A question answer system based on confirmed knowledge acquired from a mailing list

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report a QA system that can answer how‐type questions based on confirmed knowledge acquired from mails, posted to a mailing list. It aims to propose a method of detecting incorrect information in mails posted to a mailing list (ML) by using mails that ML participants submitted for correcting incorrect information in previous mails.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses a problem of acquiring knowledge from natural language documents, then proposes a method to give these mails three kinds of confirmation labels, positive, negative, and other, depending on their credibility.

Findings

The paper shows a QA system based on the confirmed knowledge. It finds mail questions that are similar to the user's question and gives answers and their confirmation labels to the user. By using the confirmation labels, the user can easily choose the information that can solve his or her problem.

Originality/value

The study describes a method of detecting incorrect information in mails posted to a mailing list and acquiring confirmed knowledge from them.

Citation

Watanabe, Y., Nishimura, R. and Okada, Y. (2008), "A question answer system based on confirmed knowledge acquired from a mailing list", Internet Research, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240810862220