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HITIQA: High-quality intelligence through interactive question answering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

S. SMALL  and
T. STRZALKOWSKI
S. SMALL
Affiliation:
Language Analytic Corporation, Schenectady, NY, USA e-mail: small@laancor.com
T. STRZALKOWSKI
Affiliation:
Institute of Informatics, Logics and Security Studies, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA e-mail: tomek@csc.albany.edu
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Abstract

We describe an interactive question answering system, HITIQA, which helps users find answers to complex analytical problems. Such problems often necessitate the user to submit not one but an entire series of questions, both simple and complex, and then to negotiate the final content and form of the answer. HITIQA advances research in human–computer dialogue by enabling topical, mixed initiative interaction over unstructured data. HITIQA uses the process of text framing to bring a level of semantic representation to open-domain data in order to facilitate meaningful dialogue with the user. In this paper we give an overview of HITIQA's design and explain the workings of its main components with particular attention given to its dialogue capabilities. We also present results of end-to-end system evaluations that demonstrate the effectiveness of the system as a whole, as well as contributions of the individual components and specifically the benefits of our dialogue-based approach. While our research continues, a number of HITIQA prototypes have recently been deployed at various government agencies where they are being tested under real operational conditions.

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Natural Language Engineering , Volume 15 , Special Issue 1: Interactive Question Answering , January 2009 , pp. 31 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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