The present experiments were designed to study the effects of search term weighting based on very limited relevance information, supplied, for example, by one or two relevant documents. The tests simulated iterative searching as in an on-line system and show that even very little relevance information can be extremely valuable. A list of…

Discusses information retrieval techniques used on the World Wide Web. Topics include machine learning in information extraction; relevance feedback; information filtering and recommendation; text classification and text clustering; Web mining, based on data mining techniques; hyperlink structure; and Web size. (LRW)

Proposes a method to improve retrieval performance of the vector space model by using users' relevance feedback. Discusses the use of singular value decomposition and the latent semantic indexing model, and reports the results of two experiments that show the effectiveness of the proposed method. (Author/LRW)

This study examined the contribution to retrieval effectiveness (measured by recall and precision) of adding content-bearing information such as abstracts and tables of contents to bibliographic records. It was found that the addition of content-bearing information improves overall retrieval effectiveness. Improvement was primarily in terms of…

Describes a study that used the TREC information-retrieval test collection to evaluate Visual Information Retrieval Interfaces (VIRIs). Discusses multiple-similarity measures, scaling properties, and MLE (maximum likely method), and suggests that cosine-vector and overlap measures for similarity appear to recover optimal data relationships among…

Discusses the test collections developed in the TREC (Text REtrieval Conference) workshops for information retrieval research and describes a study by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) that verified their reliability by investigating the effect changes in the relevance assessments have on the evaluation of retrieval results.…

Considers relevance and recall as measures of the effectiveness of information retrieval systems. Highlights include relevance judgments and information retrieval, including experiments with test collections; information retrieval and assessment of recall; and a comparison of two retrieval mechanisms using a new set of relevance judgments designed…

Discusses some of the work included in the sixth TREC (Text Retrieval Conference). Highlights include retrieval effectiveness and relevance feedback; linguistic phrase identification; word elimination; weighting; precision and recall; query concepts; ad hoc and Chinese retrieval; and cross lingual information retrieval. (LRW)

Considers some of the most fundamental problems in music information retrieval, challenging the common assumption that searching on pitch alone is likely to be satisfactory for all purposes. Discusses special issues related to polyphonic music, user-interface issues, and the notion of relevance for music information retrieval. (Contains 52…

When remembering past choices, people tend to attribute positive features to chosen options and negative features to rejected options. The present experiments reveal the important role beliefs play in memory reconstruction of choices. In Experiment 1, participants who misremembered which option they chose favored their believed choice in their…

This document provides recommendations for request for proposal (RFP) and contract language that state education agencies can use to specify their requirements for access to test item banks. An item bank is a repository for test items and data about those items. Item banks are used by state agency staff to view items and associated data; to…

This article examines issues faced by scholarly societies that are developing and sustaining online paper repositories. It is based on the AERA Conference on Online Paper Repositories, which focused on fundamental issues of policy and procedure important to the operations of online working paper repositories. The report and recommendations address…

The article discusses problems that arise from comparing different kinds of presentation modes such as texts, pictures or animations with regard to learning outcome. These comparisons are confounded with or depend on other variables like quality of the instructional design, learning content, familiarity with the presentation mode as well as…

A model for an information retrieval system in which recall and precision are inversely related is described, and then the anomaly is resolved. (PF)

This paper reports the results of the testing and use of a batch-mode program, QUERY, in three large computer runs performed by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Teacher Education from March through August 1970. Focus is on the behavior of QUERY as a search tool, not on cost-benefit analysis or comparison with…