An automatic system is being developed to disseminate information to the various sections of any
industrial, scientific or government organization. This intelligence system will utilize data-processing
machines for auto-abstracting and auto-encoding of documents and for creating interest profiles for each
of the “action points” in an organization. Both incoming and internally generated documents are automatically
abstracted, characterized by a word pattern, and sent automatically to appropriate action points. This
paper shows the flexibility of such a system in identifying known information, in finding who needs to know
it and in disseminating it efficiently either in abstract form or as a complete document.
Introduction
Efficient communication is a key to progress in all fields
of human endeavor. It has become evident in recent years
that present communication methods are totally inadequate
for future requirements. Information is now being
generated and utilized at an ever-increasing rate because
of the accelerated pace and scope of human activities and
the steady rise in the average level of education. At the
same time theg rowth of organizations and increased specialization
and divisionalization have created new barriers
to the flow of information. There is also a growing need
for more prompt decisions at levels of responsibility far
below those customary in the past. Undoubtedly the most
formidable communications problem is the sheer bulk of
information that has to be dealt with. In view of the
present growth trends, automation appears to offer the
most efficient methods for retrieval and dissemination of
this information.
During the past decade significant progress has been
made in applying machines to the processes of information
retrieval. Automatic dissemination has so far been
given little consideration; however, unless substantial portions
of human effort in this area can be replaced by
automatic operations, no significant over-all improvement
will be achieved. Even the information retrieval processes
mechanized so far still require appreciable human
effort to organize the information before it is entered into
machines.
It is believed that techniques now being developed will
greatly contribute to the solution of the problem by extending
automatic processes to the preparatory phases of
mechanical information-
