Linguistically based functions in information retrieval: PADOK and the German Patent Information System

Abstract

This paper reports on methodological considerations and the results of the Information Retrieval (IR) project PADOK I and II. PADOK has been carried out by the Linguistic Information Science Group of the University of Regensburg (LIR) since November 1984 and has been sponsored by the German Ministry for Research and Technology. The long term objective is to integrate artificial intelligence topics and the methods of information retrieval research without neglecting traditional IR methodology. In PADOK we consider a type of mass data IR system which indexes its documents rather shallowly (freetext or morphological components) and adds an intelligent information retrieval component to this kernel system. So far we have obtained, on the basis of two large-scale retrieval tests of the German Patent Information System results which show how the linguistically based functions of an indexing system contribute to its performance, and indicate what is the most reasonable basic content analysis program for a German Patent Information System. This paper focusses on the general principles and aims of PADOK I and PADOK R and on the statistical evaluation of the retrieval tests. Christa Womser-Hacker has a Ph.D. in Linguistic Information Science. From 1985 until 1990 she was involved in several LIR-Projects concerning text processing, evaluation of the German Patent Information System, man-machine-interaction, intelligent interfaces for databases. Since May 1990 she has been an LIR staff member. She is interested in information retrieval, (statistical) evaluation methods of man-machine-interaction, intelligent interfaces. She has published Der PADOK-Retrieval-test (1989) and “Die statistische Auswertung des Retrievaltests” (1990).