)

Metasearching of online current news services is a potentially useful Web application of distributed information retrieval techniques. Reports experiences in building a metasearcher designed to provide up-to-date searching over a significant number of rapidly changing current news sites, focusing on how to merge results from the search engines at…