NAVIGATION - A FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPT FOR INFORMATION-SYSTEMS WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION-RETRIEVAL

This work contains three main sections. The first section introduces navigation as a central concept for information systems. A description of the history of information systems and a brief comparison of the different foci of information systems is presented. Navigation formed the basis for information systems before the introduction of computer technology, and is again coming to the forefront of technology-based information system design. The second section has to do with information retrieval. IR systems have seldom focused on navigation, and have instead tried to facilitate matching or translation. Navigation is offered as a possible remedy for the methodological and philosophical difficulties with relevance-based approaches. The third section briefly describes a system under development which attempts to facilitate navigation for information retrieval.