The establishment of a reference filing system, based on optical coincidence retrieval, for an eight-man research group studying gas reactions is described. The complete system is simple to use and gives rapid, precise reference retrieval. (1 reference) (Author)

Introduced are methods for computation of term-term association factors, indexing, assignment of term-document relevance values, and computation for recall and relevance. Recall and relevance are based on quantitative intenal system computations, and results are compared with user evaluations. (Author/MF)

To assess value of abstracts in online information retrieval, this study attempts to match free-text search phrases to index terms and provides classification of documents indicating form of retrieval to be expected by searching three databases--Energyline; Management Contents; and America, History and Life. Results of a sample search are…

Discusses the quality of information retrieval using "free text" searching in full-text databases and presents a critical perspective on the importance of augmenting access to full-text databases through some form of text enhancement, such as the use of a limited controlled vocabulary for indexing general concepts. (Author/JL)

Explores the effects on relevance concerns in traditional online search strategies caused by ranking retrieved documents. Two extreme examples are presented to illustrate the impact of ranking; advantages and limitations of ranking are discussed. (SW)

Describes large scale experiments to test the value of index term weighting based on relevance information, and presents results showing that weighting leads to remarkable improvements in retrieval performance. (Author/CWM)

Describes a model of an information retrieval system based on a thesaurus with weights. Appropriate terms are defined, and inclusiveness and two other fundamental properties of the system are presented. (CWM)

To investigate the relationship between the retrieval mechanism and the level of question elaboration, this study divided 100 questions from the cystic fibrosis database into five conceptual categories based on their semantic representations. Two retrieval methods were chosen to investigate potential differences in outcomes across conceptual…

This report on the Getty Online Searching Project, which studied the end-user searching behavior of 27 humanities scholars over a 2-year period, focuses on previous familiarity with retrieved documents. Topics include document familiarity and relevance; document familiarity and information retrieval; measuring retrieval success; and document…

Describes a study that computed the low performance standards for queries in 17 test collections. Predicted by the hypergeometric distribution, the standards represent the highest level of retrieval effectiveness attributable to chance. Operational levels of performance for vector-space and other retrieval models were compared to the standards.…

Explores the use of linear models and a combination of neural networks and linear classifiers to create a hybrid hierarchical mixture of experts (HME) model. Results confirm that using the hierarchical structure of the classification vocabulary improves categorization performance. (AEF)

Reports on an exploratory study of the criteria searchers use when judging the relevance of recorded speech from radio programs and the attributes of a recording on which those judgments are based. Criteria used as a basis for selection were found to be similar to those observed in relevance studies with printed materials, but attributes used as a…

Provides an overview of some of the main ideas in the philosophy of language that have relevance to the issues of information retrieval, focusing on the description of the intellectual content. Highlights include retrieval problems; recall and precision; words and meanings; context; externalism and the philosophy of language; and scaffolding and…

Reports on a study that tested the efficacy of an information retrieval system output summary and visualization scheme for undergraduates taking a Vietnam War history course who were in Kuhlthau's Stage 3 of researching a history essay. No significant difference was found between the mean marks for students in the visualization scheme group or the…

Discusses term weighting formulae and their use for selecting new terms to enhance a search statement and for weighting the terms for retrieval purposes once selected. The Swets model of information retrieval system performance is described, an approach to term selection is presented, and future research is suggested. (five references) (LRW)