Date: Mon, 11 Nov 85 16:00 EST To: irdis at vpi Subject: IRList Digest V1 #20 IRList Digest Monday, 11 Nov 1985 Volume 1 : Issue 20 Today's Topics: Reply - Previous Index In Context Question Announcement - Deafnet, CRTNET, other new networks and IR Report - ACM SIGIR Business Meeting - ASIS 85 Annual Meeting (partial report) CogSci Talks - Tree Adjoining Grammar, Prescriptive Introspection, Type Recognition Without Token Individuation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: krovetz@UMASS-CS Date: Tue, 5 Nov 85 12:00 EST cc: zimmer%lll-tis-a.arpa%csnet-relay.arpa@CSNET-RELAY Subject: index-in-context (KWIC) Mark, The program you describe is called a KWIC index and is available under Unix. The program is called ptx (permuted index). Does anyone know of one available under VMS? Thanks, Bob ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Nov 85 07:34:55 PST From: co175fag%sdcc3@SDCSVAX.ARPA (Melissa O'Neill) Students at UCSD are currently involved in a number of networking projects which may be of interest to those on IRlist. For example, there in one group working on a net- work to assist the hearing impaired and deaf. Code named DEAFNET, they are working with several schools in the San Diego area to find out the potential for computers for these people. A group is trying to organize an international interactive computer group, while still another group is interested in forming "after school schools" for children utilizing com- puter networks, where children can message children at loca- tions other than San Diego. Several other projects are underway as well. The success of networking projects is of great interest to these students, and they would like to connect with oth- ers who have similar interests, or can offer some pearls of wisdom as to how to "make the system work,". I am involved with a project regarding CRTNET, and want to discuss with interested parties the benefits of networking. Any discus- sion with regards to networking would be welcome. -Melissa O'Neill co175fag@sdcc3 ------------------------------ From: "V.J. Raghavan" Date: Wed, 6 Nov 85 16:37:19 cst Subject: Report Report on SIGIR Business Meeting A meeting of the ACM-SIGIR executive was held at Denver Radisson Hotel, where the 1985 ACM annual conference took place. The meeting was at 5:00 p.m. on October 15 th. In attendance were Clement Yu, Gerry Salton, Mike McGill, Donna Williamson, Tomas Doszkocs, Roy Rada and myself. Some of the areas that were considered to need the immediate atten- tion of the executive were membership improvement, publicity activities and financial status. From two years ago the membership has dropped from about 2000 to little over 1800. While this is not a big concern, it was felt some actions are needed to maintain this level and, gain if possible. Clement suggested that each of us try to canvass in our own institu- tions and get colleagues and students to join. Gerry explained the importance of making sure that the SIGIR Forum gets out regularly. It was mentioned that Fall issue is about to be mailed (all must have received it by now). Clement indicated that Forum is in good hands and that he is not concerned about the Forum getting out every 3 months. I pointed out that we are in good shape for the Winter '86 issue. (Naturally, we are looking for more contributions from all inte- rested folks out there.) Donna brought many ideas for improving the Forum, some of which she had picked up from attending meetings of other SIGs. In particular the following ideas were noted: * publishing special purpose issues with a guest editor appoin- ted (I liked that), * having reports from different groups engaged in IR research. Perhaps, one such report in each issue, * publish invited columns on "bridge" areas( eg. AI and IR), * having different people responsible for submitting abstracts of recent material published in journals, etc. The idea is to have someone who is in hardware, for example, to provide abstracts of interest to IR and hardware, someone else for another area, etc. Clement suggested that we plan to print a brochure explaining Sigir objectives, etc. and distribute them widely to attract new members. Tomas agreed to think about this and see if such brochures could be printed at NLM. The question of distributing proceedings of SIGIR annual conference was raised. In particular, why 1985 proceedings were not distributed as an issue of Forum. Clement mentioned that the finacial position is such that we cannot afford to do that. At the time of original printing, enough copies were not ordered. However, several hundred copies are available at the ACM head quarters. Order number can be found in Fall '85 issue of SIGIR. Clement also pointed out that the projection of SIGIR's finances suggests that we will have a deficit at the year end (or in two years' time?). He