Information Retrieval Visualization (IRVIS)

The IRVIS project is concerned with researching and applying new ways to present retrieved text-based information from a single search across a variety of sources. This includes the problem of organizing data into logical domains of information as well as the provision of tools that allow a user to specify organizational parameters that make the most sense to the task at hand.

Although domains can always be represented by text lists, if the purpose and/or source of the information is unfamiliar, it is nearly impossible to extract the meaningful results from retrieval sets that include thousands of entries. The IRVIS project focuses on using information visualization and data mining techniques to provide alternatives that will facilitate the understanding and navigation of those results.

According to the lead editorial in the first issue of the journal, Information Visualization, this field is an interdisciplinary, newly emerging area of study focusing on "finding meaningful and intuitive ways to represent non-spatial and non-numerical information to people." [Chen, 2002] Data mining is a phrase used to describe database applications that identify relationships (usually previously unidentified) between or among retrieved sets of objects, without changing the actual presentation of the information. The National Library of Medicine supports a wide variety of text-based data and the Gateway is uniquely (within the NLM) positioned to provide a platform for research in combining the two disciplines, information visualization and data mining.