EReXS: Event and Relations Extraction for SWHi

Abstract

“Automatic event extraction from fulltext resources is a combination of human language technology (HLT) and semantic web technologies. It can also be done on the base of purely statistical means with minimal linguistic knowledge”1. This thesis introduces a semi-automated method based on the HLT approach. The method uses an existing information extraction system called ANNIE, A Nearly-New Information Extraction System (developed by Hamish Cunningham, Valentin Tablan, Diana Maynard, Kalina Bontcheva, Marin Dimitrov and others). Further text analysis is supported by WordNet and parsers that help in the automatic extraction of historical events and their relations to objects of the human society. Although the method is developed for fulltext resources in the field of history, it is anticipated that it shall also be applied to e-resources in other fields for the automatic extraction of historical events.

The subject of history is well reckoned with its chronological record of true events, leading from the past to the present and even into the future. When used as the name of a field of study, history refers to the study and interpretation of the record of human societies2. Historical events extraction, therefore involves the identification of past events and their semantic relations to human society.