Information Retrieval List Digest 082 (September 7, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-082 IRLIST Digest September 7, 1991 Volume VIII, Number 39 Issue 82 ********************************************************** I. NOTICES A. Meeting Announcements/Calls for Papers 1. 1992 Joint Conference: ALLC-ACH92 IV. PROJECT WORK B. IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts ********************************************************** I. NOTICES I.A.1. Fr: Susan Hockey Re: ALLCACH92 Call for Papers ASSOCIATION FOR LITERARY AND LINGUISTIC COMPUTING ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTERS AND THE HUMANITIES 1992 JOINT CONFERENCE ALLC-ACH92 5-9 April 1992 Christ Church, Oxford, England CALL FOR PAPERS This conference is the major annual forum for literary, linguistic and humanities computing. Its focus is on the development of new computing methodologies for research and teaching in the humanities, on the development of significant new materials and tools for humanities research, and on the application and evaluation of computing techniques in humanities subjects. TOPICS: Submissions are invited on all areas of literary, linguistic and humanities computing, including, but not limited to: text encoding; hypertext; text corpora; computational lexicography; statistical models; syntactic, semantic and other forms of text analysis; also computer applications in history, philosophy, music and other humanities disciplines. The deadline for submissions is 1 OCTOBER 1991. Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged. Please pay particular attention to the format given below. Submissions which do not conform to this format will be returned to the authors for reformatting, or may not be considered if they arrive very close to the deadline. REQUIREMENTS: Proposals should describe substantial and original work. Those which concentrate on the development of new computing methodologies should make clear how the methodologies are applied to research and/or teaching in the humanities, and should include some critical assessment of the application of those methodologies in the humanities. Those which concentrate on a particular application in the humanities (e.g. a study of the style of an author) should cite traditional as well as computer-based approaches to the problem and should include some critical assessment of the computing methodologies used. All proposals should include conclusions and references to important previous related work. INDIVIDUAL PAPERS: Abstracts for individual papers should be 1500-2000 words in length. Thirty minutes will normally be allowed for the presentation of each paper including questions. SESSIONS: Proposals for sessions (90 minutes) are also invited. These should take the form of either: (a) Three papers. The proposer of the session should submit a statement of approximately 500 words describing the topic of the session. Abstracts of 1000-1500 words should be submitted for each of the papers, together with an indication that the author of each paper is willing to participate in the session. or (b) A panel of up to 6 speakers. The proposer of the panel should submit an abstract of 1500 words describing the topic of the panel and how it will be organized, together with the names of all the speakers, and an indication that each of the speakers is willing to participate in the session. FORMAT OF SUBMISSIONS All submissions should begin with the following information: TITLE: title of paper AUTHOR(S): names of authors AFFILIATION: of author(s) CONTACT ADDRESS: full postal address E-MAIL: electronic mail address of main author (for contact), followed by other authors (if any) FAX NUMBER: of main author PHONE NUMBER: of main author (1) ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS: These should be plain ASCII files, not wordprocessor files, and should not contain TAB characters or soft hyphens. Paragraphs should be separated by blank lines. Headings and subheadings should be on separate lines and be numbered. Footnotes should not be included and endnotes only where absolutely necessary. References should be given at the end. Choose a simple markup scheme for accents and other characters which cannot be transmitted by electronic mail and include an explanation of the scheme after the title information and before the start of the text. Electronic submissions should be sent to ALLCACH@VAX.OX.AC.UK with the subject line " Submission for ALLCACH92". If diagrams are necessary for the evaluation of electronic submissions, they should be faxed to 44-865-273275 (international, or 0865-273275 (from within UK) and a note to indicate the presence of diagrams put at the beginning of the abstract. (2) PAPER SUBMISSIONS: Submissions should be typed or printed on one side of the paper only, with ample margins. Six copies should be sent to ALLC-ACH92 (Paper submission) Centre for Humanities Computing Oxford University Computing Service 13 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 6NN England DEADLINES Proposals for papers and sessions: 1 October 1991 Notification of acceptance: 15 December 1991 Advance registration: 8 February 1992 There will be a substantial increase in the registration fee for registrations received after 8 February 1992. PUBLICATION: