SBIR Phase I: Research Agents and Inferential Retrieval

9861411获取信息方面的巨大增长可能造成“消防水龙”效应，在这种情况下，如果没有有效的方法来区分什么是相关的，什么是无关的，那么信息就毫无用处。这项来自Cognitive Technologies，Inc.的小企业创新研究第一阶段从一个独特的角度解决了搜索，特别是互联网搜索的问题，作为研究代理，在用户和更传统的信息检索系统之间进行调解并代表其进行调解。该方法的创新特征如下：它为用户构建和阐述激发搜索行为的研究上下文的心理模型提供直接支持；利用这种上下文和快速、并行的推理搜索来过滤和组织来自传统搜索引擎的搜索结果；支持对正在调查的研究问题的批判性思维；将研究设想为一个合作过程，其中每个研究人员的劳动成果可以电子方式发布为主动的知识结构，可以通知和组织后续的搜索，并可以形成对该领域更好的理解的基础。拟议的智能代理(IA)技术与明确表示用户对某一领域的心理模型的技术相结合的直接商业应用包括在因特网和垂直市场上的信息获取和管理；即为判例或专利法编写摘要；为贸易商和经纪人进行市场分析；情报分析；初级和继续教育；基于大学的研究；以及进行和管理国家研究兴趣。

9861411 The tremendous growth in access to information can create a "fire hose" effect, in which information is useless without effective methods for distinguishing what is relevant from what is not. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I from Cognitive Technologies, Inc. addresses the problem of search, especially Internet search, from a unique perspective as research agents that mediate between, and on behalf of, the user and more traditional information retrieval systems. The innovative features of the approach are as follows: it provides direct support for users in constructing and elaborating mental models of the research context that motivates the search behavior; leverages such context with fast, parallel inferential search that filters and organizes search results from traditional search engines; supports critical thinking as it bears on the research issues under investigation; and envisions research as a collaborative process in which the fruits of each researcher's labors may be published electronically as active knowledge structures that can inform and organize subsequent searches, and which can form the basis of improved understanding of the domain. Direct commercial applications of the proposed integration of intelligent agent (IA) technology with a technology for explicitly representing a user's mental model of a domain include information access and management on the Internet and in vertical markets; namely, preparing briefs for case or patent law; market analysis for traders and brokers; intelligence analysis; primary and continuing education; university-based research; and conducting and managing national research interests.