A menu interface to formulate Boolean logic – Can it be done?*

Article type: Research Article

Authors: de Stricker, Ulla

Affiliations: Micromedia Limited, 158 Pearl Street, Toronto, Canada, M5H 1L3

Note: [*] Version of a paper presented at the Forty-third Congress of the Fédération Internationale de Documentation (FID) in Montréal, Québec, Canada, 14–18 September 1986.

Abstract: Whereas artificial intelligence (the capability to interpret natural language queries) exists in some database management software packages, such capability has not been developed for online front ends or gateways. Yet it is the formulation of adequate queries using Boolean logic which most needs attention in the design of a user friendly interface to online retrieval services. Menu selection, while ‘easy’ for the casual user, is successful only to a limited extent in achieving desired results; for any but the most elementary query, the power of Boolean logic is indispensable. Many casual users, however, find this logic unclear and are not always able to construct ‘correct’ or optimal search expressions. The paper examines the difficulties inherent in an attempt to design an interface for assisting untrained users in formulating Boolean logic queries through menu selection.

DOI: 10.3233/ISU-1988-8106

Journal: Information Services & Use, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 39-46, 1988