Information Retrieval List Digest 129 (September 15, 1992) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-129 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:29:14 PST Reply-To: "Information Retrieval List" Sender: "Information Retrieval List" From: IRLIST Subject: IR-L Digest, Vol.IX,No.33, Issue 129 IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6955 September 15, 1992 Volume IX, Number 33 Issue 129 ********************************************************** I. NOTICES A. Meeting Announcements/Calls for Papers 1. ACM Multimedia '93, Anaheim, California, August 1-6, 1993 II. QUERIES B. Requests for Information 1. E-Conference User Survey: Preliminary Results IV. PROJECT WORK C. Abstracts 1. IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts ********************************************************** I. NOTICES I.A.1. Fr: ACM Multimedia Conference Re: ACM Multimedia '93 ACM MULTIMEDIA '93 Anaheim, California August 1-6, 1993 (collocated with SIGGRAPH '93) THE FIRST ACM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMEDIA Sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (SIGCHI, SIGCOMM, SIGGRAPH, SIGIR, SIGLINK, and SIGOIS) in cooperation with SIGAPP, SIGBIT, SIGBIO, SIGMOD, SIGOPS and the IEEE Communication and Computer Societies. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: ACM Multimedia '93 will provide an international forum for papers, panels, courses, workshops, and exhibits focusing on the synergies between processing and communicating information represented in multiple media (multimedia). Research ideas, emerging technologies, engineering methodologies, prototype demonstrations, and experiences should be submitted for review. Technical areas for Multimedia '93 include, but are not limited to: Applications and tools Collaboration environments Database and information systems Distributed systems Hardware and architectures Networking and communication Media integration and synchronization Image, video and audio compression techniques Operating system extensions Programming paradigms and environments Storage and I/O architectures User interfaces IMPORTANT DATES: All submissions due: JANUARY 8, 1993 Notification of acceptance: MARCH 1, 1993 Submissions in final form due: MAY 1, 1993 PAPERS: High-quality technical papers on completed or in-progress research, innovative applications, and experience with multimedia systems are solicited. Where applicable, prototype demonstrations or videotape presentations are encouraged to supplement the talks. Outstanding student and regular papers on different areas of multimedia will be given awards. Expanded versions of a small number of selected papers will be forwarded for possible publication in the Communications of the ACM, the ACM Transactions on Information Systems, and the new joint IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. PANELS: Panels are solicited that examine innovative, controversial, or otherwise provocative issues of interest. Panel proposals (not to exceed 3 pages, including biographical sketches of the panelists) will be evaluated based on technical quality, timeliness, appeal, and informativeness. COURSES: Proposals (at most 5 pages, including biographical sketches of instructors) for both 1/2- and 1-day tutorial courses are solicited. Evaluation of proposals will be based on expertise and experience of instructors, relevance of subject matter, and the use of multimedia technology in the presentation. Include needed audio-visual and computer equipment in your proposal. WORKSHOPS: During the first two days of Multimedia '93, we would like to collocate workshops on specific areas of multimedia research and technology. Evening sessions during the main conference (last three days) will be held to report the results workshops. Please send proposals (at most 3 pages, including biographical sketches of organizers) for 1/2 day, 1 day or 1 1/2 day workshops, indicating if they have been held previously, limits on attendance, names of workshop chairs, keywords, title, length, a list and description of topics of interest, A-V needs, and (optional) sponsorsing agencies. EXHIBITION: Multimedia '93 offers a unique opportunity for vendors and researchers to exhibit and demonstrate multimedia products. There will be a section of the SIGGRAPH exhibition devoted solely to multimedia software and hardware. For exhibition information, contact Hall-Erickson, Inc., 150 Burlington Avenue, Clarendon Hills, IL 60514. Phone : (708) 850-7779, Fax : (708) 850-7843, E-mail : Exhibits.Multimedia93@siggraph.org. INTERACTIVE MEDIA: At the conference, there will be a hands-on exhibit of interactive media projects. These projects will show state-of-the-art running systems in interactive media, and will include both desktop and networked systems. A two-page synopsis of the project along with an illustrative videotape (in VHS format) are solicited for review. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION In addition to hard copy submission, papers may be submitted for review electronically via the internet. Electronically submitted papers may use either plain ASCII text or Postscript. Multimedia papers should be submitted with a video walkthrough, as well as a written two-page abstract. The videotape should be in VHS format, and six separate copies of the videotape should be sent. ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION: The proceedings of the Multimedia '93 conference will be published electronically, as well as in hard copy format. The format of the electronic version is currently being designed, and it is anticipated that this format will include support for rich media, and be accessible on both CDROM and electronic networks. Submitters must therefore be prepared to provide electronic versions of accepted material for publication. STUDENT PARTICIPATION: Papers with a student as the primary author will enter a student paper award competition; a maximum of author will enter a student paper award competition; a maximum of two papers will be awarded complimentary full conference registration for the student author and a travel grant of up to $500. A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for the student paper competition. CONFERENCE INFORMATION: An author's kit containing submission guidelines is available via anonymous ftp at siggraph.org (128.248.245.250), or by sending e-mail to Contrib.Multimedia93@siggraph.org. For Multimedia '93 conference information, contact: Dr. J.J. Garcia-Luna SRI International 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 Phone: (415) 859-5647, Fax: (415) 859-6028 E-mail: Chair.Multimedia93@siggraph.org HOW TO SUBMIT: Six copies are required for all submissions. Send printed submissions