Sensory Information Navigation Systems – Meaning based search unlocks hidden collections

Usually we bypass most IFLA LIS posts – but  i think this might be of interest – all sounds a bit Star Trek  … but makes sense

 

 

Colleagues/
 
As some may beware, earlier this week I posted a query concerning Sensory Information Navigation Systems
 
[ http://sensory-information-navigation.blogspot.com/ ]
 
To my pleasant surprise, I’ve just learned aboy a major initiative relating to my query >
 
Meaning based search unlocks hidden collections
 
Together with our partners at JISC Collections, the British Library and Autonomy, we?re developing ground-breaking services that

use meaning-based search to unlock significant research material, including previously inaccessible digitised editions of more

than 65,000 books from the British Library?s 19th century collection.
 
A meaning-based approach to search and discovery
 
Our challenge has always been to develop a more meaningful search experience, and through our ongoing partnership with

Autonomy, we?re deploying IDOL technology to give researchers new ways of discovering related materials that traditional

keyword searching wouldn’t find. With JISC Historic Books, Autonomy IDOL forms an understanding of the unstructured

historical documents and begins to recognize relationships between the information. What this means is that, rather than

searching simply by a specific keyword or phrase that could have a number of definitions or interpretations, our interface

aims to understand relationships between documents and information and recognize the meaning behind the search query.

Moving beyond standard keyword searching to meaning-based searching will give our users results that are based on context

and allow linking to other pertinent documents.

 

Here?s what this approach makes possible:
Cluster search results around related conceptual themes
Full-text indexing of documents and associated materials
Text-mining of full-text documents
Dynamic clustering and serendipitous browsing
Visualisation approaches to search results
This approach offers significant opportunities for researchers. As well as users being able to semantically search across a

vast range of archives and manuscripts, image collections and digitised books, the conceptual clustering capability of text,

video and speech provided by Autonomy IDOL means intelligent tools can be developed to support qualitative analysis on a large scale.
 
[more]
 
Source and Links Available At
 
[http://bit.ly/GKcpOb]
 
Regards,
 
Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
and
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University

 
http://digital-textbooks.blogspot.com/