Search

Discusses the implementation of a cartographic user interface to bibliographic and other information sub-spaces in astronomy. Presents a range of comparative assessments, in operational frameworks, of this approach to accessing and retrieving astronomical information. Discusses the particular role that such cartographic user interfaces can play in Web-based information seeking, and contrasts this with current available search technologies. (Contains 21 references.) (Author/AEF)

An empirical investigation of information retrieval using the MEDLINE database was carried out to study user behavior, performance and to investigate the reasons for suboptimal searches. Subjects were two groups of final year medical students (novice and expert users of the search system). Findings indicate that just one factor can cause poor performance, whereas good performance can result from suboptimal strategies that compensate for some difficulties. (Contains 47 references.) (AEF)

Examines whether the results obtained from a specific bibliographic search can be applied to a real search environment and enhance the level of utility of an information retrieval session for all levels of users. Focuses on a Web-based Bibliometric Information Retrieval System (BIRS), designed with facilities to assist users in getting a better understanding of their search queries and visualizing the bibliographic research results. (Contains 79 references.) (AEF)

Reevaluates the "Success" search strategy (Chaim, 1994) based on the principle of planning the search according to four successive phases. Evaluation was conducted by in-depth interviews with professional information searchers. Panelists were asked to critically analyze the strategy's rationale, evaluate the basic components, and reflect on potential implications for user education, library and information science education, and information system development. (Contains 34 references.) (AEF)

With many information retrieval (IR) schemes available, researchers have begun to investigate the benefits of combining results of different IR schemes to improve performance, in the process called "data fusion." This article investigates the predictive power of two variables--similarity of efficacy and dissimilarity of outputs--in simple symmetrical data fusion. (Contains 18 references.) (AEF)

The method described permits visual analysis of information retrieval (IR) experiment results in classic control and treatment group protocols. It is an additional analysis technique for the evaluation of IR procedures that may be conducted within the rich terrain of human visual acuity, supported by two well-known statistical measures. (Contains 27 references.) (Author)

Presents a framework for the design of information representations in terms of previews and overviews, to aid designers of digital library interfaces. Defines previews and overviews, as graphic or textual representations of information abstracted from primary information objects, analogous to bibliographic records and catalogs; and describes four example applications. (Author/LRW)

Presents a user-centered investigation of interactive query expansion within the context of a relevance feedback system. Data were collected from 25 searches using the INSPEC database. Results discuss issues relating to query expansion, retrieval effectiveness, correspondence of the online-to-offline relevance judgments, and selection of terms for query expansion by users (interactive query expansion). Results provide evidence for the effectiveness of interactive query expansion. (Contains 49 references.) (Author/AEF)

Investigates one component of a Web site--the index structure, comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of 20 subjects who used one index and three experimental variants to complete five tasks. Findings indicate that a hypertext index with multiple access points for each concept, all linked to the same resource, led to greater effectiveness and efficiency of retrieval on almost all measures. Satisfaction measures were more variable. (Author/AEF)

Defines the task of the Ph.D. history student in terms of information needs; reports the results of a study of Ph.D. students that observed their accessing information based on collecting names; and theorizes that collecting names induced expert thinking by mimicking the mental representation of a history expert. (Contains 90 references.) (Author/LRW)

Discusses the distinction between record-oriented and pattern-oriented questions and relates them to information seeking at museums. Describes the Core of Discovery, a prototype system for exploring collections of textual data at The Historic New Orleans Collection, which includes keyword retrieval, concept retrieval, and pattern-oriented retrieval. (LRW)

Describes the use of Repertory Grid methodology as a means of externalizing an individual's view of information space. Discusses personal construct theory (PCT), describes the Grid method with a single participant, and proposes future work which will investigate the extent to which individuals share perceptions of information space. (Author/LRW)

Discusses information-seeking strategies in information retrieval systems, including Web search engines, and focuses on an in-depth investigation of shifts in the micro-level of user goals, namely interactive intention and information-seeking strategies. Discusses implications of the results for the design of adaptive information retrieval systems. (Contains 37 references.) (Author/LRW)

Focuses on participants' confidence in their judgments of the relevance of bibliographic records to particular research questions. Describes an empirical investigation of the association between participants' confidence and the number of categories for a relevance rating scale. Presents exploratory results involving gender effects and comparison of scales with an odd number of points with scales that have an even number of points. (AEF)

Explores the information processes and work situations of interdisciplinary scientists, focusing on structural and strategic elements of information exchange between intellectual domains. Interview data reveal that scientists undertake individual and cooperative boundary-crossing research. Four research modes are identified and associated with different approaches to seeking information and knowledge-base development. (Author/AEF)

