What is Literacy?

The power of literacy lies not only in the ability to read and write, but rather in an individual’s capacity to put those skills to work in shaping the course of his or her own life. With the insight that genuine literacy involves “reading the word and the world,” renowned educator Paulo Freire helped open the door to a broader understanding of the term, one that moves from a strict decoding and reproducing of language into issues of economics, health, and sustainable development. Freire’s view of literacy is at once practical and all-encompassing. Whether it is the words of a language, the symbols in a mathematical system, or images posted to the Internet—literacy can transform lives.

 

Information Retrieval & Search Algorithms

Information retrieval is the task, given a set of documents and a user query, of finding the relevant documents. Information retrieval applications require speed, consistency, accuracy and ease of use in retrieving relevant texts to satisfy user queries. These evaluation criteria apply to other text interpretation applications as well.

• Accuracy: The sheer volumes of information now stored in electronic media magnify deficiencies in recall (the percentage of relevant information retrieved. Giving the user reasonable-sized response with high precision can mean missing hundreds of relevant texts.
• Speed : As the quantity of text that must be searched increases, the speed of searching can become a reserve bottleneck. In practical terms, the need for fast search means that more computational-intensive processing such as NLP techniques must either apply very selectively or run as "batch" indexing tool prior to retrieval.
• Consistency : Many information retrieval environments require indexing of the text by the groups of indexers or by the authors. This leads to a decrease in accuracy from the inevitable inconsistencies, which automatic processing could help to avoid.
• Ease of use : The growth of personal computer has mode obsolete the traditional model of information retrieval with a trained human intermediary, giving systems responsiveness a high priority.

NetOwl By IsoQuest

NetOwl is a family of information retrieval and data extraction software developed by IsoQuest cooperation. This software uses latest and most advanced Natural Language Processing Technology. Some of the members of this software family are as follows.

• Desktop
• Datablade
• Intelligence Server
• Extender
• Discovery Suite
• Extractor

Seven Steps for Effective Library Research 

These steps outline a simple and effective strategy for finding information for your research paper and documenting the sources you find. Depending on your topic and your familiarity with the library, you may need to rearrange or recycle these steps. Adapt this outline to your needs.

Identify and Develop Your Topic

Find the Context: Background Information on Your Topic

Find Books

Find Periodical Articles

Find Video and Sound Recordings

Evaluate What You Find

Cite What You Find