Synthesizing structured text from logical database subsets

Simitsis, A; Alexandrakis, Y; Koutrika, G; Ioannidis, Y

dc.contributor.author	Simitsis, A	en
dc.contributor.author	Alexandrakis, Y	en
dc.contributor.author	Koutrika, G	en
dc.contributor.author	Ioannidis, Y	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T02:51:49Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T02:51:49Z
dc.date.issued	2008	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/35673
dc.subject.other	Generic translation modules	en
dc.subject.other	Logical database subsets	en
dc.subject.other	Database systems	en
dc.subject.other	Formal logic	en
dc.subject.other	Information retrieval	en
dc.subject.other	Parameter estimation	en
dc.subject.other	Query processing	en
dc.subject.other	Text processing	en
dc.title	Synthesizing structured text from logical database subsets	en
heal.type	conferenceItem	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1145/1353343.1353396	en
heal.identifier.secondary	http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1353343.1353396	en
heal.publicationDate	2008	en
heal.abstract	In the classical database world, information access has been based on a paradigm that involves structured, schema-aware, queries and tabular answers. In the current environment, however, where information prevails in most activities of society, serving people, applications, and devices in dramatically increasing numbers, this paradigm has proved to be very limited. On the query side, much work has been done on moving towards keyword queries over structured data. In our previous work, we have touched the other side as well, and have proposed a paradigm that generates entire databases in response to keyword queries. In this paper, we continue in the same direction and propose synthesizing textual answers in response to queries of any kind over structured data. In particular, we study the transformation of a dynamically-generated logical database sub-set into a narrative through a customizable, extensible, and template-based process. In doing so, we exploit the structured nature of database schemas and describe three generic translation modules for different formations in the schema, called unary, split, and join modules. We have implemented the proposed translation procedure into our own database front end and have performed several experiments evaluating the textual answers generated as several features and parameters of the system are varied. We have also conducted a set of experiments measuring the effectiveness of such answers on users. The overall results are very encouraging and indicate the promise that our approach has for several applications. Copyright 2008 ACM.	en
heal.journalName	Advances in Database Technology - EDBT 2008 - 11th International Conference on Extending Database Technology, Proceedings	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1145/1353343.1353396	en
dc.identifier.spage	428	en
dc.identifier.epage	439	en