proposed that the member- ship fee to SIGIR be increased from $6 to $10 or $12. Mike felt that the current bank balance is good and that we should not raise the fee until SIGIR becomes more active and the image of SIGIR is enhanced. He also suggested that we consider other money making ventures, such as cosponsoring conferences with other societies. It was decided to leave the membership fee at current level for the moment. Other publicity ideas such as representation in conferences of other groups (eg. SIGMOD, ASIS, OA, ACM annual), display of SIGIR related material at these conferences and so on were put forward. I am working with Prof. C. Davis in having a SIGIR session at ASIS '86. Clement and other members of the executives will pursue this kind of work with other groups. Efforts such as that of M.Lesk (He is planning a joint workshop in '86 with SIGDOC.) is something we would like to see more of. Gerry wondered about the SIGIR's "Distinguished Service" award that was established some years ago. It has not been awarded for two years. Clement reported that Prof. Don Kraft is the chairman of the selection committee and that he is looking after the matter. It is hoped that some prominent person will be selected for this award in time for the next SIGIR conference in Pisa. There was some discussion about locations of future conferences. The conference will be in New Orleans in 1987 (Chairman: Don Kraft, Program Chairman: Clement Yu). It is not clear where the conference will be in 1988. There has been some correspondence with Prof. Fraenkel, who is willing to have it Isreal, as well as some people in Grenoble. Bruce Croft agreed to host the conference in or around Amherst in 1989. The meeting adjourned around 7:00 p.m. Vijay Raghavan. (Forum Co-Editor) ------------------------------ From: fox (Ed Fox) Date: Sun, 10 Nov 85 16:23:26 est Subject: ASIS Annual Meeting Report and Request for Other Reports October 20-4, 1985 - Las Vegas, Nevada - 48th Annual Mtg ASIS Saturday, 19 Oct: Continuing Education Courses on Seminar in User Surveys Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence: A Primer Management Skills for the Information Profession PRECIS: Preserved Cintext Index System Sunday, 20 Oct: Continuing Education Courses on Stess Management for the Information Professional Information Age Economics Information Centers and Record Centers Marketing Information Services Money, Planning and Entrepreneurship Exhibits throughout the Week: There was equipment of many varieties, book displays, and many posters. Demonstrations used micros or online services. It was clear that the informa- tion producers (ex. book publishers) are now trying to enter the field with new services, but are still watching thfor ways and consumer needs. Information providers were showing micro systems and front-ends, and some optical disk equipment. There was an air of expectation for new approaches, but no revolutionary announcements. Program: 1985 is the 20th year for the "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology" (ARIST) and so the program was structured in five tracks based on themes of that publication - Distribution, Communication, and Hardware Databases: Organization and Access Information Products and Services Management, Policy and Politics Human Factors/Man-Machine Interface I found this differentiation to be interesting, but not binding regarding what talks were given when. In a little over two days, I was only able to get a glimpse of what went on, and so can share but a fragment of the totality - I hope others will send in other partial reports too! Monday 21 Oct: Keynote Address - Dr. William F. Marovitz - "The Information Industry: Its Development and Integration within a Corporate Organization" Clearly, our field is becoming of interest to large corporations. Future developments, investments for research, timing of new services, will all be partially supervised by large holding companies now buying up information providers and suppliers. With micros, networks, and information all being integrated, companies are creating and/or capturing key markets. Human Factors/Man-Machine Interfaces (Session 7) Christine Borgman reviewed how to use specialized tests to measure abilities of individuals in a number of areas which might relate to use of information services. These tests may also help in designing new systems better suited to individual needs. Richard Veith commented on experimentation with spatial orientation in display systems, esp. use of multiple planes of hierarchy. "As We May Learn" - William Paisley, Knowledge Access Inc. This veteran of ERIC & communication science traced history, including technological stagnation of 1975-80, emergence of 2-tiered society of uninformed and informed, and recent developments (micros, broadband networks, cognitive