Draws together central research on scientific problem solving and scientific documentation from a number of fields and demonstrates its latent potential for a general theory of citing. Examines the interdisciplinary field of diffusion research and empirical composition studies dealing with the act of citing. Concludes with a preliminary outline of…

Identifies 13 specific teaching strategies that counselor educators can infuse into existing course work to provide a more systematized approach to training in client documentation. (Author/KW)

Examines the effects of pictures (screen captures and input devices) on documentation for older novice computer users (aged 26 to 69 years). Argues that screen captures help reduce memory load and support visual scanning for older users. Finds no support for the prediction that the presence of pictures would make some manuals more effective than…

Describes a survey of publishers and database producers that examined their activities regarding the retention and storage of electronic material, and access to that material. The discussion covers the archival life of various electronic media, standards relating to electronic publishing, and initiatives in electronic archiving. The questionnaires…

Eight papers from the FID/II Pre-Conference Seminar (Espoo, Finland, August 24-25, 1988) discuss issues related to the use of information as a tool in the context of business information services, strategic information management, business intelligence systems, information resources management, and the role of information and documentation in…

Describes the development, structure and functions of the Organization of American States, a regional international government organization. The description covers the documents produced by various organizational components, bibliographic tools available to verify titles and contents, and the holdings of the Columbus Memorial Library. An extensive…

Explores the use of visualization to enhance the information retrieval process, particularly in bibliographic retrieval systems. Topics discussed include document retrieval systems; human visualization; the VIBE (VIsualization by Example) system, a prototype system for visualizing a collection of documents; and differences between VIBE and more…

Discussion of clustering of documents and queries in information retrieval systems focuses on the use of a genetic algorithm to adapt subject descriptions so that documents become more effective in matching relevant queries. Various types of clustering are explained, and simulation experiments used to test the genetic algorithm are described. (27…

Discusses methods of textual documentation that can be used for software documentation. Highlights include measurement of text comprehensibility; methods for the measurement of documentation quality, including readability and the Cloze Procedure; tools for the measurement of text readability; and the development of the Reading Measurability…

Discussion of the role of document representations in the relevance judgment process describes a study that identified relevance criteria mentioned by users evaluating various document representations. Indexing terms, abstracts, and bibliographic citations are examined, and their co-occurrence with other quality categories mentioned as relevance…

Describes a theoretical model based on binary vectors that was developed to improve relevance in information retrieval systems. Earlier probabilistic models are examined, quadratic and linear discriminant functions are discussed, relationships between queries and documents are considered, and further research is suggested. (15 references) (LRW)

Discusses problems encountered with the syntactic analysis of free text documents in indexing. Postcoordination and precoordination of terms is discussed, an automatic indexing system call COPSY (context operator syntax) that uses natural language processing techniques is described, and future developments are explained. (60 references) (LRW)

Uses structuration theory concepts to analyze the disjunction between annual school development plans and a more flexible planning approach effective at the building level. Analyzes concepts, discusses features of local education authority development plans, summarizes relevant research, and suggests unintended consequences of development plans as…

Describes the development of the Supreme Court Opinion Network (SCON) which evolved from the need for the Electronic Dissemination of Opinions (EDO). The roles of the Court, vendors, and publishers are explained; funding is discussed; and the computer system that ultimately emerged, Project Hermes, is described. (Contains 16 references.) (LRW)

Analyzes the theoretical and the epistemological assumptions of information science. Topics include users and cognition; subject analysis; methods of classification; composition, semantics, and retrieval; the meaning of information; the typology of documents; information selection and research evaluation; and information specialists and…