INFORMATION RETRIEVAL FROM KNOWLEDGEMANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: USING KNOWLEDGEHIERARCHIES TO OVERCOMEKEYWORD LIMITATIONS

摘要

Information retrieval (IR) is a key component of knowledge management systems (KMSs). KMSs frequentlyrely on keyword searches as a primary mechanism for retrieval. While keyword searches are very helpful toknowledge workers, they have their limitations. To illustrate some of the limitations of keyword searches, adatabase containing all of the articles that have appeared in MIS Quarterly was constructed. Prior researchshows that ambiguous, poorly constructed keyword phrases lead to poor information retrieval results.Knowledge hierarchies have been used to overcome some of the keyword searches limitations. This researchproposes the use of dimensional modeling and multidimensional database technologies to implement knowledgehierarchies. It suggests that many of the limitations inherent in keyword searches can be eliminated fromknowledge management systems by exploiting the benefits of the hierarchical structure that underliesmultidimensional databases.