Information Extraction - A User Guide

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive user-oriented overview of Information Extraction, explaining its process, applications, and how it transforms unstructured text into structured data for various uses.

Contribution

It offers a non-technical, user-focused guide to understanding and applying Information Extraction technology, emphasizing practical aspects and applications.

Findings

Information Extraction converts unstructured text into structured data.

It supports applications like display, storage, analysis, and indexing.

The guide clarifies the process for potential users without prior technical knowledge.

Abstract

This technical memo describes Information Extraction from the point-of-view of a potential user of the technology. No knowledge of language processing is assumed. Information Extraction is a process which takes unseen texts as input and produces fixed-format, unambiguous data as output. This data may be used directly for display to users, or may be stored in a database or spreadsheet for later analysis, or may be used for indexing purposes in Information Retrieval applications. See also http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~hamish