A primary goal of this project was to develop an interface that would provide direct access for inexperienced users to existing online bibliographic information retrieval networks. The experiment tested the concept of a virtual-system mode of access to a network of heterogeneous interactive retrieval systems and databases. An experimental…

This first of two related articles by the same authors describes the philosophy, design, and implementation of an experimental translating computer system, CONIT, whose purpose was to investigate techniques for simplifying access to, and operation of, bibliographic retrieval systems. Forty-one references are cited. (FM)

This second of two related articles by the same authors evaluates the performance of an experimental translating computer system, CONIT, whose purpose was to investigate techniques for simplifying access to, and operation of, bibliographic retrieval systems. Forty-two references are cited. (FM)

Discusses general issues of computer and human understanding; contrasts three paradigms of information retrieval methodology, including statistical, deep semantic or natural language, and smart Boolean; describes CONIT, a knowledge-based intermediary retrieval assistance system; and examines system evaluation procedures, including a…

Controlled experiments were conducted with an enhanced experimental intermediary system, CONIT (COnnector for Networked Information Transfer), to test how effective such a system could be in assisting end users in online searching of medical and biomedical literature. A total of 16 end users, none of whom had previously operated CONIT or any of…

A translating-computer-interface approach to providing a common, or virtual-system, mode of access to a network of heterogeneous online bibliographic retrieval systems has been investigated. Enhanced access to such systems by end users has been demonstrated through test usage of an experimental interface. A table-driven, rule-based message…