COT3201

Information retrieval systems

B Srinivasan

6 points
* 2 hours per week
* First, second semester
* Caulfield
* Clayton
*Prerequisites: COT2132 or COT2138

Objectives At the completion of this subject students should be able to understand the special characteristics of systems for the storage and retrieval of unstructured data; appreciate the underlying principles and especially the standards that apply to document retrieval systems; and use, as a developer, a text retrieval system to create a small information retrieval database.

Synopsis This subject aims to provide students with a knowledge of the technology of information retrieval systems. Topics taught include: an outline of the information retrieval problem; functional overview of information retrieval; deterministic models of information retrieval systems; conventional Boolean, fuzzy set theory, p-norm and vector space models; text analysis and automatic indexing; standards for text markup; automatic query formulation; system-user adaptation and learning mechanisms; intelligent information retrieval; retrieval evaluation; review of new theories and future directions; hands-on experience with a working experimental information retrieval system.

Assessment Examination (2 hours): 60%
* Two practical assignments: 40%

Prescribed texts

Salton G and McGill M Introduction to modern information retrieval McGraw-Hill, 1983

Recommended texts

Bryan M SGML: An author's guide to the Standard Generalized Markup Language Addison-Wesley, 1988
Goldfarb C F The SGML handbook OUP, 1990