{ "model": { "rank": 10252, "code": "thing-q816826", "model_id": "vr.tr.information-retrieval", "name": "information retrieval", "purpose": "Let an agent explain information retrieval, relay models, indexing, evaluation and applications from computer and information science sources, describe the named approaches and flag misfiled aliases, and distinguish information retrieval from data retrieval in databases, information extraction, sequential access in storage and interoperability standards.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q816826/", "tier": 2, "score": 45, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "data extraction", "full-text search", "sequential access", "health information interoperability", "computer-aided retrieval", "Geospatial Information retrieval", "polling", "faceted search", "private information retrieval", "random access", "data retrieval", "browsing", "Geographic information retrieval", "keyword searching", "legal information retrieval", "pearl growing", "linear search", "cross-language information retrieval", "web surfing", "web navigation", "citation snowballing", "web crawling", "caret browsing" ], "aliasCount": 23, "merged": 23, "knownIn": 45, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q816826", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816826", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T21:50:34Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q816826", "registryId": "vr.tr.information-retrieval", "name": "information retrieval", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q816826/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.information-retrieval", "name": "information retrieval", "purpose": "Let an agent explain information retrieval, relay models, indexing, evaluation and applications from computer and information science sources, describe the named approaches and flag misfiled aliases, and distinguish information retrieval from data retrieval in databases, information extraction, sequential access in storage and interoperability standards.", "definition": "The activity and field of finding material, usually documents or data, that satisfies an information need from within large collections, using techniques such as indexing with inverted indexes, full-text search, ranking models such as TF-IDF and BM25, and increasingly neural and vector search, evaluated with measures such as precision and recall in benchmark efforts such as the TREC conferences begun in 1992, and applied in web search, library catalogues, computer-aided retrieval systems and geospatial information retrieval; the registry aliases data extraction, sequential access and health information interoperability name related but distinct concepts.", "what_it_is_for": "Finding relevant information in collections.", "affordances": [ "explain models and indexing", "relay evaluation", "describe named approaches", "flag misfiled aliases" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Relevance ranking", "Unstructured data", "Evaluation benchmarks", "Rapidly evolving methods" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; seen as search boxes and ranked result lists.", "visual_identification": [ "Finding relevant information in collections", "Data extraction, full-text search, sequential access, health information interoperability, computer-aided retrieval, geospatial information retrieval", "Database queries return exact matches; information extraction pulls structured facts; sequential access is a storage method; interoperability concerns data exchange" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "TREC conferences began", "typical_range": "1992", "unit": "year", "note": "NIST" }, { "quantity": "BM25", "typical_range": "probabilistic ranking function", "unit": "note", "note": "Okapi system" }, { "quantity": "SMART system", "typical_range": "1960s", "unit": "note", "note": "Gerard Salton" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "Boolean retrieval", "vector space and probabilistic models", "full-text search engines", "neural and dense retrieval", "geospatial and multimedia retrieval", "retrieval-augmented generation" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "search", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "uses", "target": "inverted index", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is evaluated by", "target": "precision and recall", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "information extraction", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Z39.50 and SRU protocols for library search", "Data protection laws affecting search logs" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Treating relevance as truth", "Bias in ranking", "Misfiled aliases" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What information retrieval is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is information retrieval, and how does it differ from database queries, information extraction, sequential access and interoperability?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about search engines, libraries, research or building a system?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "named", "name": "Named", "description": "Named approaches and aliases.", "findings": [ { "id": "named-finding", "name": "Named", "description": "Named.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are full-text search, computer-aided retrieval and geospatial IR, and why are data extraction, sequential access and health interoperability different?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific concept?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "models", "name": "Models", "description": "Models and indexing.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "indexing", "name": "Indexing", "description": "Indexing.", "findings": [ { "id": "indexing-finding", "name": "Indexing", "description": "Indexing.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do inverted indexes enable fast search?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "ranking", "name": "Ranking", "description": "Ranking models.", "findings": [ { "id": "ranking-finding", "name": "Ranking", "description": "Ranking.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do TF-IDF, BM25 and neural models rank documents?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evaluation", "name": "Evaluation", "description": "Evaluation.", "rationale": "Application.", "layers": [ { "id": "metrics", "name": "Metrics", "description": "Metrics.", "findings": [ { "id": "metrics-finding", "name": "Metrics", "description": "Metrics.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do precision, recall and nDCG measure?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "Which entry fits precision and recall?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "trec", "name": "TREC", "description": "Benchmarks.", "findings": [ { "id": "trec-finding", "name": "TREC", "description": "TREC.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did TREC shape IR evaluation?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Text Retrieval Conference?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Applications and society.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "web", "name": "Web search", "description": "Web search.", "findings": [ { "id": "web-finding", "name": "Web search", "description": "Web search.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do web search engines apply IR at scale?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits search engine?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "bias", "name": "Bias", "description": "Ranking bias.", "findings": [ { "id": "bias-finding", "name": "Bias", "description": "Bias.", "questions": [ { "text": "What research exists on bias and fairness in search rankings, with findings attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "The registry aliases sequential access and health information interoperability should be moved", "How should IR research venues be linked?", "Should neural retrieval be a separate entry?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a information retrieval, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain information retrieval, relay models, indexing, evaluation and applications from computer and information science sources, describe the named approaches and flag misfiled aliases, and distinguish information retrieval from data retrieval in databases, information extraction, sequential access in storage and interoperability standards.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: data extraction, full-text search, sequential access, health information interoperability, computer-aided retrieval, Geospatial Information retrieval, polling, faceted search, private information retrieval, random access, data retrieval, browsing.", "23 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 45 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a information retrieval, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "data extraction", "full-text search", "sequential access", "health information interoperability", "computer-aided retrieval", "Geospatial Information retrieval", "polling", "faceted search", "private information retrieval", "random access", "data retrieval", "browsing" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 45 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 23 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one information retrieval from another, and a information retrieval from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a information retrieval sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a information retrieval from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a information retrieval passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a information retrieval between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a information retrieval, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a information retrieval is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a information retrieval says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a information retrieval contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a information retrieval and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What information retrieval studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does information retrieval take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does information retrieval establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where information retrieval is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark information retrieval as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place information retrieval, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a information retrieval came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a information retrieval and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a information retrieval is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a information retrieval, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a information retrieval, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a information retrieval is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }