An ideal continuing education program in health sciences would provide (1) assistance in acquiring information, (2) effective group participation, and (3) linkage of education with practice through applications of computer technology. (SK)

Examines and compares the theoretical and empirical bases for the use of the relative frequency of descriptor use in the design and maintenance of thesauri for information retrieval in the social and natural sciences. Data are presented in two tables and a reference list is included. (JL)

Discusses the Vocabulary Switching System (VSS), an experimental, automated switching system, which specifically addresses the problems of heterogeneous database vocabularies and indexes and the difficulty these pose for users who wish to combine more than one database in a single online search. (CWM)

Presents guidelines for making a Web site noticeable. Discusses submitting the URL to directories, links, and announcement lists, and sending the site over the server via FTP to search engines. Describes how to index the site with "Title,""Heading," and "Meta" tags. (AEF)

A template for pictorial image description to be used by novice image searchers in recording their descriptions of images was tested; image attribute classes derived in previous research were used to model the template. Results indicated that users may need training and/or more guidance to correctly assign descriptors to higher-level classes.…

Describes the corporate origins, development, and unique features of three World Wide Web search tools. Open Text released LiveLink Search 64 in April 1996. Harvest indexes fewer sites than many competitors but offers powerful searching options. 2ASK is a service that provides links to over 100 Internet indexing tools and rates Web sites and…

Presents costs and benefits of document information systems as well as a design methodology. Highlights include the method of working, method of modelling, multiple data types, access structure and indexing, and a case study of the implementation of a document information system in the Netherlands. (Author/LRW)

Describes the ARIADNE (Alliance of Remote Instructional Authoring and Distribution Networks for Europe) projects (1996-2000), which developed tools and methodologies for producing and managing pedagogical elements, storing them in knowledge pools and building and supporting training curricula. Collaborative teaching with ARIADNE is highlighted,…

Investigates the impact of the omission of scholarly communication journals from Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) on citation-based appraisals of communication literature. Argues that accurate citation analysis will not be possible until SSCI and AHCI include omitted journals; and that an…

Argues that online search capabilities are a form of indexing and that access is determined by the total mix of preexisting and added "search capability" indexing. The design of a "superthesaurus," geared to the needs of users and to online rather than manual searching, is proposed as part of a user friendly interface. (19…

Describes the possible improvements in the quality of automatic indexing systems gained by using complex descriptors, and reports on the effectiveness of a simple nonsyntactic phrase indexing procedure. The discussion covers shortcomings of this approach, possible methods for improvement, and areas needing further research. (43 references) (CLB)

Describes three models for probabilistic indexing, all based on the Darmstadt automatic indexing approach, and presents experimental evaluation results for each. The discussion covers the improved retrieval effectiveness of probabilistic indexing over binary indexing, and suggestions for using this automatic indexing method with free text terms.…

Outlines an approach to the automatic construction of a knowledge base resulting in a system that is able in each phase of its construction to acquire domain knowledge from all new information that it is building, particularly index terms. Topics covered include production rules, the use of semantic networks, and user interfaces. (32 references)…

Identifies and discusses some reasons why using periodical index subject categories as indicators can produce misleading results. Discusses methodological difficulties arising from historical and idiosyncratic changes in index subject category headings and subheadings. Argues that researchers using an index's subject categories should test not…

Discusses CD-ROM databases in college libraries and lists several ways to make local periodical holdings easily identifiable to users. Topics include standard inputting formats for library databases; updating databases; search strategies; and suggestions for teaching techniques to improve search effectiveness. (five references) (SLW)