engineering). He challenged us with social and technical problems yet to be resolved. Optical Disk and Electronic Publishing (Session 15) Chuck Goldstein of NLM rescued the session as 2 of 4 speakers no-showed. The Library of Congress pilot project is behind schedule and so the evaluation effort is still being planned. InfoTrac, described by Brett Butler, uses video disks for conventional browsing of publications. Michael Adams of Digital Equipment stole the show with his standing-room only presentation on CD-ROM. He explored Myths and Realities of this media, which stirred the imaginations of all attendees. Tuesday 22 Oct: Keynote Address - Judith Wanger - "The Online Database Industry: A Midlife Crisis Coming?" She explored types and growth in online services, use of gateways to connect networks and providers, use of micros, growth of full text databases, optical disks. Designing Databases for Searchers (Session 24) Raya Fidel explored "Individual Variability in Online Searching Behavior" by describing preliminary research. 10 experienced searchers verbalized though processes in handling 2 very different types of search requests. A large number of variables that may relate were discussed. Several speakers from AT&T Communications gave an overview of Videotex Design Considerations for Electronic Publishing (Session 31) Victor Rosenberg appealed to designers to preserve the aethetics via fonts. Bob Barnes of Drexler captivated audience with potentials of optical cards which will soon store 2M bytes in billfold-size cards. Sam Betty explained the magnitude of publishing field and its potentials. "Information Products and Services - Coming of Age" (Session 35) Herbert Brinberg of Aspen Systems traced history of the field. Using Computers for Engineering Data (Session 40) John Rumble of NBS wove together talks with questions and comments: Susan Harvey explained the need, opportunities, and considerations. Gary Craig of Wiley indicated how publishers are involved. Wednesday 23 Oct: Research in Electronic Conferencing (Session 45) Trudi Bellardo gave a comprehensive overview on conferencing systems. Edward Fox described international standards for mail systems, and several research efforts underway. Manfred Kochen provided a stimulating review of the emergence of computer conference systems, focusing especially on models for group formation, esp. evolution categorized by structure and participation distributions. (Unfortunately, this conference overlapped with the Expert Systems in Government Symposium in Washington, so I missed the rest of ASIS 85. Please, other attendees - send in your summaries of subsequent interesting sessions! - Ed) ------------------------------ From: Peter de Jong Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1985 12:50 EST Subject: Cognitive Science Calendar Tuesday 12, November 7:30pm Room: 34-401 (Grier Conference Room) MIT CENTER FOR COGNITIVE SCIENCE "The Linguistic Relevance of Tree Adjoining Grammar" Speakers: Professor Aravind Joshi Department of Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania Professor Anthony Kroch Department of Linguistics University of Pennsylvania Commentary: Professor James Higginbotham Department of Linguistics MIT Steven Abney Department of Linguistics MIT copies of papers are available from Karen Persinger, Room 20B-225, 253-7358 ------------------------------ Wednesday 13, November 4:00pm Room: NE43- 8th floor playroom "Prescriptive Introspection" Michael R. Genesereth Logic Group Knowledge Systems Laboratory Stanford University Introspection is a significant part of human mental activity. We introspect whenever we think about how to solve problems, whenever we decide what information we need to solve a problem, whenever we decide that a problem is unsolvable. By its nature, the process of introspection involves the manipulation of knowledge about knowledge. Over the past years, logicians and AI researchers have devoted considerable attention to self-descriptive sentences (involving autoepistemic terms like KNOW). By comparison, little attention has been paid to self-prescriptive sentences (involving terms like OUGHT). This talk introduces a semantics for prescriptive metaknowledge in the form of constraints on the process of problem solving. It demonstrates the computational advantages of introspection and analyzes the computational fidelity and cost of various introspective architectures. It also discusses the potential for practical application in logic programming and building expert systems. Refreshments will be served Host: Randall Davis ------------------------------ Thursday 14, November 12:00pm Room: E25-401 VISION LUNCH "Type Recognition Without Token Individuation" Dr. Nancy Kanwisher MIT - Psychology Department ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************