Journal of Documentation · 1997 · 10 citations · 0 references
ComputingComputer ScienceInformation SystemsInformation RetrievalNatural Language ProcessingSystems ArchitectureInformation Retrieval ArchitectureProbabilistic RetrievalQuery ProcessingRelevance FeedbackRetrieval ModelsSearch SystemsDocument Relevance ModelingDocument Retrieval ArchitectureProbabilistic Relevance EstimationProbabilistic Retrieval ModelsRetrievalRetrieval ArchitectureSearch Interface DesignSearch Interfaces
At the heart of the Okapi system is a formula referring to some half a dozen variables, which estimate the probability that a given document is relevant to a given query. User interface design for Okapi aims to present its search capabilities as clearly and simply as possible. But between the basic formula and the simple interface lie several layers of complex software, which must support both probabilistic and non‐probabilistic retrieval functions, and combine them in a logical and consistent way. We describe the evolution, and some of the functions, of these software layers.