Accession Number:

ADA027589

Title:

On the Science of Information Retrieval.

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.,

Corporate Author:

BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABS ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND MD

Personal Author(s):

• Pullen,K. A.
• Hoffman,C. W.

Report Date:

1976-06-01

Pagination or Media Count:

93.0

Abstract:

The science of recovery of technical information is examined in terms of size of the information bank, definitiveness, specificity, the mathematics of recovery from an information system, and decision theory. It is shown that the search decision is very sensitive to the quality of idea indexing. The factors leading to a profitable search decision are developed, and guidelines for maximizing indexing quality in this sense are formulated. Methods of use of the indexes generated to optimize availability of indexed information sources are considered, and alternatives for various sizes and kinds of libraries and information centers are reviewed. An experiment which may prove useful for measuring system effectiveness is described. The experiment can also give insight on how to improve rates of information transfer and how to increase capability of information assessment.

Descriptors:

• *INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
• INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
• ABSTRACTS
• CLUSTERING
• DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS
• SUBJECT INDEXING
• THESAURI
• INDEX TERMS

Subject Categories:

• Information Science

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE