Showing papers on "Question answering published in 1971"

The converse natural language data management system: current status and plans

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of research in progress in which the principal aim is the achievement of more natural and expressive modes of on-line communication with complexly structured data bases. A natural-language compiler has been constructed that accepts sentences in a user-extendable English subset, produces surface and deep-structure syntactic analyses, and uses a network of concepts to construct semantic interpretations formalized as computable procedures. The procedures are evaluated by a data management system that updates, modifies, and searches data bases that can be formalized as finite models of states of affairs. The system has been designed and programmed to handle large vocabularies and large collections of facts efficiently. Plans for extending the research vehicle to interface with a deductive inference component and a voice input-output effort are briefly described.

Experiments with a natural language problem-solving system

Abstract: Development work on a computer program call­ ed HAPPINESS which solves basic probability prob­ lems phrased in English is presented. Emphasis is placed on (1) the application of heuristics to the examination of input language structure for the purpose of determining those phases richest in semantic content (2) the piecewise construction of combinatorial form­ ulas for problem solution The language analysis is accomplished in sever­ al discrete stages, involving simple sentence trans­ formation, keyword and semantic scanning, and syn­ tactic analysis based on a simplified context-free grammar. The descriptor list result of this analy­ sis is used as the basis for a four-stage solution procedure. A description of the implementation, and a dis­ cussion of its limitations, extensions, and applica­ tions, is also given.

Algorithms in Library Instruction: A Systems Approach to Information Retrieval

Abstract: The systematic instruction of students in techniques of library use and information retrieval is a very significant development both in higher education and in academic librarianship. Educationally it is important in emphasizing the distinction between being taught and learning by personal effort. From the librarian's point of view it is an exercise which takes him out of his traditionally somewhat passive role and integrates his activities more closely into the teaching and learning process. The educational benefits resulting from library instruction, which are now generally acknowledged (by librarians if not by the academic establishment), have led to the development of courses in many universities and colleges, and there is a rapidly growing literature describing these programmes and the various teaching aids and methods involved. These descriptions, however, tend to concentrate on such fashionable devices as closed-circuit television, film, and similar mechanical aids. Some of the respective merits and defects of various techniques appropriate to library instruction are discussed below, with particular reference to algorithms. These are, by comparison, relatively unsophisticated, and may be simply constructed to be used in conjunction with most orthodox library instruction courses, at various levels. The lecture as a form of communication in higher education has been strongly criticised, not least by students themselves. And the results of experiments designed to assess levels of retention of information conveyed traditionally in this way are not encouraging. (I) The great strength of the lecture method is that it is economical in terms of time and staff: a large number of students can be contacted by a single speaker in a relatively short period of time. This fact may be advantageous in certain circumstances. For example, library instruction is unfortunately often regarded as an extracurricular activity of secondary importance and its allocation in the timetable correspondingly restricted. For this reason it may be expedient to employ lectures as the only practical means of reaching the students in the available time, even though the lecture is not the most suitable medium

R2: a natural language question-answering system

Abstract: A large number of systems involving computers require a high degree of man-machine interaction. In these systems the capability of the computer to process natural language information would be extremely useful as that eliminates the need for the user to learn various formal languages for the purpose of interaction.