Research and development of information retrieval models and their application

Abstract In recent years there has been a rapid growth in interest about information retrieval as new storage, processing, and communication technologies emerge that will aid individuals to directly search for and utilize helpful data, information, and knowledge. Since conventional retrieval systems have numerous limitations it is important to consider work by leading researchers in developing new models and in extending and applying already proposed experimental models. Much of that work has been first presented at 1 of the 11 conferences sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR). This article summarizes and introduces a series of 11 articles that had their origins in papers presented at the Tenth Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research & Development in Information Retrieval, June 3–5, 1987, New Orleans, Louisiana. Seven of those articles appear in this Special Issue; the remaining four and perhaps others derived from the 1987 conference papers will appear in subsequent issues of this journal. The articles and ideas introduced relate to: modeling data, information, and knowledge; Boolean logic; probability theory; artificial intelligence; organizing and encoding information and data; and characteristics of users of retrieval systems.