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This is the User's Guide to the Macintosh version of the WAIS interface.
It is provided here as a reference guide to the other WAIS user interfaces
provided with this release.
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WAIStation
This program is distributed free of charge by Thinking Machines
Corporation. Permission is hereby granted to anyone to use, duplicate,
modify and redistribute this program for internal use, so long as this
notice is attached.
Thinking Machines Corporation provides absolutely no warranty of any kind
with respect to this program. The entire risk as to the quality and
performance of this program is with the user.
IN NO EVENT WILL THINKING MACHINES CORPORATION BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR ANY
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION DAMAGES RESULTING FORM LOST DATA OR LOST PROFITS, OR ANY
SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.
WAIStation
A User Interface for
Wide Area Information Servers
User Guide, Prototype Version
This document briefly describes the initial prototype of WAIStation, a user
interface for Macintosh developed by Thinking Machines Corporation.
WAIStation enables users to retrieve information from the DowQuest document
retrieval system at Dow Jones News/Retrieval, the Connection Machine
Document Retrieval System, your local Macintosh, and any other database server
that supports the WAIS protocol.
The interface communicates with the database server using an ANSI standard
protocol for database retrieval applications, called Z39.50 (see references).
WAIStation communicates through either the serial port (to a modem or terminal
line) or via AppleTalk or EtherNet to a UNIX system running the Connection
Machine Document Retrieval System.
The goal of the Wide Area Information Servers project is create an open
architecture of information servers and clients by deriving and standardizing a
computer-to-computer protocol that will enable users to find and question
servers.
For more information on the WAIS project see the references section at the end
of this document.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should
not be construed as a commitment by Thinking Machines Corporation. Thinking
Machines Corporation reserves the right to make changes to any products
described herein to improve functioning or design. Although the information in
this document has been reviewed and is believed to be reliable, Thinking
Machines Corporation does not assume responsibility or liability for any errors
that may appear in this document. Thinking Machines Corporation does not assume
any liability arising from the application of use of any information or product
described herein. Connection Machine is a registered trademark of Thinking
Machines Corporation. WAIStation is a trademark of Thinking Machines
Corporation.
UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Apple, AppleTalk and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer,
Inc.
Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered service mark of Dow Jones & Company,
Inc. DowQuest is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Thanks to Advanced Software Concepts for TCPack software.
Copyright 1990, 1991 Thinking Machines Corporation. All rights reserved.
Thinking Machines Corporation
245 First Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142-1214
(617) 876-1111
WELCOME TO WAIStation
Have you ever been frustrated by a search-and-retrieval system that couldn't
seem to understand what you wanted?
Have you ever looked through a dozen retrieved articles to find only one that
met your intent?
Have you ever wanted to wave that one good article at the system, and say Look!
This is what I want! Find me more articles like this one!
Well, now you can do exactly that.
WAIStation was built around two notions: first, that the user of a search-and-
retrieval system should be able to provide feedback to assist or retarget the
search; and, second, that the best way to search for articles (or any other
documents) is to search from a good example, not just from one or two keywords.
So, the model for a WAIStation search is:
* Start with a few key words or phrases (as usual).
* Examine the articles WAIStation retrieves.
* Tell WAIStation which articles, or which sections of articles, you find
most useful (i.e. closest to the subject you're looking up). Ask it to search
again, using those selections as models.
* Repeat the process until you've found what you want.
SHARPENING AND WIDENING SEARCHES
Providing relevance feedback to WAIStation, as explained above, lets you zero
in on precisely the information you're looking for. But it also lets you widen
a search, or change it completely. While you're hunting for information on
Subject A, if an interesting article on Subject B turns up you can select that
article as the model for the next search. What's more, you can branch off onto
a new search without losing track of your original search. In fact, you can
continue both searches, and even start others; the range and movement of your
searches are up to you.
SEARCHING IN MANY SOURCES
WAIStation gives you access to sources of information ranging from files stored
on your own computer's disks to electronic libraries across the country.
Moreover, it lets you search through any combination of these sources in a
single, integrated search. You choose which sources are to be used for which
searches; you can change your mind at any stage during the search.
AUTOMATICALLY RE-SEARCHING QUESTIONS
Since new information arrives all the time, you frequently want to run searches
at intervals, to find out what's new in some particular area. To facilitate
this, WAIStation lets you store the data from a search as a Question. You can
then instruct WAIStation to run questions for you at selected intervals. For
example, WAIStation can run questions for you each morning at 3 am, and have
the results waiting for you when you come into work. (Of course, you can re-run
your questions interactively, or change them as you like, at any time.)
GO AHEAD EXPLORE!