A selection of papers presented at the conference will be published in the series Research in Humanities Computing edited by Susan Hockey and Nancy Ide and published by Oxford University Press. INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE: Proposals will be evaluated by panel of reviewers who will make recommendations to the Programme Committee which consists of: Chair: Thomas Corns, University of Wales (ALLC); Gordon Dixon, Manchester Polytechnic (ALLC); Paul Fortier, University of Manitoba (ACH); Jacqueline Hamesse, Universite Catholique Louvain-la-Neuve (ALLC); Nancy Ide, Vassar College (ACH); Randall Jones, Brigham Young University (ACH); Donald Ross, University of Minnesota (ACH); Antonio Zampolli, University of Pisa (ALLC) Local organisers: Susan Hockey, Oxford University (ALLC); Lou Burnard, Oxford University (ALLC, Programme Liaison) ACCOMMODATION: Accommodation has been reserved for the conference in Christ Church which is one of Oxford University's oldest and best-known colleges. It is situated in the centre of the city, but overlooks Christ Church Meadow and the River Thames. The conference will run from dinner on Sunday 5 April until lunch on Thursday 9 April. There will be a banquet in Christ Church's Tudor hall on the evening of 8 April. LOCATION: Oxford is an hour from London and from Heathrow Airport and is also close to Stratford-on-Avon and the Cotswolds, a beautiful area of English countryside. There is a frequent bus service from Heathrow to Oxford and good transport arrangements from Gatwick airport. ENQUIRIES: Please address all enquiries to ALLC-ACH92 Centre for Humanities Computing Oxford University Computing Service 13 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 6NN England Telephone: 44-865-273200 or (from within UK) 0865-273200 Fax: 44-865-273275 or (from within UK) 0865-273275 E-mail: ALLCACH@VAX.OX.AC.UK Please make sure that you give your name, full mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address with any enquiry. ********************************************************** IV. PROJECT WORK Fr: Susanne M. Humphrey Selected IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts The following are citations selected by title and abstract as being related to Information Retrieval (IR), resulting from a computer search, using BRS Information Technologies, of the Dissertation Abstracts Online database produced by University Microfilms International (UMI). Included are UMI order number, title, author, degree, year, institution; number of pages, one or more Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) subject descriptors chosen by the author, and abstract. Unless otherwise specified, paper or microform copies of dissertations may be ordered from University Microfilms International, Dissertation Copies, Post Office Box 1764, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; telephone for U.S. (except Michigan, Hawaii, Alaska): 1-800-521-3042, for Canada: 1-800-268-6090. Price lists and other ordering and shipping information are in the introduction to the published DAI. An alternate source for copies is sometimes provided. Dissertation titles and abstracts contained here are published with permission of University Microfilms International, publishers of Dissertation Abstracts International (copyright by University Microfilms International), and may not be reproduced without their prior permission. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-05570. AU HURT, MIMI ELISABETH. TI I/S-USER RELATIONSHIPS: FACTORS WHICH IMPACT THEIR PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN I/S AND USERS. IN The University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. 1990, 176 pages. DE Business Administration, Management. Information Science. AB The evolution of information technology (IT) and the role it plays in organizations has been quite dramatic. Not only the technology itself has changed; in many companies, the organization's mission, structure and responsibilities has also changed as a result of the application of IT. Users of information technology have changed both in role and in their knowledge and involvement with IT. The history of the relationship between the Information Services Group (ISG) and users, however, has typically been one of antagonism and conflict. With the increasing awareness of the potential gains that can be realized through information technology and the significant investment that has been made in it by most organizations, this history has to be changed so that the effectiveness of ISG-User relationships is improved and thus the benefits of continued investment in IT can be realized. The purpose of this research project, therefore, was to determine the factors that impact the effectiveness of ISG-User relationships, and to determine if differences existed between ISG and users' perceptions. Consequently, the unit of analysis is a specific relationship between the ISG and a user group. Eight Texas state agencies participated in the study. Likert-scale questionnaires were used to collect data from both users and ISG personnel. Eighty-one percent of 601 questionnaires were returned. User responses from a specific user group were aggregated together in order to form one representative measure for