Bratvold T.A.
Sonnenberger G.
Frei H.P.

Abstract

Digitally stored information is becoming increasingly heterogeneous, composite, and interrelated. It may be composed of different media like text, graphics or audio, with structured and non-structured parts, and is frequently associated with other information. This complexity poses a strong challenge to developers of information retrieval (IR) systems. This paper presents FIRE, an object-oriented framework for developing IR applications. FIRE is based on an extensible architecture of reusable building blocks that provide functionality for storing and retrieving multimedia information. Particular emphasis is placed on providing mechanisms for specializing and combining framework components to produce customized and maintainable applications. The characteristics of FIRE are discussed, with emphasis on how decisions in the design of the framework affect its applicability to practical applications

[Bra96a] Bratvold T.A., Sonnenberger G. and Frei H.P.. A Framework for Developing Information Retrieval Applications. In Mätzel K.-U., Frei H.P. (editors), Computer Science Research at Ubilab, Research Projects 1995/96; Proceedings of the Ubilab Conference '96, Universitätsverlag Konstanz, Konstanz, November 1996.