Generate Readable Textual Report from Numeric Variables' Values

Hello! I am not sure if this can be done and if there is a script to do this.. I have seen some weather report generators online which generate human readable weather reports from raw weather data...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language_generation

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/ncs/computing/research/nlg/demonstrations/pollen/

I wonder if this can be done in Matlab? I am sure a toolbox that would do that would earn a LOT OF MONEY for the Matlab....still I wonder if anyone has seen a similar functionality implemented in Matlab or tried it themselves? I will be happy to hear any comments!) Have a nice day!) D

[Dima]

Absolutely no Idea on how this can be done???? Do you think the Matlab reporter can be made to create text from logical conditions?

[Jan]

There is something wrong with the Wikipedia link: It links to this question...

[Dima]

yes...thanks..corrected it....

Answer 1

[Jan]

I do not see a market for such a toolbox. The best implementation to create a human readable report are humen. Why should this be done by a computer as long as there are enough people around here? Creating such a report is neither dangerous, nor must it be done millions of times per second.

I've talked to an computerized telephone support machine and it was simply annoying and ridiculous. However, I'm convinced that the progress in computer linguistics cannot be stopped. And someday there will be a really intelligent speaking computer, which will attract the attention by acting like a human:

 Person:   "Please open the door"
 Computer: "No"

[Dima]

Thank you for your reply. as for your question to WHY NLG is necessary I am quoting a Author of "Building Natural Language Generation Systems":

Of course, cost is not the only factor in deciding whether to automate a document

production task, and indeed in many cases it is not even the dominant factor. Other

reasons for using NLG technology include:

• Consistency. Consistency may be required between texts and the input

data. Because NLG systems generate text directly from the input data,

they will always (provided the software works correctly) accurately communicate

that data. Human authors, in contrast, may make mistakes as a

result of carelessness, boredom, or fatigue. Such mistakes can be caught

by a quality-assurance check, but this is expensive and may not detect all

mistakes.

• Conformance to standards. In many cases, documents are required to

conform to strict writing and content standards. For example, AECMA

Simplified English (AECMA, 1986), from the European Association of

Aerospace Industries, is used in the airline industry to ensure that maintenance

manuals meet these kinds of requirements. Human authors can

find it difficult always to write according to a prescribed standard, but an

NLG system can be programmed to obey such a standard by giving it the

necessary rules of grammar, style, and contents.

• Speed of document production. For example, Environment Canada is

investigating the use of FOG to rapidly produce updated forecasts in severe

weather conditions such as tornadoes and hurricanes. The advantage of

adopting a software solution in this case is that it can produce a forecast

in seconds, whereas a human forecaster will require several minutes to

write the same forecast. In any case, in a severe weather situation, the

human forecaster's time may be better spent on analysis than on writing

forecast texts.

• Generating documents in multiple languages. Some NLG systems,

such as FOG, can produce versions of a text in several languages. This

allows users to produce documents in a language they do not know, without

needing to involve a human translator. This is only useful, of course,

if the quality of the generated texts is predictable enough to remove any

need for expensive human checking of the results.

• Staffing issues. If a particular type of document is very boring to write,

it may be difficult to employ or retain staff who are willing to write it.

Computer systems do not get bored and indeed work best on exactly the

kinds of monotonous tasks that people dislike.

[Dima]

and the question remains as to how this can be done in Matlab?

I have no experience using the Matlab Report Generator. I wonder if the text there can be created that is based on a tree like logical sequence?

thanks!)

Answer 2

[Dima]

You think this cannot be done in Matlab at all???? i wonder if the Report Generator can be used to create text from logical trees based on variable values?