Discusses topical relevance and situational relevance, which takes into account the impact of the retrieval system on the user, in the context of medicine. Topics addressed include scientific validity; limitations of current evaluation methodology, including recall and precision; and a framework for future retrieval research based on an…

Examines the importance of relevance criteria in end-user evaluation of valuable or high relevant information as users move through six stages of information seeking proposed by Kuhlthau (1994) and as they selected, obtained, and read information sources. Respondents were enrolled in graduate studies at the University of North Texas and Texas…

This study of students at the University of Tampere (Finland) analyzes how changes in relevance criteria are related to changes in problem stages during the task performance process in information retrieval. Provides a conceptual framework, including Kuhlthau's information search process model and prior knowledge; and compares bibliographic…

Examines trends in Web searching, including the proposed AOL and Time Warner merger; minibrowsers; micropayments for information; inability of search engines to keep up with Web growth; distributed search engines; human-compiled directories; increasing relevance to meet user needs; browser-free searching; whole document queries; and introducing…

Describes Semio, a company founded in 1996 that uses semiology to provide straightforward access to information. Discusses the text-mining engine at the core of the company's software; products; focus on the intranet market; competitors; partnership with corporate portals. (AEF)

Analyzes certain features of work tasks and relates these features to types of information people are looking for and using in their tasks, patterning of search strategies for obtaining information and relevance assessments in choosing retrieved documents. The major claim is that these information activities are systematically connected to task…

Developments in communication and information technologies in the last decade have had a significant impact on instructional and learning activities. For many students and educators, the Internet became the significant medium for sharing instruction, learning and communication. Access to knowledge beyond boundaries and cultures has an impact on…

This book is designed primarily to help users find meaningful words for natural language, or free-text, computer searching of bibliographic and textual databases in the social and behavioral sciences. Additionally, it covers many socially relevant and technical topics not covered by the usual literary thesaurus, therefore it may also be useful for…

In an attempt to measure on-line searching performance, test searches of one question conducted by three bibliographic searchers are analysed to determine the effects of search strategy on results. The study reviews retrieved citations for relevance, calculating precision values, and estimated recall for each search. Performance analysis reveals…

An automated retrieval system for reference works was constructed as a prototype in order to illustrate the capabilities and potentialities of future retrieval systems. More than 170 biographical works were indexed and stored in a computer disk to form a biographical data base, and a computer program was written to match patron queries. Consistent…

PROBE, a batch-mode information retrieval program used to search the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) data base, was developed by Indiana University. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, questionnaires were given to the users of 200 consecutive searches during February 1973. Relevance ratios were computed by comparing the…

The purpose of this guide is to give an up-to-date presentation of the information service offered by the documentation center at the Royal Institute of Technology (RIT) and to facilitate the utilization of the service. The guide gives a general account of the multidisciplinary computerized current awareness service (SDI) and a detailed…

The transfer of information through space and time in communication systems is often accompanied by significant delays which give rise to meaningful storage problems. Mathematical models have been developed for the study of these kinds of problems which are applicable to the design of manual, library-type, or mechanized information storage and…

A correlation between recall (the retrieval of all available relevant documents) and quantity of text which served as a source of index terms on input can reasonably be expected. Specifically, recall should decrease as the quantity of text serving as a source of index terms is restricted. On the other hand, the time for indexing and therefore the…

Discusses science and engineering students' reactions and attitudes toward the use of on-line bibliographic information retrieval and major search systems vs manual searching in a course dealing with information resources. Problems encountered and the relevance to student needs of the on-line component of the course are included. (Author/CWM)