Reports the findings of an experiment using a simulated title page, author surnames, and title words, one-third of which were selected by each of the three authors, to determine the frequency of one-screen displays when used to search for known items in an implied Boolean retrieval system. (Author/AEF)

Outlines an efficient approach to performing query resolution which, when matched with a keyword scanner, offers rapid selecting and routing for massive Boolean queries, and which is suitable for implementation on a desktop computer. Demonstrates the system's operation with large examples in a practical setting. (AEF)

Zipf's law states that if words in a text are arranged in decreasing order of occurrence, then the product of the rank of a word and the number of times it occurs is a constant of that text. Examination of the probabilities of occurrence of multi-word phrases in information retrieval in relation to the probabilities of occurrence of single words proves that for multi-word phrases Zipf's law is not valid. (AEF)

Introduces the Monte Carlo method which is shown to represent an attractive alternative to the hypergeometric model for identifying the levels at which random retrieval performance is exceeded in retrieval test collections and for overcoming some of the limitations of the hypergeometric model. Practical matters to consider when employing the Monte Carlo method are examined. (AEF)

Reports on the follow-up study of a two-part project designed to study the decision-making process underlying how academic researchers select documents retrieved from online databases, consult or read, and cite documents during a research project. Findings indicated that all but one of the criteria reoccur in connection with reading and citing decisions, and identified 14 new criteria. Contains 43 references. (AEF)

Presents a broad view of information access, drawing from philosophy and semiology in constructing a framework for comparative discussion that is used to examine the information representations that underlie four approaches to information access--information retrieval, workflow, collaborative filtering, and the path model. Contains 32 references. (AEF)

Presents an overview of the ways in which user/system interaction in interactive information-retrieval (IR) systems has been treated in IR research and practice over the years. Describes the characteristics of a number of IR systems, as well as proposals for IR systems, in light of challenges set for by John Bennett in 1971. Contains 82 references. (AEF)

Presents personal analysis of information science as a field of scientific inquiry and professional practice that has evolved over the past half-century. Examines origin of information science in respect to problems of the information explosion, social role of field, nature of "information," structure of field in terms of problems addressed, evolutionary trends in information retrieval, relation of information science to other fields, and educational models and issues. Contains 48 references. (Author/AEF)

Articulates key elements in the "invisible substrate" of information science. Emphasizes information science's role as a meta-science--conducting research and developing theory around documentary products of other disciplines and activities. Suggests that mental activities of information science center around "representation" and "organization" of information rather than "knowing" information. (Author/AEF)

Assessed the information-seeking behavior of scientists at the University of Oklahoma using an electronically distributed questionnaire, a copy of which is appended. Results indicate a preference for printed peer-reviewed journal articles and the need for libraries to provide access to electronic bibliographic databases. Appendix II lists electronic journal subscriptions at the University of Oklahoma. (Author/LRW)

Analyzes Web-searching behavior for homework assignments of high school students through field observations in class and at the computer terminal with students thinking aloud, and through interviews with various participants. Results emphasize the need for training and for system design based on user seeking and search behavior. (Author/LRW)

Describes a Canadian study that investigated the kinds of information adolescents want to help them make career decisions, sources used to get relevant information, barriers that hinder them from accessing needed information, and gender differences. Theoretical frameworks are discussed, and implications for information-service providers are suggested. (LRW)

Investigates changes in perceptions of the information search process of an early career information professional as he becomes more experienced and proficient at his work. Building on earlier research, comparisons of user's perceptions of uncertainty, complexity, construction, and sources in information tasks were made over a five-year period. Discusses implications of findings. (AEF)

Focuses on the relationship between the information holdings in government agencies and the information-seeking public. Illustrates the range of holdings from complete inaccessibility to active broadcast of government information. Discusses historical trends and the movement toward dissemination and the countertrend: moving from accessible to restricted. Outlines implications for federal agencies. (AEF)

Uses a simple model of an information retrieval (IR) technology to examine performance measures for IR systems. Shows that, if a user is employing a system optimally, then reasonable performance measures will tend to be relatively robust, or insensitive, to small variations in assumptions about the user's behavior. (AEF)

Examines basic issues of data mining using the theory of rough sets, a recent proposal for generalizing classical set theory. Demonstrates that a generalized rough set model can be used for generating rules from incomplete databases. Discusses the importance of rule extraction from incomplete databases in data mining. (AEF)

