The MIT technical information project

MAR 01, 1965

The model of a technical information system described here by Dr. Kessler involves a working literature taken from twenty‐one journals in the field of physics. The system, designed and constructed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a prototype operating in a realistic test environment, uses remote consoles having access to a timesharing computer facility. Programs have been developed for a large variety of search and processing techniques in real time as well as for delayed output. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation and in part by Project MAC, the experimental computer facility at MIT which is sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3047262

M. M. Kessler

The Technical Information Project at MIT is an experiment in information‐system design. It is intended to provide a test‐bed facility to evaluate search strategies, to learn from direct experience what contributions modern technology can make in solving the problems of scientific exchange, and to localize those areas in the information process where technological improvements are most likely to succeed. The present paper describes the system.

References

1. M. M. Kessler and F. E. Heart, “Analysis of Bibliographic Sources in The Physical Review,” MIT Technical Information Project Report Number 3, 1962 (unpublished).
2. M. M. Kessler, “Analysis of Bibliographic Sources in a Group of Physics‐Related Journals,” MIT Technical Inmation Project Report Number 4, 1962 (unpublished).
3. F. J. Corbató et al., The Compatible Time‐Sharing System: A Programmer’s Guide, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. (1963).
4. M. M. Kessler, “Bibliographic Coupling Between Scientific Papers,” American Documentation 14, 10 (1963).
5. M. M. Kessler, “A Bibliographic Coupling Extended in Time—Ten Case Histories,” Information Storage and Retrieval 1, 169 (1963).
6. M. M. Kessler, “Comparison of the Results of Bibliographic Coupling and Analytic Subject Indexing,” MIT Technical Information Project Report Number 7, 1963 (unpublished).

More about the Authors

M. M. Kessler. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.