Reports on the progressive investigation of techniques for supporting interactive query reformulation in the TREC (Text Retrieval Conference) Interactive Track. Highlights include methods of term suggestion; interface design to support different system functionalities; an overview of each year's TREC investigation; and relevance to the development…

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 implementation of FromTo-CLIR, a Web-based natural-language interface for cross-language information retrieval that was tested with Korean and Japanese. Proposes a method that uses a semantic category tree and collocation to resolve the ambiguity of query translation. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study that investigated users' perceptions of ease of use versus user control in Web-based online information retrieval (IR) systems. Discusses desired features and functionalities as well as desired interface structures that support both ease of use and user control. (Author/LRW)

Compares empirical results from three experiments using Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) data and search topics that involved three different user interfaces. Results show that marking Boolean queries on text, which encourages browsing, and hypertext interfaces to text retrieval systems can benefit recall and can also benefit novice users.…

Describes a prototype system for software documentation management called SLEUTH (Software Literacy Enhancing Usefulness to Humans) being developed at the University of Virginia. Highlights include information retrieval techniques, hypertext links that are installed automatically, a WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine, user…

Discusses database interfaces and explains that collaboration is an important aspect of searching online information retrieval systems that requires explicit computerized support. Collaboration in physical and in digital libraries is discussed and an example of a system that supports collaboration between browsers, ARIADNE, is described. (105…

Presents a tested hypothesis raised by an earlier study and confirmed that query-surrogate documents chosen from within dense interdocument structures in scaled and visualized TREC Topic document data sets increased the number of relevant documents retrieved by 26-46%. Performance of information retrieval systems on data sets for which relevant…

Describes the MultiText information retrieval system that finds arbitrary passages of text, as opposed to complete documents, that are likely to be relevant. Discusses relevance ranking, term expansion, interactive user interface, and distributed searching used in experiments for TREC-6 (Text Retrieval Conference) in the ad hoc, high precision,…

Describes a collaborative effort to explore user needs in a digital library, develop interface prototypes for a digital library, and suggest and prototype tools for digital librarians and users at the Library of Congress. The design process and results are described and suggestions for future work are offered. (Author/LRW)

Introduces a framework for comparing and evaluating knowledge representation schemes based on the requirements for "good" representation discussed in extant literature. Comparative analysis and evaluation of four popular knowledge representation schemes--Logic, Production Rules, Semantic Nets and Frames--are discussed in support of validity and…

In systems that support query-based searching, the presence of multilingual content affects the search technology and user interface components that support query formulation, document selection, and query refinement. A categorization-based selection model is described that is based on rapidly constructed word-by-word gloss translations. An…

Examined the use of the TREC Information Retrieval Test Collection for evaluating visual information retrieval interfaces (VIRI). Found that TREC data sets were suitable as development tools for VIRIs and traditional information retrieval systems and that the computational cost of organizing data into useful visual fields were high and related to…

Discusses a user interface that simplifies NF Squared (non-first-normal-form) relational query formulation in which query specification remains compact and straightforward. This interface allows for nesting and general hierarchical structures and restructuring which provides for more effective retrieval and query formulation. (Author/JKP)

Presents a model of some of the typical important layers in the design of information systems, and shows how those layers interact in operation. Suggests that these layers are in the way of a cascade of each layer affecting the next. Presents a model of this cascade of interactions in information systems. Provides examples from networked…