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IRList Digest Volume 1 Number 12
IRList Digest Monday, 30 Sep 1985 Volume 1 : Issue 12
Today's Topics:
EMAIL - Delay on BITNET Change for IRList
Query - need for better search methods
Discussion - IR aids for blind
Announcement - IRList archives for FTP
- Possible archives for CSNET participants
- Startext meeting
- Electronic Document distribution experiment
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From: "Edward A. Fox" <fox@vpi>
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 85 13:12:34 est
Subject: Delay in BITNET change at Virginia Tech
As some of you have pointed out, mail over BITNET to fox@vtcs1 does
not work. The tables at BITNET sites were not changed in time, so the
correct address now is still fox@vpics1 not fox@vtcs1. This amends
the information given in IRList V1 #7.
Sometime in October, change should occur whereupon I will announce
the fact. Thank you for your patience. - Ed
PS I have another address as foxea@vpivax3 and may send messages out
from there thru BITNET.
------------------------------
From: Ramesh Astik <rampan%northeastern.csnet@CSNET-RELAY>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 85 09:08 EST
Subject: query
I was looking for some references in synthetic organic chemistry
on a Chemical Abstract Database system.The first hit was 10,000
followed by narrowing down to 400 ! The same search by an expert
bibliographer or search assistant gave me exactly 23 article list.
This is the difference in eye-balling and machine-search.
We had a lot of debate on the mental process of the human expert
doing the job and whether that can be mimicked on a computer or
not.
Does any one know of any expert-system which can save us so
much paper work in searching and retrieving the information?
Our University has access to approximately 300 databases and
after the Automated search list is obtained,most of us do
equally long eye-balling!!
Kindly send any information to RAMPAN@NORTHEASTERN.
[You might be interested in looking at "Intro. to Modern Information
Retrieval" by Salton & McGill or other texts about recent advances in
searching methods. There are now a few commercial systems that will
give you ranked output that will clear up problems like you mention.
There are also some expert system projects underway to yield further
improvements in various ways. Please, researchers, send me responses so
we can give a picture of what is going on to our readers! - Ed]
------------------------------
From: "Hans A. ]lien" <hans@OSLO-VAX>
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 85 01:55:54 -0100
Subject: IRList -- add me (& note on archive)
Please add me to your list.
Apart from being a computer science student,
my special interest in information retrieval
stems from my situation as being blind.
Therefore I cannot readily access printed information,
but through my Braille terminal or a speech synthesizer
I can access info available in the various network mailing lists, for instance.
the TIES system for encyclopedia seems interesting,
but I am maybe even more interested in access to machine-readable copies of
printed books in general, and computer books & manuals, on hardware and
software in particular.
One major problem here, of course, is related to copyright,
and besides, experience has shown me that machine-readable copies of books
very often don't contain the complete (and proofread) text of the printed book.
If anyone might have any helpful info on the topics raised above,
please send me a message (or submit to the IRList
when you consider it of general interest).
Finally, I found the back issues of the IRList in the file
PS:<BBOARD>IRLIST.TXT on SUMEX-AIM.ARPA.
Maybe you could make an arrangement so as to announce this source for accessing
IRList archives, accessible via anonymous ftp from ARPA-net hosts.
Lokking forward to future issues of your digest, this is
Hans A. ]lien (hans@oslo-vax.arpa)
Institute of Informatics, Univ. of Oslo
P.O.BOX 1080 -- Blindern
N-0316 OSLO 3 Norway
------------------------------
From: Christopher Schmidt <SCHMIDT@SUMEX-AIM>
Date: Mon 23 Sep 85 15:05:51-PDT
Subject: IRList archives
FYI for people with arpanet access, all issues of IRList since
volume 1, number 1, are filed in [SUMEX-AIM.arpa]<BBOARD>IRLIST.TXT and
can be retrieved with anonymous FTP.
At present there are 13 messages (10 issues, I believe) in the
archive. I expect to let the archive grow unchecked until it has
about 300 messages. At that time I plan to cut the archive down in
size, but will announce this fact in IRList beforehand so compulsive
savers have a chance at it.
--Christopher
------------------------------
From: long@CSNET-SH
Subject: archive request
Date: 17 Sep 85 16:05:26 EDT (Tue)
Ed,
We would be willing to archive mail from your mailing list subject
to some reasonable cap on disk space (e.g. 5 Meg). Does this sound ok?
Dan
[Do any CSNet members want this too since they cannot FTP? Since I can
now send messages over BITNET to ARPAnet for free, I will honor
requests for back issues, within reason. - Ed]
------------------------------
From: leff@SMU
Date: 27 Sep 1985 20:17-CST
Subject: Startext meeting
ACM Dallas Chapter Meeting Notice
Speaker: Gerry Barker, Startext Manager
Topic: Startext: The Evolution of an INformatin Database
Hear about the unlimited usage concept for on-line news, sports,
E-mail, classifed ads, Grolier's Online Encyclopedia, and more!
