IRList Digest Tuesday, 11 August 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 24 Today's Topics: Query - Are you interested in intelligent tutoring systems? Announcement - Next ACM SIGIR Forum Table of Contents - Hyperties system (based on TIES) Abstracts - Dissertation abstracts relating to inf. retrieval (pt 1 of 4) News addresses are ARPANET: fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu BITNET: foxea@vtvax3.bitnet CSNET: fox@vt UUCPNET: seismo!vtisr1!irlistrq ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Aug 87 13:48 +0500 From: Gilles Imbeau Subject: list of name [Forwarded from AI-ED Digest Thursday, 6 Aug 1987 Volume 2 : Issue 27 - Ed] I know from Ms. M. Jones that you may have lists of names interested to different topics. We organize for June 88 an international conference on "Intelligent Tutoring System" the state of the art. Please, i would appreciate if you can send me a list of person interested in AI, education, ITS, or ather connex domain. thank you. gilles Imbeau [Note: I thought that there may be some IRList readers interested in this conference, and so am forwarding this message so you can individually reply if you want to be added to the lists they are compiling. - Ed] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Aug 87 14:38:12 CDT From: Vijay Raghavan Subject: Next issue of ACM SIGIR Forum - Table of Contents Spring/Summer '87 CONTENTS Volume 21 Numbers 3-4 SIGIR NEWS Officers' Objectives 1 Publication Policy 2 Articles Expert Systems and Information Retrieval, G. Salton 3 Informativeness as an Ordinal Utility Function for Information Retrieval, J. Tague 10 Workshop Report Distributed Expert-Based Information Systems: A Perspective 18 Book Review Database System Concepts by H. F. Korth and A. Silberschatz 21 Abstracts of Articles Selected from Recent Issues of Journals 22 Selected from Dissertation Abstracts International 38 Conference Overview 1987 ACM-SIGIR Conference 46 1986 ACM-SIGIR Conference 50 Call for Papers 1988 ACM-SIGIR Conference 54 R.I.A.O. 1988 - Conference on User-oriented Content- based Text and Image Handling 56 Int'l Conference - Extending Database Technology 58 Hypertext '87 60 Theoretical Aspects of Reasoning About Knowledge 62 Int'l Conference - Electronic Publishing, Document Manipulation and Typography 63 Information Sciences - An International Journal 65 1988 ACM-SIGMETRICS Conference 66 1988 Conference on Office Information Systems 67 Fourth Int'l Conference on Data Engineering 68 Program Highlights First Int'l Conference on Bibliometrics and Theoretical Aspects of IR 69 1987 Annual Meeting of ASIS 73 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Jul 87 12:25:28 EST From: Ben Shneiderman Subject: Hyperties system . . . At the end is a brief writeup on our Hyperties (formerly TIES) system that may also be of interest to your reader...please circulate if you feel it is appropriate... __________________________________________________________ Hyperties: Hypertext based on The Interactive Encyclopedia System Ben Shneiderman Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 Introduction Hyperties (Hypertext based on The Interactive Encyclopedia System) enables users to easily traverse a database of articles and pictures by merely point- ing at highlighted words in context. This embedded menus approach and the simple user interface enables users to tap the substantial power of hypertext systems for browsing and information search tasks. Applications Hyperties can be used to scan organizational policy manuals, a tool for diag- nostic problem solving, an environment for novels or mysteries, an online help strategy, a browser for computer program text and documentation, an addition to a museum exhibit, cookbooks or self-help manuals, or a way to explore cross referenced materials such as legal documents or an annotated Bible. Hyperties allows users to explore information resources in an easy and appeal- ing manner. They merely touch (or use arrow keys to move a light bar onto) topics that interest them and a brief definition appears at the bottom of the screen. The users may continue reading or ask for details about the selected topic. An article about a topic may be one or more screens long and contain several pictures. As users traverse articles, Hyperties keeps the path and allows easy reversal, building confidence and a sense of control. Users can also select articles and pictures from an index. Authoring tool Hyperties authoring software guides the author in writing a title, brief definition (5-35 words), text (50-1000 words, typically), and synonyms for each article title. Authors mark references in the text by surrounding them with a pair of tildes. Hyperties collects all references, prompts the user for synonym relationships, maintains lists of articles and pictures, and allows editing, addition, and deletion of articles and pictures. The author tool displays TO/FROM citations for each article and allows authors to keep notes on each article. A simple word processor is embedded in the authoring software, but users can create articles on their own word processor, if they wish. Command menus reduce memorization, eliminate typing errors, and speed work. Authors create pictures with editors such as PC Paint and then can specify links from the articles to the pictures. Hardware requirements Hyperties runs on a standard PC (256K, monochrome or color, color required if pictures are used) and on PCs, XTs, or ATs. History Hyperties has been under development since 1983 in the Human-Computer Interac- tion Laboratory. It was first written in APL and has been rewritten in the C programming language twice. Dan Ostroff, a graduate student in computer sci- ence, did the implementation and a major portion of the user interface design. Dr. Janis Morariu of the Center for Instructional Development and Evaluation contributed substantially to the user interface design. Jacob Lifshitz, Susan Flynn, Yuri Gawdiak, Richard Potter, and Bill Weiland have maintained and improved the system. Manual A 120 page users manual is available to describe the authoring process. It shows extensive browser and author sessions. Availability The University of Maryland has made a contract for commercial distribution and development with Cognetics Corporation (Charles Kreitzberg, President), 55 Princeton-Hightstown Road, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550, Phone (609) 799-5005. Continuing development Current development efforts focus on improved touchscreens, touchable graph- ics, inclusion of videodisk access, and alternate indexing strategies. An exploratory advanced browser with multiple windows and touchable graphics is being implemented on the SUN 3 Workstation. