The use of a structured system of storing information, particularly relational indexing, can lead to situations in which items would not be retrieved due to technicalities of the system. To overcome such problems a study was made of condensations with the aim of providing a series of rules to apply. (4 references) (Author/SJ)

Present day shortcomings in information retrieval are the results of a failure to properly contend with the problem of data representation. The index provides the necessary linkage between a multiplicity of sources and a single receiver. Whether considering the source/document-space interface or the query/index interface, the elements of the…

Substantial alterations to a system often have little or no effect on particular collections. This may be due to poor separation of relevant and non-relevant documents. The paper presents a procedure for characterizing this separation, which can show whether proposed modifications of the base system are likely to be useful. (8 references)…

Retrieval performance with automatic term classifications for three test collections has been variable. This paper attempts to discover why. The real difference between the collections is in the separation of relevant from non-relevant documents. The separation is so poor that classification cannot be expected to succeed. (14 references)…

Use of syntactic trace as an access strategy for large files containing arbitrary languages for which thesaurus-based and multiple attribute search techniques are unsuitable. (LS)

Formal proofs are given of the effectiveness under well-defined conditions of the thesaurus method in information retrieval. It is shown, in particular, that when certain semantically related terms are added to the information queries originally submitted by the user population, a superior retrieval system is obtained in the sense that for every…

The indexing and online searching of data bases have both conflicting and complementary structures, determined in part by the choice of indexing language. In the planning of a machine readable system, the Foundation Center, administrator of two data bases, initially chose a natural language for the lower cost, more rapid implementation, and…

A study was conducted to determine the most effective way to organize the data that are being accumulated by the European Documentation and Information System for Education (EUDISED). The study considered types of information services and search facilities which might be used to access the EUDISED data base. Indexing systems were examined and…

Three specific contributions to the field of information retrieval are presented. The first two describe the establishment of an adaptive, interactive man-machine dialogue that produces a form of unsolicited librarian-like assistance for the user in his selection of index terms to characterize an indexing function. The data set upon which the…

Part One, Automatic Content Analysis contains: "Content Analysis in Information Retrieval;""The 'Generality' Effect and the Retrieval Evaluation for Large Collections;""Automatic Indexing Using Bibliographic Citations" and "Automatic Resolution of Ambiguities from Natural Language Text." Part Two, Automatic…

As the fourteenth report in a series describing research in automatic information storage and retrieval, this document covers work carried out on the SMART project for approximately one year (summer 1967 to summer 1968). The document is divided into four main parts: (1) SMART systems design, (2) analysis and search experiments, (3) user feedback…

Describes experiments in Arabic information retrieval using 29 queries against a base of 355 bibliographic records. Using roots and stems as index terms worked better than words, and the root performed as well as or better than the stem at low recall levels and definitely better at high recall levels. (Contains 30 references.) (KRN)