of paper/proposal to: Prof. P. Venkat Rangan Dept. of CSE, 9500 Gilman Dr., APM Bldg., Room 3016 University of California at San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093 Phone : (619) 534-5419, Fax : (619) 534-7029 E-mail : Chair.Program.Multimedia93@siggraph.org Send all electronic submissions to: ElectronicSubmissions.Multimedia93@siggraph.org ********** II.B.1. Fr: Gordon Joly Re: Request for Info on Multi-user On-line Bibliographies. I'm looking for software to create on-line bibliographies suitable for multiple users to access and contribute to. I know that there are database programs which could be used to create bibliographies, but I'd like to find something that has already been created specifically for that purpose and that will support multiple users. I'd also be interested in experiences people may have had with such software. Software for a Macintosh LAN environment is preferred, but something that would work on a UNIX network would also be of interest. Please reply via email to sasha@uswest.com Gordon Joly Computer Science University College London Gower St. London WC1E 68T phone: +44 71 387 7050 x3703 fax: +44 71 387 1397 Internet: g.joly@cs.ucl.ac.uk UUCP: !{uunet,uknet}!ucl-cs!g.joly ********************************************************** IV. PROJECT WORK IV.C.1. Fr: Susanne M. Humphrey Re: 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 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 ADG92-06746. AU CHA, SANG KYUN. TI KALEIDOSCOPE: A MODEL-BASED GRAMMAR-DRIVEN MENU INTERFACE FOR DATABASES. IN Stanford University Ph.D. 1991, 141 pages. SO DAI V52(09), SecB, pp4827. DE Computer Science. Engineering, Electronics and Electrical. AB Most database interfaces provide poor guidance on ad hoc query formulation, burdening end users to learn, and to recall precisely the query language and the database. This dissertation presents the interface and design approach of Kaleidoscope, an interface that reduces the user's cognitive burden in query formulation. Kaleidoscope guides the user's query formulation in an English-like query language (EnQL) via a context-sensitive menu system. Based on a grammar specifying the syntax and semantics of EnQL, this system generates legitimate EnQL query constituents step by step as menu choices. This grammar-driven menu guidance enables users to construct a meaningful query by recognizing choices that match their mental query. The interface provides additional intraquery conceptual guidance to ensure the integrity of a partial query. The central thesis of this work is that a data model plays a crucial role in the Kaleidoscope's style of interfaces, as a query language conveys the underlying conceptualization of data to the user. The design of grammar, lexicon, and query translator follows a formally defined data model. The absence of an explicit model leads to the ad hoc design of these components, harming the system's transportability. In the model-based approach, the grammar design focuses on unambiguously realizing references to model concepts. As a result, all user queries are meaningful with respect to the underlying data model. The model also provides the basis of defining two other domain-independent modules: a query translator and a set of procedures for automatic generation of lexicon from the schema. The major technical contribution of this thesis is a data model formalizing the conceptual structure of restricted English queries. Existing data models are inadequate for near-natural language interaction with database systems because of a significant conceptual gap between common English concepts and database representation of such concepts. EnQL, based on our model, enables the user to express significantly more concise queries than SQL, often by an order of magnitude. To provide a complete normative design framework, this thesis also presents a cost model of user query production when using grammar-driven menu interfaces. This model is useful for evaluating alternative interface designs. AN This item is not available from University Microfilms International ADG05-70746. AU HINKE, THOMAS HENRY. TI QUERY BY COMMITTEE. IN University of Southern California Ph.D. 1991. SO DAI V52(08), SecB, pp4312. DE Computer Science. AB This research investigates problem-formulation automation within the context of multiple agents, each representing different databases of domain knowledge. Agents collaborate to formulate a query for scientific data presented by a domain-naive user. A taxonomy of query elaboration types is presented in a model that unifies data with its context of use in support of real-world activities. The model consists of worlds, with each world having a real dimension and a data dimension. The data dimension represents data which should be requisitioned from a database to support the activities expressed in the real dimension. Worlds can be related to other worlds through semantic relationships. The elaboration taxonomy is expressed in terms of the unknowns that exist in each world at the onset of query elaboration. The polytyped term was developed as a variable and its associated context to represent data entities and real world activities. The variable and the context terms can have multiple synonyms. The polytyped term is used to describe that which is known about the desired, but unknown, information, leaving the committee of agents to elaborate the unknown into a result that is consistent with the initial description of the unknown and the available data. A presentation approach called lattice-based clustering was developed to present the results. These clusters form a set of mutually non-comparable, but individually dominate clusters of the non-key data for each relation. They represent the "best" data in the database that satisfies the elaborated query and is consistent with filter constraints imposed by the agents. The cardinality of this set is shown to be relatively small with an upper bound specified in terms of binary coefficients. The QBC system has been implemented as a proof of concept to validate the realizability of the major findings. The system uses an astronomical database for its elaboration scenarios. (Copies available exclusively from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0182.). ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests to: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET Send submissions to IRLIST to: IR-L@UCCVMA.BITNET Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch lynch@uccmvsa.ucop.edu or calur@uccmvsa.bitnet Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.bitnet Mary Engle 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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