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Aug 87 16:45:32 EDT From: Susanne Humphrey Subject: new edition of abstracts for IRList and SIGIR Forum (part 1 of 4) Appended is next edition of dissertation abstracts for IRList/SIGIR Forum. ... Note there are some without an abstract. These turn up in issue #12 each year [v47(12) in the appended list]. For some reason, the university departments do not want to let UMI include the abstracts for them. ... Selected IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts Compiled by: Susanne M. Humphrey, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894 The following are citations selected by title and abstract as being related to Information Retrieval (IR), resulting from a computer search, using the BRS Information Technologies retrieval service, of the Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) database produced by University Microfilms International. Included are the UM order number and year-month of entry into the database; author; university, degree, and, if available, number of pages; title; DAI subject category chosen by the author of the dissertation; and abstract. References are sorted first by DAI subject category and second by author. Citations denoted by an MAI reference do not yet have abstracts in the database and refer to abstracts in the published Masters Abstracts International. 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 at the end of the abstract. The 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 ADG87-11462. AU COOK, GARY JOE. IN Arizona State University Ph.D. 1987, 142 pages. TI An analysis of information search strategies for decision-making. SO DAI v48(02), SecA, pp430. DE Business Administration, General. Information Science. AB Understanding how people search through available information prior to making a decision is an important concern in the study of decision making. People tend to employ information search strategies consistent with the decision process employed. Thus analysis of information search strategies provides insight which may be useful in the design of computer-based aids for decision making. The basic research question is: Do information search strategies shift from compensatory to noncompensatory as information load increases? Based on models of decision processes and previous research, four hypotheses were formulated: Increased information load results in (1) a decrease in the proportion of information searched, (2) increased variability in the proportion of information searched across alternatives, (3) increased variability in the proportion of information searched across dimensions, and (4) a direction of search that changes from alternativewise to dimensionwise. An experimental tool was developed and a laboratory experiment was conducted to examine how information search strategies are affected by changes in information load. The experimental tool is computer software that participants query for information to perform an experimental task. This software, called ISLab, records the information queries, the elapsed time between queries, and the alternative chosen for each decision situation. The experimental task involves selecting one from a set of companies to receive a bank loan, based on financial and related information, in each of a series of decision situations. Information load is manipulated by varying the number of companies and the amount of information available on each company. Search patterns are analyzed using an ANOVA repeated measures factorial design. The results support the conceptual hypothesis that there is increased use of noncompensatory information search strategies as information load increases. All four of the dependent variables changed significantly in directions consistent with this hypothesis (significance level = .05). There is evidence of information load effects for both cue selection (differences in information examined) and cue combination (differences in decisions). AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-07795. AU JOSHI, KAILASH. IN Indiana University Ph.D. 1986, 213 pages. TI An investigation of equity and role variables as determinants of user information satisfaction. SO DAI v47(12), SecA, pp4433. DE Business Administration, General. Information Science. AB In the MIS literature three major factors have been identified which can influence a user's satisfaction with her/his information systems. These factors are: the quality of information products (reports and screens), attitudes towards MIS staff and services, and knowledge and involvement level of user. This study investigates two additional factors as possible determinants of user information satisfaction. These additional factors, which represent the social subsystem of the work environment, were identified based on the Socio-Technical Systems framework. The first additional factor is the perceived fairness in the allocation of information systems and related resources to different user groups. Procedural fairness and distributive fairness have been identified as important for an individual's satisfaction in various non-MIS contexts. The second factor relates to the impact of information systems design on the work environment of users. Role conflict and role ambiguity in the work environment are explored as possible factors influencing user information satisfaction. A cross-sectional survey of over 200 non-clerical users of information systems provided the data for testing the propositions of this study. A new instrument was developed for measuring equity in the MIS context. Equity, role conflict, and role ambiguity were found to be significantly correlated with overall user information satisfaction. The addition of these new variables resulted in improvement in the proportion of variance explained in overall user information satisfaction from 47.9 percent (based on the three existing factors) to 57.1 percent. A causal path model was proposed and tested using path analysis techniques. Among all the existing and new variables included in this study, equity was found to be the most important variable influencing overall user information satisfaction, both in terms of correlation and total causal influence. [Note: rest will be spread over next 3 issues - Ed] ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************