Automatic Text Simplification: A Breakthrough Innovation
Dr John LEE Sie-yuen explains his new research project on automatic text simplification and its real-world applications
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By securing a US patent to crown his latest research project on an algorithm for automatic text simplification, Dr John LEE Sie-yuen, Associate Professor at CityU’s Department of Linguistics and Translation, has shown the study of language from a computational perspective can lead to a breakthrough innovation with a range of potential applications.
In essence, his invention makes it possible to take a text an individual may find difficult, perhaps a legal document or a Wall Street Journal editorial on economic policy, and creates an easier to understand version.
It does this by adjusting the original vocabulary and syntactic structure, using word replacement and shorter sentences, to bring out the meaning for non-experts in the subject or those still learning the language.
Crucially, the process can also be customised, anticipating the words and level of complexity each reader can already handle and, as a result, only simplifying as much as necessary.
In effect, it takes account of education, professional background and language proficiency, improving on the conventional approach which tends just to throw up the most basic synonyms, whatever the context, or changes too little, thus leaving the reader still unenlightened.