Toward Structured Retrieval in Semi-structured Information Spaces

A semi-structured information space consists of multiple collections of textual documents containing fielded or tagged sections. The space can be highly heterogeneous, because each collection has its own schema, and there are no enforced keys or formats for data items across collections. Thus, structured methods like SQLcannot be easily employed, and users often must makedo with only full-text search. In this paper, we describe an intermediate approach that provides structured querying for particular types of entities, such as companies, people, and skills. Entity-based retrieval is enabled by normalizing entity references in a heuristic, type-dependent manner. To organize and filter search results, entities are categorized as playing particular roles (e.g., companyas client, as vendor, etc.) in particular collection types (directories, client engagement records, etc.). The approach can be used to retrieve documents and can also be used to construct entity profiles - summaries of comm...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: IJCAI
• Authors: Scott B. Huffman, Catherine Baudin
• Keywords: Full-text Search, IJCAI 1997, IJCAI 2007, Information Space, Semi-structured Information Space