SIGIR 2003 papers - The Three Papers

ISU535 Information Retrieval - Spring 2004

Professor Futrelle

Updated 16 February 2004

Three papers to read (and be tested on Midterm, March 11th)

I have already given you the first two of the three papers below and will hand out the third shortly. We will discuss the papers in class on the dates noted next to each one.

  1. "As We May Think" by Vannevar Bush The Atlantic Monthly July 1945. (Read by February 23rd)
  2. "Challenges in information retrieval and language modeling: Report of a workshop held at the center for intelligent information retrieval, University of Massachusetts Amherst, September 2002" ACM SIGIR Forum Volume 37 Issue 1, pgs 31-47. (Read by February 26th)
  3. "What next? A dozen information-technology research goals" by Jim Gray Journal of the ACM (JACM) Volume 50 Issue 1 (January 2003) pgs 41-57. (Read by March 8th)

I have already given you hardcopies of the first two papers, but if you've misplaced yours they can easily be found on the web. The Bush paper is readily available all over and the "Challenges" paper is available through the ACM link on the Library Research Gateway where you should look for Newsletters, not Journals or Proceedings, etc. The third paper you'll have to track down on your own, again through ACM but this time in a journal, the Journal of the ACM (JACM).

The target dates when your are to finish reading each paper are given above, following each paper. They will be discussed in the class on that day. WARNING: If the discussion is not going well, I'll be worried and may give you a POP QUIZ on the spot. You have been warned. You should also look at the page for the Midterm to see further notes on how you need to prepare to be tested on the Midterm about these papers.

A good way to study these papers is to read each once, days in advance, wait a day or two and read one and take notes on it as well as writing your own summary of the paper while not looking at the paper. Then check your spelling to be sure you got the technical terms right. Basically, you should be aiming for a level of understanding that would allow you to spend ten minutes giving the gist of the paper to a technically trained person, using diagrams if necessary, e.g., standing in front of a whiteboard or drawing diagrams on paper.


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