Investigating Aboutness Axioms using Information Fields

Abstract

This article proposes a framework, a so called information field, which allows information retrieval mechanisms to be compared inductively instead of experimentally. Such a comparison occurs as follows: Both retrieval mechanisms are first mapped to an associated information field. Within the field, the axioms that drive the retrieval process can be filtered out. In this way, the implicit assumptions governing an information retrieval mechanism can be brought to light. The retrieval mechanisms can then be compared according to which axioms they are governed by. Using this method it is shown that Boolean retrieval is more powerful than a strict form of coordinate retrieval. The salient point is not this result in itself, but how the result was achieved. 1 Introduction The logic based approach to information retrieval has been around for some time now. So far, a number of inference mechanisms, both strict and plausible, have been proposed for driving the retrieval process [15, 6, 4, 12]...