A thesaural model of information retrieval

• Published in: Information processing & management Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 433 - 447
• Main Author: Paice, Chris D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1991; Elsevier Science; Pergamon Press; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Algorithms; Boolean Logic; Computational Linguistics; Computer programming; Exact sciences and technology; Information and communication sciences; Information processing and retrieval; Information Retrieval; Information retrieval systems. Information and document management system; Information science. Documentation; Information work; Interfaces. Software; Mathematical models; Online Searching; Sciences and techniques of general use; Search Strategies; Services; Structural Analysis (Linguistics); Studies; Subject Index Terms; Techniques; Thesauri; User services; Query; Thesaurus structure; Classical system; Search term; Activation; Search pattern; Optimization; Automated processing; Subject content; Document retrieval system; Controlled vocabulary; Thesaurus; Reformulation; Extraction; Models
• ISSN: 0306-4573; 1873-5371
• DOI: 10.1016/0306-4573(91)90061-P

In an information retrieval system both queries and document representatives can be viewed as representations of topics. The central activity of such a system is thus the comparison of one topic representation with another. The set of terms contained in a typical topic representation may be adjusted or extended by reference to a domain thesaurus. This paper proposes that topic representations should actually consist of excerpts from a domain thesaurus, generated by a spreading activation technique. An algorithm for generating excerpts is outlined and exemplified, and the problem of assessing the resemblance between two excerpts is discussed. The paper questions whether existing thesauri would be adequate for this purpose, and offers some ideas on how suitable thesauri might be constructed.