USER NAVIGATION IN THE IRS CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE THROUGH A SEMATIC ASSOCIATION FUNCTION

This paper addresses the methodological aspects of designing a semantic association function in a hypertext information retrieval environment and model. Through this function a part of an associative information retrieval model is designed and implemented. Initially the paper provides reference to previous efforts in associative information retrieval and automatic search formulation and re-formulation operations. The semantic association function is a function which belongs to a new functional hypertext information retrieval model that has been previously justified and presented. For this reason, the meaning and aim of the semantic association function are also recalled and reported. The central part of the paper presents motivations and justification for the design and implementation of the semantic association function in an experimental hypertext information retrieval interface as opposed to a traditional online information retrieval system.