Develops a method of rough retrieval, an application of the rough set theory to information retrieval. The aim is to: (1) show that rough sets are naturally applied to information retrieval in which categorized information structure is used; and (2) show that a fuzzy retrieval scheme is induced from the rough retrieval. (AEF)

Proposes a model of document selection by real users of a bibliographic retrieval system. Reports on Part I of a longitudinal study of decision making on document use by academics (25 faculty and graduate students in Agricultural Economics). Examines what components are relevant to the users' decisions and what cognitive process may have occurred during the selection. (AEF)

Defines the notion of serial clustering of words in text, and explores the value of such clustering as an indicator of a word's bearing content. This approach is flexible in the sense that it is context-sensitive; a numerical approach may also be of value in assigning weights to terms in requests. Experimental support is obtained from natural text databases in three different languages. (AEF)

This study examined the effects of task structure on fifth- and sixth-grade students' information seeking on the Internet. Results indicated that children prefer browsing to analytic-based searching. They have difficulty finding relevant information on the Internet; however, they searched more effectively on the ill-defined task than on the well-defined one. Contains 50 references. (AEF)

This study tested two Web personal spiders (i.e., agents that take users' requests and perform real-time customized searches) based on best first-search and genetic-algorithm techniques. Both results were comparable and complementary, although the genetic algorithm obtained higher recall value. The Java-based interface was found to be necessary for design of an interactive and dynamic Web agent. (PEN)

This study found that a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm for browsing can categorize a large and eclectic Internet-information space into manageable sub-spaces that users can navigate to find relevant home pages. An automatically generated concept-space algorithm for searching was shown to enhance keyword-based Internet searching. Contains 65 references. (PEN)

Production of the meta-data supporting the Informedia Digital Video Library interface is automated using techniques derived from artificial intelligence research. Speech recognition and natural-language processing, information retrieval, and image analysis are applied to produce an interface that helps users locate information and navigate more effectively. (PEN)

Presents a texture-based image-retrieval system for browsing large-scale aerial photographs. System components include texture-feature extraction, image segmentation and grouping, learning-similarity measure, and a texture-thesaurus model for fast search and indexing. Testing has demonstrated the system's effectiveness in searching and selecting geographic features such as housing developments, parking lots, highways, and airports. (PEN)

This study of 51 Australian elementary school students found that information seeking, driven by a contextual and practical need, resulted in greater retention. Research in the use of electronic information sources has shown that while students can retrieve information, they often fail to retain the information. Attributes the gain to an increased level of engagement and cognitive processing. (PEN)

Presents an algorithmic approach to addressing the vocabulary problem in scientific information retrieval and information sharing, using the molecular biology domain as an example. A cognitive study and a follow-up document retrieval study were conducted using first a conjoined fly-worm thesaurus and then an actual worm database and the conjoined thesaurus. (AEF)

Considers a new approach to construction of single-valued measures for evaluation of search results. A general statement of the order preservation property is given, and all considered single-valued measures are analyzed for the existence of this property. Problems of legitimacy of the use of single-valued measures in various situations are discussed, and a solution is suggested. (AEF)

Focuses on developing a map display for information retrieval. Through an examination of relationships among visual displays, information retrieval, and browsing, advantages of visual displays for information retrieval are characterized. Examples of the map displays show that they can be used as overview tools and access/exploration tools, and they will likely increase the amount of information the user browses. (AEF)

Examines various kinds of uncertainty in information science. The notion of ambiguity is defined and contrasted with the more familiar notions of randomness and vagueness. Functional forms resistant to ambiguity are defined, and it is shown how to incorporate a random component, that is itself also resistant to ambiguity, into a resilient, but deterministic, model. (Author/AEF)

Investigates how an informal computerized environment, or workspace, can support information seeking. Outlines the design space for information-seeking environments and presents a prototype, SketchTrieve, a graphic editor. Discusses how this environment might support information-seeking in ways not available in other more overdetermined systems. (Author/AEF)

Although hypertext system usage has been studied, little research has examined the relationship of searcher performance and perception of performance, particularly for hypertext-based information retrieval systems for bibliographic data. This article reports preliminary findings of a study at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in which 83 subjects using HyperLynx, a prototype hypertext bibliographic retrieval system. (PEN)

Using the methods of ethnography of communication, this three-part study investigates time and timing, social elements, and individual information behavior in sense making. Argues that the sense-making concept captures how information behavior creates meaning and that a research focus on information and information-seeking divides people from information systems, specialists, and institutions. (PEN)