Structured Information Management: Processing and Retrieval
The main stages of the project were:
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Research into automatic indexing of texts using language analysis. Specification and development of rules for automatic, application-independent and language-independent indexing.
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Research into subject classification methodologies. Design, development, and evaluation of an expert system to classify texts according to a user-defined subject taxonomy.
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Design and development of special-purpose software support tools for information bank maintenance.
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Research into domain and task modelling using information extracted from design databases and domain structures, and analysis of text structures. Use of domain models to browse and retrieve texts by applying SIMPR text indexing to text structures.
The results from the project include:
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Linguistic software to analyse and disambiguate the morphology and syntax of texts.
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Information indexing techniques for use with existing or innovative information retrieval systems.
These techniques represent an advance on the current technique of file inversion, offering greater accuracy of retrieval via validated, coordinated phrase indexes.
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Information modelling techniques, enabling the author of an information bank to impose different structures on it depending on different user requirements, and enabling the user to retrieve information by tracing a path through a selected model.
These models will contain facilities for the subject classification of texts, including software to find information using a search request specifying the subject required.
The final output of the project is a set of tools for creating and managing large information banks, such as an authoring system for optical information stores. SIMPR resembles a hypertext system in its ability to link items of information at different levels, but it aids the user by establishing links automatically, according to subject analysis of texts and conformance with user-specified information models.
Participating in the ESPRIT II Project named SIMPR: CRI A/S (DK), Nokia Head Office (SF), Research Unit for Computational Linguistics (SF), University College Dublin (IRL), Universidade Catolica Portugesa (P), University of Strathclyde (UK), Cap Gemini Int. Support BV (NL), Dublin City University (IRL), and TNO Institute (NL)
The SIMPR Team
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