Considers classifications produced by application of single linkage, complete linkage, group average, and word clustering methods to Keen and Cranfield document test collections, and studies structure of hierarchies produced, extent to which methods distort input similarity matrices during classification generation, and retrieval effectiveness…

Describes an iterative method of document retrieval similar to relevance feedback in that user feedback is utilized in subsequent iterations. However, this method compares retrieved documents with each other using algebraic formulae which determine the boundaries of the area that contains descriptions of relevant documents. Fifteen references are…

Discusses two models of selecting information sources--Cost/Benefit (information seekers select sources on basis of expected benefits and costs), and Least-Effort (seekers select sources on basis of minimizing effort or cost). Results of a study proposing that users place different weights on costs and benefits are presented. (EJS)

Presents a dynamic model of user behavior when scanning an information storage and retrieval system output list, compares rules for determining the user's optimum stopping point, presents an algorithm for implementing the Bayesian model, and discusses implications for retrieval system design. Provided are 13 figures and 15 references. (Author/RBF)

Summarizes the findings of a survey taken to measure user satisfaction with General Electric's online search services, including search retrieval relevance and search benefits. Nine references are cited and a sample questionnaire is provided. (FM)

Answers such central questions as what information is, what relevance is, how one tells what a document is about, and what an information need is. These discussions lead to a description of an ideal information retrieval system. (Author/JD)

The Telemakus System builds on the areas of concept representation, schema theory, and information visualization to enhance knowledge discovery from scientific literature. This article describes the underlying theories and an overview of a working implementation designed to enhance the knowledge discovery process through retrieval, visual and…

Reviews the development of research and evaluation in information retrieval. Highlights include the Cranfield projects concerning recall and precision, the Medlars experiment that focused on relevance, TREC (Text Retrieval Conference), evaluation versus understanding, interface versus functionality, document length, and terms and user interaction.…

Examines a selection of innovative search tools that attempt to solve specific problems in searching. Topics include search difficulties, including controlled vocabularies and keyword searching; retrieval issues, including relevancy ranking; document discrimination problems; creating search tools for specific audiences; and interface design,…

Summarizes the experimental evidence that indicates that text indexing systems based on the assignment of appropriately weighted single terms produce retrieval results superior to those obtained with more elaborate text representations, and provides baseline single term indexing models with which more elaborate content analysis procedures can be…

Presents criteria for an effective syntagmatic relator system and describes how conceptual syntagmatic relationships are expressed in natural language, commenting on the adequacy of such expressions for document retrieval systems. Only one type of expression, a gestalt structure, represented as a frame, conforms to the criteria. (Author/JKP)

Describes a study that explored the relationship between the number of cited references used in a citation search and retrieval effectiveness, analyzing the overlap among posting sets retrieved by various combinations of cited references. Findings showed that the more cited references used for a citation search result, the better the performance.…

Identifies limitations in the use of term co-occurrence data as a basis for automatic query expansion in natural language document retrieval systems. The use of similarity coefficients to calculate the degree of similarity between pairs of terms is explained, and frequency and discriminatory characteristics for nearest neighbors of query terms are…

Presents an investigation into situational characteristics and their relationship to factors affecting graduate students' judgments of the relevance of information; proposes new student orientation as an exercise in information retrieval; and explains a process model of socialization to meet new students' information needs. (Contains 14…

Reports on a comparative investigation of WAIS, a networking and finding aid used on the Internet, and a Boolean-based retrieval system. The terms and limitations of the study are described, and the comparative recall and precision rates are given. The problems and potential of WAIS and other highly interactive search systems are presented.…