Project

Right then. My honours project is basically proving the following article completely wrong, and that back of the book indexing can indeed be written by a computer ^_^

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CAN'T THE INDEX BE WRITTEN BY A COMPUTER?

Indexing ultimately organizes "aboutness" for quick recall. The computer and its software assist, but the human mind alone can speak to the concept of "aboutness". If a term or concept is not specifically articulated on a page, a computer cannot choose it for the index, nor can a search engine find references to it. Neither can the computer reword the entry in a form that aids readers who are unfamiliar with the author's thrust. A paragraph or discussion can be "about" a topic without specifically using those words.

For example, in a discussion of passwords, keys and locks, you may be speaking about security issues and encryption. The words "security" or "encryption" may not appear in that page yet the reader should be directed to that page by the index under those headings. It takes a human mind to draw these conclusions.

Furthermore, a computer cannot:

• determine relationships among words and concepts, and therefore cannot place subentries, synonyms and cross-references properly
• decide what is and is not a relevant reference-- they can only sort the terms that appear in a document according to certain preprogrammed patterns
• recognize concepts which are discussed over a range of pages
• limit the search to relevant entries (vs. every occurance of a word)
• function when a word is misspelled (for example. google the word "backwords" and notice how often it is used where the word "backwards" is meant)
• consider how terms develop varied meanings -- for example, a "key" on pianos, for computers, to unlock doors, to unlock puzzles, for security, or as a geographic feature, as in Key West. At the same time, a computer is unable distinguish an author's use of multiple terms to indicate one concept: for example, in the computer manual field, 'application', 'software', and 'program' are often used interchangeably

Thus, without a human being to analyze content and context, automation in either a search process or in creating an index falls short of effectively bringing together relevant topics while avoiding the unrelated. Yes, a computer can think—just like a plane can fly or a car can drive.

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