An experiment in superficial indexing

An experiment in superficial indexing was carried out to elaborate the contrast between indexing with a controlled vocabulary and using automated methods as described by salton [1, 2]. Superficial indexing refers to a set of procedures for selecting, organizing and using indexing terms modelled after automatic techniques but requiring neither the full text of articles, abstracts or machine readable text. It represents a minimal effort in manual indexing designed, in part, to allow the development of an automated version.

Retrieval comparisons were made with a manual system using controlled techniques, and though they were not as favorable as the results reported by Salton, still favor development of such techniques over manual systems.