Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nih-csl!lhc!ncifcrf!haven!cs.wvu.wvnet.edu!eichmann
From: eichmann@cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (David Eichmann)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Issues regarding the storage of information
Message-ID: <984@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu>
Date: 8 Nov 90 22:42:46 GMT
References: <1871@nvuxr.UUCP>
Organization: WVU Statistics and Computer Science
Lines: 36

efam@nvuxr (elliott familant) writes:

>                                              There are those of us
>who are information pack rats who keep things around (I hypothesize) in
>case we ever need it.  Does anyone know of research that has
>systematically looked at this behavior.  I am interested in why it
>occurs and what effects it might have on the ablility of users to manage
>the information they control.

   Does 85mb make me a pack rat?  I've resorted to my own series of keyword
retrieval systems for old news articles, etc.

version 1 - news articles saved in a directory, retrieval by fgrep'ing
            (Slooow, and compound queries a drag)

version 2 - Hypercard stack (interesting, but compound queries a drag,
            plus reuse of embedded stuff even more of a drag)

version 3 - hierarchy of directories (generated by nn saves) with a cron-
            driven script that adds interesting words to an Ingres database.
            Retrieval is through a query program (lex/yacc) supporting
            compound queries and a variety of actions (display, print, etc.)
            (This is a real space hog - the database is as big as the file
            directory is, but I've got fast compound queries and wildcarding.)

This current version provides everything I want in retrieval of stuff from
a News archive hierarchy, but it doesn't address another major want -
retrieval of various code fragments from places like comp.sources.unix or
anonymous ftp sites.  

- Dave
===
David Eichmann
Dept. of Statistics and Computer Science
West Virginia University                  Phone: (304) 293-3607
Morgantown, WV  26506                     Email: eichmann@a.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu