Integrating Structured Data and Text: A relational approach

Weintegrate structured data and text using the unchanged, standard relational model. We started with the premise that a relational system could be used to implement an Information Retrieval #IR# system. After implementing a prototypetoverify that premise, we then began to investigate the performance of a parallel relational database system for this application. We also tested the e#ect of query reduction on accuracy and found that queries can be reduced prior to their implementation without incurring a signi#cant loss in precision#recall. This reduction also serves to improve run-time performance. After comparing our results to a special purpose IR system, we conclude that the relational model o#ers scalable performance and includes the abilitytointegrate structured data and text in a portable fashion. 1 Introduction Increasingly, applications integrate structured and unstructured data, responding to requests such as #Find articles containing vehicle and sales published in jo..