This introduction has only suggested what WAIStation can do for you. The rest
of this Quick Reference Guide will explain how to do each of the items
mentioned above. But to get fullest use out of WAIStation, you'll have to try
it out for yourself. Explore experiment see what works best for you. And
please, since this is still an experimental system, let us know how you like
it. Fill out and mail the questionaire at the end of this booklet. Or,
Send comments, questions, complaints, or praise to:
Brewster Kahle
Thinking Machines Corporation
245 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
(617) 234-1000
Email: wais@think.com
AppleLink: wais@think.com@dasnet#
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Getting Started 2
Creating a New Question 3
Getting Results 4
Search Strategies: Improving Questions 5
Selecting Part of a Document 6
Other Methods 7
Search Strategies Following Tangents 8
Chaining Questions 9
To Close and/or Save a Question 10
To Save a Question Without Closing It 10
To Re-Open a Question 10
Keeping Up-To-Date on Sources 11
References 12
Questionaire 13
GETTING STARTED
Double-click on the WAIStation icon:
The SOURCES and QUESTIONS windows will appear.
Sources are generally available to everyone at a given site. Questions, on the
other hand, generally belong to individuals. If this is the first time you have
used WAIStation, your QUESTIONS window will probably be empty. When you save a
question, its name and icon appear in your window.
CREATING A NEW QUESTION
1. From the QUESTION menu, select NEW QUESTION.
A new QUESTION window opens.
2. Choose a source that you want your Question to search. Drag it from the
SOURCES window into the From These Sources field in the QUESTION window.
The source name will appear in the sources field.
Do this for as many sources as you wish.
3. Type words or phrases in the Look for documents about field, describing
the subjects about which you want information. WAIStation searches for these
words to find useful documents.
4. Click on RUN, to run the question. (See GETTING RESULTS, on page 4)
GETTING RESULTS
1. Click on RUN (or, hit RETURN).
The world cursor will turn while WAIStation searches for documents that
match your request. The Results field then displays the titles of the most
useful documents found. Documents are ranked from 0 to 3 stars, depending
on how well they match the question: the best matches are at the top of the
list.
Click on the scroll bar to see more documents.
2. Double-click on any document in the list to display it.
A new window opens, displaying the document. If the document is too large
to fit in the window, the section that shows the best match to your question
is displayed.
You can display as many of the documents as you like. You can also save
and print documents, using commands in the FILE menu. The TEXT menu contains
commands that control the format in which documents are displayed.
3. Searching from keywords alone is rarely sufficient. At this point,
therefore, you probably want to to select some documents (or some sections of
some documents) to guide the next step of your search. The next few pages
explain how to do this and suggest some possible search strategies.
On the other hand, you may have found what you wanted; or, you may not
have time at the moment to pursue the search. In these cases, you can either
discard your question or save it to re-use at a later time. For information on
how to do this, see page 10.
SEARCH STRATEGIES: IMPROVING QUESTIONS
You can use the information from one set of results to modify your original
question or to create further questions. Improving your original question often
leads to improved results. So, if your first search didn't provide what you
want, try one of the following techniques.
1. Probably the best way to improve a question is to drag one or more
particularly interesting documents from the Results list into the Similar
To field. This allows WAIStation to get a fuller sense of what you're looking
for, and thus a better chance of finding the information you need.
When you run the question again the Results list will be updated with the
new results, which will include documents similar to the one you selected (if
such documents exist in the database).
SELECTING PART OF A DOCUMENT
2. Alternatively, if one particular section within a document seems more
useful than the rest, you can ask WAIStation to search for documents that
resemble that section. To do that,
* Drag the cursor over a section of the document to select the text.
An icon will appear in the left margin.
* Drag the new icon into the Similar To field.
Run the query again.
The results will be updated with documents similar to the text you
selected.
OTHER METHODS
3. You can add or remove searchwords. This is often helpful if WAIStation
didn't interpret your initial words the way you expected it to.
Add searchwords by typing them in; remove them by backspacing over them,
or by selecting them with the mouse and then pressing Delete.
4. You can add or remove sources.
Add sources by dragging them into the source field; remove them by
dragging them out of the source field.
After modifying your QUESTION, click again on RUN. A new list of
documents will be displayed. (If the new list is identical to the old list,
then you may want to try using different searchwords. Otherwise, chances are
that you need to try a different approach, or that the database really
doesn't contain any more documents that are relevant to your question.)
SEARCH STRATEGIES FOLLOWING TANGENTS
The techniques listed on the previous page explained how to improve a search
for information on your original topic. Other search strategies involve
changing topics, perhaps to follow up some new line of questioning that grew
out of your original search.
* You can change the topic completely by changing searchwords.
* You can follow a new line of research that suggests itself, by dragging
the relevant result(s) whole documents or sections into the Similar To field.
