Ask HN: Is there a future for automatic summarization startups?

Posted by MojoJolo on Monday September 10, 2012 @11:39AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm currently doing my MS thesis which is about automatic summarization. I'm also creating a web app (http://www.indiegogo.com/TextTeaser?a=1110234) to showcase it.

Some startups doing automatic summarization are Cruxbot (http://www.cruxbot.com/) and Summly. Like those apps, my thesis is also doing extraction only. It just extracts the most important sentences in an article that is determined by several features.

So, is there a future for the apps (including mine) that I mentioned? Or is there a future for automatic summarization in general?

( 4 comments | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Is there a future for automatic summarization sta... by hbbio on Monday September 10, 2012 @11:46AM (#4500360)

Depends. I was familiar with http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/a/... and to be successful, it has to be a great product. I.e. find where the pain is and solve it. Success lies on the product side, not the research...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Is there a future for automatic summarization sta... by MojoJolo on Monday September 10, 2012 @12:18PM (#4500553)

Turning the research into a product is the problem. But I admire what Lytro has done. His dissertation turned into a real product.

Hmmm. But what do you think about those apps that I mentioned? They have pretty good algorithm inside, but are they great products?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Is there a future for automatic summarization sta... by scotto on Monday September 10, 2012 @11:59AM (#4500450)

I believe there is, but like hbbio said it's a matter of the product. You can make the algorithm into a product by offering it through an API to other developers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Is there a future for automatic summarization sta... by MojoJolo on Monday September 10, 2012 @12:15PM (#4500537)

Yes, APIs can change an algorithm into a product. This was done by Diffbot (http://www.diffbot.com/) which presents different text algorithms. I love their API, and currently using it for my thesis.

[ Parent | on HN ]