Condorcet query engine: A query engine for coordinated index terms

✍ Scribed by van der Vet, Paul E. ;Mars, Nicolaas J.I.

• Book ID: 101253261
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 94 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-8231
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(1999)50:6<485::aid-asi3>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

On-line information retrieval systems often offer their users some means to tune the query to match the level of granularity of the information request. Users can be offered a far greater range of possibilities, however, if documents are indexed with coordinated index concepts. Coordinated index concepts are compound index concepts that express a relation between concepts that function as simple subject descriptors, as in cures(headache, aspirin). We show the point by giving a functional specification of a query engine that can handle both simple and coordinated index concepts, Boolean combinations, and superconcept expansion. The Condorcet Query Engine, a prototype query engine that can be run over the World Wide Web (WWW), demonstrates the feasibility of these ideas. The combination of known and novel techniques ensures a smooth migration path from existing query engines to more advanced engines that handle coordinated index concepts.