Retrieving relevant parts from large environmental-related documents

When attempting to consider the environment, a large quantity of information is available. Historically, librarians have provided a facility for both sorting this information into storage, and guiding users to the material relevant to their queries. With the steady increase in volume, detail and character of this information, existing methods of handling cannot cope. This thesis addresses this problem by developing a novel information system framework and applying it to the environmental domain. A brief study was made of information retrieval systems. An information system. framework was developed through the project. It covers the areas of query augmentation and search execution. In particular, the framework considers the issues of: using a domain model to help in specifying queries; and assessing and retrieving sub-parts of large documents. In order to test the novel concepts, a case study, which covers many steps in the information retrieval process, was designed and carried out with supportive results