subject index

information science An information resource that contains

references to other resources, categorised by subject, usually

in a hierarchy.

Yahoo is the most popular Internet subject index. Like

most other subject indices,

Yahoo is arranged ontologically.

Subject indices are not to be confused with search engines,

which are based not on subject, but instead on relevance,

although (1) this difference is often (possibly rightly)

hidden from the unsophisticated user, and (2) future

integration of knowledge representation into relevance

ranking algorithms will make this a hazy distinction.

(1997-04-09)