Place: Mount Whitney Room
Summit Hotel, 2645 LBJ Freeway
Date: Wednesday, October 2, 1985
Time: 6:15 - 7:15 Attitude Adjustment - Cash Bar in Lobby
7:15 - 7:45 Full Course Dinner $14.00
7:45 - 8:00 Brief Business Meeting
8:00 - 8:35 Speaker
Dinner Reservations 436-0747 Attendees will ge t a free
trial password.
------------------------------
From: Jim Guyton <guyton@RAND-UNIX>
Subject: Electronic Document distribution experiment
Date: 22 Sep 85 13:50:19 PDT (Sun)
ARPANET ANNOUNCEMENT
The Rand Corporation is conducting an experiment in electronic publishing.
The documents listed below have been fully reviewed and published as
printed Rand publications. By making the same document (excluding tables
and graphics) available on the ARPANET, Rand is attempting to assess the
needs of the electronic user. If you are interested in copying any of the
documents, please contact RAND-DOCS@RAND-UNIX.ARPA. We will send you an
electronic questionnaire, and as soon as you complete and return it, we
will supply the information you need to access the document. We may also
send you a follow-up questionnaire to get your reaction to the electronic
document.
If you find that the electronic version doesn't meet your needs because of
the missing illustrations and graphics, you can then contact RAND-DOCS and
order a printed copy of the document which will be sent to you via the
U.S. Post.
We welcome any comments or suggestions on this experiment. Just send all
correspondence to RAND-DOCS@RAND-UNIX.ARPA.
AVAILABLE TITLES
R-3283-NSF/RC "Toward an Ethics and Etiquette for Electronic Mail,"
by N.A. Shapiro, R.H. Anderson. July 1985. (95K bytes)
R-3160-AF "ROSS: An Object-Oriented Language for Constructing Simulations,"
by D. McArthur, P. Klahr, S. Narain, October 1984. (64K bytes)
R-3158-AF "TWIRL: Tactical Warfare in the ROSS Language," by P. Klahr,
J.W. Ellis, Jr., W.D. Giarla, S. Narain, E.M. Cesar, Jr.,
S. Turner, September 1984. (150K bytes)
ABSTRACTS of above documents:
R-3283-NSF/RC. Toward an Ethics and Etiquette for Electronic Mail. N.A.
Shapiro, R.H. Anderson. July 1985, 35 pp., $4.00
This report discusses some important general attributes of electronic
mail and message systems, and the effects of those attributes on the
quality and appropriateness of communication. The authors discuss the
"etiquette" of sending and receiving electronic mail, drawing on personal
observation of inappropriate and counterproductive uses of these systems.
By presenting some initial guidelines, the authors attempt to accelerate
the process by which social customs and behavior appropriate to electronic
mail become established, and thereby to accelerate the effective use of
such systems.
R-3160-AF. ROSS: An Object-Oriented Language for Constructing Simulations.
D. McArthur, P. Klahr, S. Narain. October 1984, 28 pp., Ref., $4.00
This report provides an overview of ROSS, an object-oriented language
currently being developed at Rand. The goal of ROSS is to provide a
programming environment in which users can conveniently design, test, and
modify large knowledge-based simulations of complex mechanisms.
Object-oriented programming languages, and ROSS in particular, enforce a
message-passing style of programming in which the system to be modeled is
represented as a set of objects and their behaviors (rules for object
interaction). This style is especially suited to simulation, since the
mechanism or process to be simulated may have a decomposition that maps
naturally onto objects, and the real-world interactions between the objects
may be easily modeled by object behaviors and object message transmissions.
In addition to describing some of the basic ROSS commands and features,
the report discusses some software that interfaces directly with ROSS,
including a sophisticated screen-oriented editor and a color graphics
package. Facilities for browsing among objects and their behaviors are
also described, and examples of browsing and editing are presented using
SWIRL, a military combat simulation written in ROSS.
R-3158-AF. TWIRL: Tactical Warfare in the ROSS Language. P.Klahr, J.W.
Ellis, Jr., W.D. Giarla, S. Narain, E.M. Cesar, Jr., S.Turner, September
1984, 49 pp., Bibliog., $4.00
This report describes TWIRL, a simulation of a primarily ground
combat engagement between two opposing military forces. It was developed
to further experiment with the ROSS language, an object-oriented simulation
language that was successfully used to develop the SWIRL air battle
simulation, and to develop a prototype simulation that could be used to
explore issues in electronic combat. The authors describe the objects that
comprise TWIRL and provide extensive examples of object behaviors to
explain and illustrate the process of building a simulation in ROSS.
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END OF IRList Digest
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