You may want to change your searchwords to fit the new topic, as well.
Either of these strategies can be accomplished either by altering your original
question, or by creating new questions that preserve the context of the older
questions. Chaining questions in this manner allows you to follow interesting
new directions in a search, without losing any of your old data.
CHAINING QUESTIONS
1. While one question window is open, select NEW QUESTION from the
QUESTION menu.
The new Question window will contain the same sources as the existing
Question window has. You can alter this list of sources, or use it as is.
2. Drag documents or sections of documents from the existing Results into
the Similar To field in the new Question window. Or, type searchwords into the
new window. Or do both.
3. RUN the new question.
You can continue to chain questions at will. You can save any of these
questions whenever you like.
TO CLOSE AND/OR SAVE A QUESTION
1. Click on the box in its upper left corner.
If the question has not been saved previously, or if you have made changes
to the question, WAIStation asks you if you want to save the changes you
have made.
2. Click on YES to save the new version of the question. If the question
has not been saved before, it will appear in the QUESTIONS window.
Click on NO to discard the modifications (or, if this is a new
question, to discard the entire question.)
TO SAVE A QUESTION WITHOUT CLOSING IT
Select SAVE or SAVE AS from the FILE menu.
TO RE-OPEN A QUESTION
Double-click on its icon in the QUESTIONS window. (Or, open the
question from the QUESTION menu.)
KEEPING UP-TO-DATE ON SOURCES
Your System Administrator will have arranged to have some or all of your site's
sources updated at regular intervals. Needless to say, these intervals may not
be the same for all sources. (A daily newspaper and a weekly magazine will
probably be updated at different intervals.) In order to decide when you want
your Questions run, therefore, you must ask two questions: How often am I
interested in checking this question? and How often (and when) will its sources
be updated? If your sources are updated daily, it makes no sense to re-run your
questions every hour; if you only want to check for new data once a week, then
running the question weekly is the best strategy. To find out when a source is
updated, and to tell WAIStation when to search that source for you, use the
SOURCE window for each source your questions search.
1. Double-click on a Sources icon (or choose OPEN SOURCE from the Source
menu).
The SOURCE window for the selected source appears. You will notice, in the
upper half of the window, information that tells you when the database for
this source is updated.
2. You may select the number of document headlines you wish to have
displayed with the Number of Documents pop-up menu.
3. You can also select the default font and size of the text for documents
that are displayed from this source, using the Font and Size pop-up menus.
4. Click on the Contact field in the lower half of the window. Choose how
often you want your questions to search this source. The selected interval
will appear in the Contact field, followed by fields that request further
information.
Click on those fields, and enter the information. See your system
administrator for additional assistance. Note: Try to select a time for your
automatic searches that won't conflict with the times everyone else chooses. A
couple of good guidelines are: Don't search a source as soon as it's updated;
and, if you're specifying an exact time, use an odd number of minutes: 3:52,
for example, rather than 3:30 or 4:00. Note also: every question of yours that
searches this source gets updated at the time you choose. Questions that search
multiple sources get updated every time one of their sources is searched.
REFERENCES
Wide Area Information Concepts, Brewster Kahle. Thinking Machines Technical
Memo DR-89-1. Available from Thinking Machines Corporation or Brewster Kahle
(Internet: brewster@think.com; AppleLink: BREWSTER).
WAIS Interface Protocol Prototype Functional Specification, Franklin Davis et
al. Thinking Machines. Available from Franklin Davis (Internet: fad@think.com;
AppleLink: FAD) or Brewster Kahle (brewster@think.com, BREWSTER). Z39.50-1988:
Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specification for Library
Applications. National Information Standards Organization (Z39), P.O. Box
1056, Bethesda, MD 20817. (301) 975-2814. Available from Document Center,
Belmont, CA. Telephone 415-591-7600. DowQuest promotional literature available
from Dow Jones & Co. Inc., 200 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10281.
QUESTIONAIRE
As part of the WAIS research project, your feedback is extremely important.
Please take a few minutes to complete this after you have become comfortable
with WAIStation.
1. How could WAIStation be better?
2. What was confusing about WAIStation?
3. What could be removed from WAIStation?
4. What could be added? What could WAIStation do for you?
5. Did you make any discoveries about WAIStation?
6. How much time did you use WAIStation?
7. Did WAIStation feel like a real Macintosh program?
8. If you have used other information retrieval programs, please comment
on how WAIStation compared. Please list the systems you are comparing with.
9. Was the User Guide helpful? Do you have suggestions?
10. Other comments:
Thank you! Please fold and mail this, or give it to your system administrator.
Brewster Kahle
Thinking Machines Corporation
245 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142-1264
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