Abstracts of selected journal articles

(Chosen by G. Salton from current issues of journals in the retrieval area) . Expert Systems: An Evolution in Information Retrieval T. R. Addis Man-Computer Studies Group Brunel University Uxbridge, Middlesex UB83PH United Kingdom This paper reviews the field of expert systems and concludes that the range of systems represents different degrees of enhancement to an information retrieval system. Extended relational analysis is briefly introduced in order to provide a method of comparison between an industrial database, a diagnostic aid and a medical consultation system. It is recommended that expert systems should be considered as a means of communicating group practices to trained users rather than simulating an expert to aid novices. (Information Technology: Research and Development, Vol. I, 1982, pp. 3013 2 4 ) . . Ask for Information Retrieval: Part I. Background and Theory N. J. Belkin and H. M. Brooks Centre for Information Science The City University, London ENGLAND R. N. Oddy Computer Centre The University of Aston Birmingham ENGLAND We report the results of a British Library Research and Development Department-funded design study for an interactive information retrieval system which will determine structural representations of the anomalous states of knowledge (ASKs) underlying information needs, and attempts to resolve the anomalies through a variety of retrieval strategies performed on a database of documents represented in compatible structural formats. Part I discusses the background to the project and the theory underlying it, Part II (next issue) presents our methods, results and conclusions. Basic premises of the project were: that information needs are not in principle precisely specifiable; that it is possible to elicit problem statements from information system users from which representations of the ASK underlying the need can be derived; that there are classes of ASKs; and, that all elements of information retrieval systems ought to be based on the user's ASK. We have developed a relatively free-form interview technique for eliciting problem statements, and a statistical word co-occurrence analysis for deriving network representations of the problem statements and abstracts. Structural characteristics of the representations have been used to determine classes of ASKs, and both ASK and information structures