INTEGRATING STRUCTURED DATA AND TEXT - A RELATIONAL APPROACH

We integrate structured data and text using the unchanged, standard re lational model. We started with the premise that a relational system c ould be used to implement an information retrieval (in) system. After implementing a prototype to verify that premise, we then began to inve stigate the performance of a parallel relational database system for t his application. We also tested the effect of query reduction on accur acy and found that queries can be reduced prior to their implementatio n without incurring a significant loss in precision/recall. This reduc tion also serves to improve run-time performance. After comparing our results to a special purpose in system, we conclude that the relationa l model offers scalable performance and includes the ability to integr ate structured data and text in a portable fashion.