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BLANC: Implementing the Rand index for coreference evaluation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

M. RECASENS  and
E. HOVY
M. RECASENS
Affiliation:
CLiC, University of Barcelona, Gran Via 585, Barcelona 08007, Spain email: mrecasens@ub.edu
E. HOVY
Affiliation:
USC Information Sciences Institute, 4676 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USA email: hovy@isi.edu
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Abstract

This paper addresses the current state of coreference resolution evaluation, in which different measures (notably, MUC, B3, CEAF, and ACE-value) are applied in different studies. None of them is fully adequate, and their measures are not commensurate. We enumerate the desiderata for a coreference scoring measure, discuss the strong and weak points of the existing measures, and propose the BiLateral Assessment of Noun-Phrase Coreference, a variation of the Rand index created to suit the coreference task. The BiLateral Assessment of Noun-Phrase Coreference rewards both coreference and non-coreference links by averaging the F-scores of the two types, does not ignore singletons – the main problem with the MUC score – and does not inflate the score in their presence – a problem with the B3 and CEAF scores. In addition, its fine granularity is consistent over the whole range of scores and affords better discrimination between systems.

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Type
Articles
Information
Natural Language Engineering , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 485 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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