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TL;DR — Faster News

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Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#131

Post by zokier »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #126
zokier wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another good example of an automated attempt to summarize the news that'll never work. > Algorithms will never solve the summarizing process unless they are teamed up with a rewriting engine that could build coherent paragraphs. That doesn't sound like never. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if such AI would created within 50-100 years, ie in my lifetime. I think this comment exposes the common false thought-patter…

No, you are misreading my statement. Please go back and look for the word "unless". Sentence picking algorithms alone will never solve the problem unless a rewriting engine is added.

Sorry, you are right; I misread the first sentence. I didn't realize that you referred to tldr.io specifically with it.

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#132

Post by just1 »

brador wrote: post #50
MichaelApproved wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like there are a few of us on HN trying to solve the news consumption problem. My site[1] tries to crowdsource the summaries by encouraging the readers to summarize a story themselves. In the meantime, we create most of the summaries in-house. Newser[2] tried to do the same thing but gave up and just focused on in-house created summaries. Regarding the summary process, it's good to see another group manually su…

I'll add my baby to the pot: http://skimfeed.com .

Made me think of Jimmyr that I used several years ago... http://www.jimmyr.com/ I really like yours. Time to upgrade, thanks!

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#133

Post by louischatriot »

zokier wrote: post #131
MichaelApproved wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you are misreading my statement. Please go back and look for the word "unless". Sentence picking algorithms alone will never solve the problem unless a rewriting engine is added.

Sorry, you are right; I misread the first sentence. I didn't realize that you referred to tldr.io specifically with it.

Probable mistype, you mean tldr.it right ? Just saying that as a cofounder of tldr.io, whose goal is similar to that of SkimThat: provide human written summaries ;)

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#134

Post by brnstz »

mullr wrote: post #114
brnstz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying may be true of new media sites and investigative / gonzo / entertainment journalism, but old school journalism 101 says the first paragraph should be a summary for hard news stories. In fact, hard news should be written such that you can chop off paragraphs in reverse order and still have a sensible article.

100% agreed - that's what I learned to do in high school journalism class as well. But there's lots of stuff on the web, even that's considered news, that doesn't follow this format. Here's some first sentences from other Times articles: "The flesh is weak but the spirit of commerce is willing." (op-ed) "Last weekend, my family and I packed our car full of supplies and drove to a fire station in New Jersey to deliver…

You're right, many "news" articles don't follow that traditional format. The difference is that your examples are not the primary news article about an important event. They are either commentary / color on an important event, an opinion piece, or human interest piece about something interesting (but not really "news"-worthy).

Of course, much of what is in the paper is not "hard news" so some sort of automatic summarization could be useful for those pieces.

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#136

Post by swader »

OafTobark wrote: post #6
swader wrote: post #2

While I feel like this is a very interesting initiative, my distrust in humankind makes me fear bias and sponsorship. What if a big sponsor decides competitor news are to be ignored and their own news are to be kept at the top longer?

Talk to yourself much?

Ain't my site. I just posted the link and expressed my opinion on it.

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#137

Post by pasbesoin »

I'm popping a comment in here without reading all the content (I guess there's irony in that, if not disrespect, but I'm due shortly for a dinner party). That said, my comment is that I don't mind the length of articles so much as the circumstance that nobody seems to write in the "traditional", top-down ("inverted pyramid", etc., etc.) "newspaper" style, anymore.

In that style, a summary and broad overview with the most salient points, is presented first. Then the article may delve into further detail. The reader can quickly get an overview and then decide whether and how much further they care to read into the details.

Instead, today everything seems to be written in a "narrative style". Often, the first some paragraphs set the scene -- they're "atmosphere" -- sometimes before the writer even deigns to tell you, the reader, what the story is actually about.

Facts are interspersed throughout the remainder of the story, and often don't even lead paragraphs but rather remain buried within them amidst a muddle of further descriptive language.

For the conveyance of news, it's actually quite crappy writing.

I hear/read that it's part and parcel of the push for everybody to have a byline and to establish a "name" for themselves. Which I can in part understand particularly in this day and age of contract work and zero job security -- or even a job (as opposed to endless freelancing) per se.

But, for the seeking and consuming of news, it sucks.

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#138

Post by sixQuarks »

MichaelApproved wrote: post #113
sixQuarks wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like your site, skimthat.com. However, I think the summaries should be condensed even more. For example, this summary is 203 words: http://skimthat.com/4407/ind-home-explosion-now-homicide-inv... It could have been summarized down to something like: Rumors are circulating that a suspicious white van was parked in front of the house that blew up. I would rather it be super short with just the important fact.…

Thanks for your feedback. I see what you're saying about a shorter summary but I'd consider your sentence more of a tease than a summary. Our goal is to give the reader a good understanding of the topic while leaving out the unnecessary details and redundant information. The original had 465 words. That means that the Skim That summary cut the story down by over 50% while still giving you a strong overview of the sto…

I see. If that's the case, then I think there is room for a "teaser" news site that gives you just a bit more than the headline. If you want more details, you can click on a more detailed summary, or if you want to read the whole thing, then you can click to the full article.

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#139

Post by billirvine »

louischatriot wrote: post #133
zokier wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, you are right; I misread the first sentence. I didn't realize that you referred to tldr.io specifically with it.

Probable mistype, you mean tldr.it right ? Just saying that as a cofounder of tldr.io, whose goal is similar to that of SkimThat: provide human written summaries ;)

What steps are you taking to mitigate spam and bias in summaries created by people?

I know if I wrote a summary of a Microsoft Surface article (I have one), it'd be very different from someone who loves it -- or is even an MS employee.

And spam... big issue there.

(disclaimer - I have your plugin and have tried it, summaries seem way too short.)

Re: TL;DR — Faster News

#140

Post by billirvine »

czzarr wrote: post #30
MichaelApproved wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like there are a few of us on HN trying to solve the news consumption problem. My site[1] tries to crowdsource the summaries by encouraging the readers to summarize a story themselves. In the meantime, we create most of the summaries in-house. Newser[2] tried to do the same thing but gave up and just focused on in-house created summaries. Regarding the summary process, it's good to see another group manually su…

you forgot http://tldr.io

When did Hacker News become "Spam my Stuff" news?

Isn't it possible to discuss the merits of the product provided in the opening post without one-line nonsense posts spamming your own thing?

JEEZUZ.

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