The purpose of this paper is to present the elements of a basis for a theory of information storage and retrieval. It is believed that this theory can best be formulated in terms of a general theory of indexing. After stating basic premises and defining essential concepts, the relationship between a theory of indexing and a theory of information storage and retrieval is considered. The similarities between the indexing process and the general communication process are discussed, and indexing is viewed as an order increasing (i.e., entropy decreasing) operation. The concept of a theoretical index is developed and contrasted with real‐world indexing systems. The relationship between query formulation, retrieval, and benefit is discussed, and these notions are then related to the human performance variable. It is believed that the ideas presented in this paper provide a useful framework for more detailed investigations into the indexing process.
The impetus for the work described in this paper arose from observations reported in a letter to the Editor of this Journal (1). The sense of that letter was that those of us who have worked in the field now broadly called Computer and Information Science, have depended too long on the use of terms defined by example or through the vague specification of relationships (often weak) among entities. The term to which the author of the letter made specific reference (a term to which altogether too many interpretations are allied) was “thesaurus.” The reader will find that the term “thesaurus” is not defined in this paper but, as will be seen, a number of more basic terms have been selected as the starting point for a project of defining terms which are important in communicating about computer and information science.
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