Experiential learning opportunities have been proven effective in teaching applied and complex subjects such as business analytics. Current business analytics pedagogy tends to focus heavily on the modeling phase with students often lacking a comprehensive understanding of the entire analytics process including dealing with real-life data that are…

This paper describes the use and benefits of Microsoft's Adventure Works (AW) database to teach advanced database skills in a hands-on, realistic environment. Database management and querying skills are a key element of a robust information systems curriculum, and active learning is an important way to develop these skills. To facilitate active…

The availability and use of computers in teaching has seen an increase in the rate of plagiarism among students because of the wide availability of electronic texts online. While computer tools that have appeared in recent years are capable of detecting simple forms of plagiarism, such as copy-paste, a number of recent research studies devoted to…

Businesses and higher education leaders are looking for students with the ability to evaluate and analyze information and to use this information to solve real-world problems. These are the information literacy skills students need for the 21st century. However, several recent studies on the ability of college freshmen to handle the rigor of…

Describes in detail the practice of information retrieval within business organizations based on 46 interviews. Highlights include the importance of text to the performance of information work rather than technical aspects of retrieval; information management; and information retrieval problems in organizations. (LRW)

Discusses the use of problem-based learning to meet technology standards. Highlights include technology as a tool for locating and organizing information; the Wolf Wars problem for elementary and secondary school students that provides resources, including Web sites, for information; Web-based problems; and technology as assessment and as a…

Discusses how information technology and information retrieval may be used to build the virtual library, based on examples from Carnegie-Mellon University. Topics include information technology infrastructure, including distributed computing; Boolean searching; natural language processing; navigating the Internet; and prototypes and problems at…

Examines the challenges involved in conducting an informal usability case study based on the introduction of a new information-retrieval system to experienced users. Identifies problems users were having with TREC (Text Retrieval Conference) and examines the usability of the new ZPRISE interface. (Author/LRW)

Presents a review of three major strategies for learning and information retrieval useful for learners in coping with typical problems in unstructured hypermedia. Strategies for goal attainment, spatial orientation, and knowledge acquisition are discussed, and future research on learning strategies for hypermedia is suggested. (Author/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…

Describes the goals of the CLEF (Cross-Language Evaluation Forum) series of evaluation campaigns for information retrieval systems operating on European languages. Examines the difficulties of organizing an activity which aims at an objective evaluation of systems running on and over a number of different languages. (Author/LRW)

Presents entirely automatic methods for gathering documents for a hypertext, for linking the set, and for annotating those connections with a description of the type (that is, the nature) of the link. Document linking is based on information retrieval similarity measures with adjustable levels of strictness. Evaluation problems are also…

Discusses vagueness as a problem of materials information system development in the context of information retrieval within the paradigm of information science. Presents a prototype which combines an object-oriented graphical user interface with natural language feedback and correction functionality, as well as intelligent components for graphical…

Discusses Alta Vista, one of the most heavily used search engines on the World Wide Web. Describes the following search term manipulations: wildcard and truncation, adjacency, Boolean, and capitalization. Notes problems due to the Internet's constant state of transition and discusses advanced search mode. (AEF)

Discusses the use of information retrieval techniques for the automatic authoring of hypertext. Presents a typology of hypertext links, describes examples of automatic construction of hypertext, and considers evaluation problems. (LRW)