Concept of a document Lesson 3

Definition and examples In IR, a document is “a stored data record in any form” (Korfhage, 1997, p. 17. The basic underlying concept is that the document must be stored in a retrievable form

Examples of documents Books Letters Messages Parts of a book, such as an encyclopaedia dealing with different topics, i.e., A chapter A section A paragraph Graphics Sound/voice recordings Images Computer programs Data files Email messages etc.

Document surrogates They are “limited representations of full documents” (Korfhage, 1997, p. 21). Types Document Identifier – a number/code e.g. accession or a classification number for the purpose of inventory control or document location. Does not answer a query or satisfy an information need

Types Bibliographic data/record – all the data elements used to identify, describe, or retrieve a document/publication of information content OR A collection of data elements organized in a logical way to represent a bibliographic item or document, publication or any record of human communication. Examples - author, title, publication date, publisher, ISBN etc. These are useful to the information seeker. For e.g., date shows the timeliness and appropriateness of the document.

Types Keyword – one or a set of individual words chosen by the author/editor or sometimes dictated by the database to represent the contents of the document. Abstract – a brief one or two paragraph description of the contents of a paper often written by the author. Its purpose is to help a reader to determine whether the entire document should be retrieved.

Types Extract – “Artificially constructed surrogates created by someone other than the author of a paper” (Korfhage, 1997, p. 23). May comprise the first sentence of each paragraph or significant words and phrases in the document. Review – a critical article on a book, play, recital etc., written by someone other than the author Its purpose is to indicate the value of the document with respect to other works in the same field. It can be retrieved separately to suit the purposes of a reader.