Automatic summaries within seconds
At journalism school I learnt that every word should count and, generally, the fewer words the better. It is a tough dictum, but in this age of information overload it may be more pertinent than ever. Printed or onscreen, there is more information to be read,
Perhaps because summarising requires judgment, there are few commercial text- summarisation software packages, and even fewer for small business and desktop users. Interestingly, most come from Europe.
Packages that address at least part of this market include Sinope Summarizer (
www.sinope.info/en/info) from Netherlands-based Carp Technologies (�50/$50). Sinope Summarizer uses semantic analysis and integrates with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser to generate summaries of web pages quickly.
Paris-based Pertinence Mining (
www.pertinence.net) sells a software package called Pertinence Summarizer, which automatically produces summaries from text using a technology dubbed KENiA (knowledge extraction and notification architecture). The software can handle a wide range of document formats in many languages.
I have been taking a close look at two other desktop text-summarisation tools: Canada-based Mamma.com’s Copernic Summarizer (
www.copernic.com) and Summarize!, from UK-based Corpora Software (
www.corporasoftware.com).
Copernic Summarizer, which costs $60 to download, works with any Microsoft Word document, web page, Adobe PDF file, e-mail message or with text from the “cut and paste” clipboard to create a summary of any length.
It uses a combination of advanced statistical and linguistic algorithms to pinpoint the key concepts of a text and extracts the most relevant sentences to produce a condensed version. Summarizer also uses proprietary technology to exclude non-essential content on web pages.
Its developers claim the summaries are “remarkably accurate”, and in my basic tests Summarizer mostly lived up to its billing.
Installation is straightforward and users can then obtain document summaries quickly by clicking a “Summarize” button or by choosing the appropriate menu item. Alternatively, you can simply drag a file, text selection or hyperlink on to a small floating toolbar that stays on top of the other applications on screen, providing instant access to Summarizer’s main features. Summaries can be printed, saved or e-mailed.
Copernic Summarizer can also create continuous “live” summaries of web pages displayed in Internet Explorer in a special pane at the bottom of the page window