the group. The final dataset thus contained 132 valid cases representing 72 user groups. Standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine what factors were most significantly associated with the perceived effectiveness of the relationship, with a one-way ANOVA being used for some of the variables. A MANOVA procedure was used to test for significant differences in perceptions. The results of the study indicate that six factors, Consensus, Quality of ISG Services, Formalization of the relationship, Frequency and Ease of Communication, and Frequency of Problems, explained 68% (Adj. R$\sp2$ =.65) of the variance in the perceived effectiveness of ISG-User relationships. Furthermore, when just users are considered, the significant factors include only Quality of ISG Services, Consensus and Frequency of Problems. When just ISG responses were analyzed, the significant variables include all of the original six factors except Quality of ISG Services. Finally, users and ISG had significant differences in their perceptions of Consensus, Quality of ISG Services, Users' Computer Literacy, Frequency of Communication, Users' Dependence on ISG, and Power of the Steering Committee. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-06391. AU BECK, HOWARD WILLIAM. TI A TERMINOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION SYSTEM BASED ON THEORIES OF CATEGORIZATION. IN The University of Florida Ph.D. 1990, 196 pages. DE Computer Science. Artificial Intelligence. AB A terminological knowledge representation system is developed which provides a knowledge-based approach to information retrieval. A theory of categorization provides a unifying theme for information organization and data modeling. The theory of categorization is based on a tradeoff between reasoning about empirical observations (case-based reasoning), and reasoning by using abstract cognitive models (explanation-based learning). The resulting category structure accounts for several important category-related phenomena such as family resemblance, prototype effects, and default reasoning. The category theory was incorporated into the design of a terminological knowledge representation system. This system provides a number of reasoning capabilities. In addition to the classification procedures and subsumption functions provided by other terminological knowledge representation systems, some new features are introduced. Intersection is a function which compares two instances and generates new class descriptions based on similarity of features. Evolution is a function which alters existing class structures to accommodate exceptions. Exceptions are identified by an exception condition. These reasoning capabilities are applied in a conceptual clustering algorithm for semi-automatic generation of database schema, and to new query specification and processing techniques. Finally, natural language processing is closely coupled with the data model and query processing. The theory of categorization is directly related to a theory of word meaning. A new design for representing lexical knowledge is presented, one which facilitates lexical acquisition. Some relationships between natural language and qualitative simulation are also presented. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG91-06105. AU GAUCH, SUSAN EVALYN. TI AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING IN FULL-TEXT. IN The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Ph.D. 1990, 406 pages. DE Computer Science. Information Science. Library Science. Artificial Intelligence. AB This dissertation explores techniques to improve full-text information retrieval by experienced computer users who are novice users of retrieval systems. An expert system which automatically reformulates Boolean user queries to improve search results is presented. The expert system differs from other intelligent database functions in two ways: it works with semantically and syntactically unprocessed text; and the expert system contains a knowledge base of domain independent search strategies. The passages retrieved are presented to the user in decreasing order of estimated relevancy. This combination of user interface features provides powerful, yet simple, access to full-text documents. Experimental results demonstrate that the expert system can improve the search efficiency of novice searchers without decreasing their search effectiveness. Further, an evaluation of the ranking algorithm confirms that, in general, the system presents potentially relevant passages to the user before irrelevant passages. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send the subscription request SUB IR-L to: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET Send submissions to IRLIST to: IR-L@UCCVMA.BITNET Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch lynch@postgres.berkeley.edu or calur@uccmvsa.bitnet Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.bitnet Mary Engle engle@cmsa.berkeley.edu or meeur@uccmvsa.bitnet The IRLIST Archives will be set up for anonymous FTP, and the address will be announced in future issues. To access back issues presently, send the message INDEX IR-L to LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET. 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