Automatic summarising: factors and directions

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the need for a focused research methodology in automatic summarising, highlighting the importance of context factors and advocating for a strategy centered on shallow analysis and indicative summarising.

Contribution

It analyzes key context factors affecting summarising and evaluation, proposing a strategic shift towards shallow analysis and indicative summarising for more effective progress.

Findings

Analysis of context factors influences summarising strategies

Advocates for shallow, indicative summarising approaches

Proposes a research program based on current work

Abstract

This position paper suggests that progress with automatic summarising demands a better research methodology and a carefully focussed research strategy. In order to develop effective procedures it is necessary to identify and respond to the context factors, i.e. input, purpose, and output factors, that bear on summarising and its evaluation. The paper analyses and illustrates these factors and their implications for evaluation. It then argues that this analysis, together with the state of the art and the intrinsic difficulty of summarising, imply a nearer-term strategy concentrating on shallow, but not surface, text analysis and on indicative summarising. This is illustrated with current work, from which a potentially productive research programme can be developed.