MONO91 Indexes Generated by Machine-Automatic Derivative Indexing chapter Mary Elizabeth Stevens National Bureau of Standards Skaggs and Spangler claim: "The most obvious advantage of permuted indexing by computer is speed. In a test of one permuted indexing system, input of 3, 000 punched cards contain- ing titles and running text produced a permuted significant word index of 12,190 index entry lines, with approximately 85 minutes of computer time required for the permuting and sort operations. The output was printed at some 500 lines per minute. ` 1/ In many cases, greater speed and timeliness are achieved at significantly lower cost. This is particularly true if the preparation of the input -- title, author, item identification and other descriptive cataloging information- - serves multiple purposes from a single keystroking operation. Thus, the MATICO System provides from a single input (1) KWIC indexes as required, (2) selective dissemination notices to potential users of new acquisitions, (3) records on magnetic tape for the information retrieval file, and (4) book catalogs covering specialized areas of the collection, all at a net savings over previous methods of $0.39 for each title processed. 21 Another advantage which is typically claimed for KWIC indexes is the use of the author's own terminology. The display of different words as they have been used in title context with any word looked up introduces "suggestiveness" so that different mean- ings and different browsing clues are shown. Kennedy makes the following typical points: "The use of the author's own terms--the alive currency of new ideas--rather than the considered reshapings to the indexing system may often be of advantage. The automatic generation as index entries of all the separate words in multi-term concepts is definitely so. Access is direct, under any one of the component terms, in the unrestricted manner of uniterm indexing. And context minimizes false drops; the author has supplied the term coordination." 3/ Others, however, consider some of these same factors to be definite disadvantages. In general, even among enthusiasts of KWIC, there is more agreement as to the values of the technique as a device for current awareness scanning and as a dissemination index than for its use for more extensive searching. It was, in fact, primarily as a dissemination index that Luhn first proposed the KWIC technique. He pointed out that such indexes could be prepared with minimum effort and be ready for dissemination in the shortest possible time, justifying publication by inexpensive printing means. He also noted the following additional advantages: 1/ 2/ 3/ Skaggs and Spangler, 1963 [557], p.30. Carroll and Summit, 1962 [102], p.4. Kennedy, 1962 [310], p.184. 56