The ability of operating departments of an institution to mechanically gather, summarize, and report "local" data is discussed. Problems are outlined that arise when departments have the ability to produce data and do so with rigorous quality control by the institution's central information management organization. (MLW)

Describes an online library catalog in which bibliographic references have been compiled by simply transcribing the descriptive data found on the title page and elsewhere on the documents, and discusses the wider implications of the use of natural language descriptions without modifications. Eleven references are listed. (FM)

Examines various types of link list structures built on top of the traditional random access files for application to a database query technique involving multiple keys, and shows how the technique can improve performance of traditional random access files for the Grants Information System. (Author/CMV)

Considers a "hybrid" approach to the modeling of uncertainty in deductive databases. The model, deductive IST (DIST) is based on an extension of the "Information Source Tracking" (IST) model for relational databases. Proves that the complexity of testing containment of conjunctive DIST queries remains the same as in the…

The paper reviews current rehabilitation databases and discusses ways in which they may be used to enhance the rehabilitation process. Their use decreases by 80% or more the time usually needed to manually develop rehabilitation-related data. A table presents questions that can be asked in selecting a prospective database, including whether the…

Discusses how data systems can be designed to serve not only operations but also higher-level management and planning with observations about information as a political as well as an administrative tool. (Editor/PG)

This is a progress report on a project attempting to design a system of compacting text for storage appropriate to disc oriented demand searching. After noting a number of previously designed methods of compression, it offers a tentative solution which couples a dictionary of most frequent character-strings with a set of variable-length codes. The…

The computer language FOL is intended to facilitate the implementation of file organizations for information storage and retrieval systems. In many information storage and retrieval applications the designer, initially, does not know how best to organize a data base for efficient retrieval and ease of updating and modifying. It is felt that FOL…

The history, purpose, and operation of six computer-based information networks are described in general and nontechnical terms. In the introduction the many definitions of an information network are explored. Ohio College Library Center's network (OCLC) is the first example. OCLC began in 1963, and since early 1973 has been extending its services…

The three documents contained in this report describe an interactive retrieval language implemented for the IBM 360/67 of the Campus Faculty at Stanford University, between October 1969 and May 1970. The three reports are: (1) DIRAC--An Interactive Retrieval Language with Computational Interface, (2) DIRAC--An Overview of an Interactive Retrieval…

The aim of this bibliography is to provide a guide to the diverse body of literature that deals with the "geographic or spatial characteristics" of the data elements and data items in each of the following five phases: (1) Specification, (2) Acquisition, (3) Processing, (4) Dissemination and (5) Application. It is intended to provide…

An examination of one of the problems of data banks dealing with terminology and serving varieties of users. The problem addressed is: Do such data banks actually fulfil their objective, and, if not, what modifications should be made? Difficulties experienced by translators are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

This discussion of the use of optical scanning and computer formatting for retrospective conversion focuses on a series of applications known as Optical Scanning for Creation of Information Databases (OSCID). Prior research in this area and the usefulness of OSCID for creating low-priced machine-readable data representing older materials are…

The study has applied speech recognition and text-mining technologies to a set of recorded outbound marketing calls and analyzed the results. Since speaker-independent speech recognition technology results in a significantly lower recognition rate than that found when the recognizer is trained for a particular speaker, a number of post-processing…

This paper describes one child care agency's use of a management information system to provide data swiftly, accurately, and in a usable form. (ST)