VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF QUESTION QUALITY

• US 20160306846A1
• Filed: 04/17/2015
• Published: 10/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Adams, Richard H. Jr., Chandrasekaran, Swaminathan, Sudarsan, Sridhar, Taieb, David D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,910,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2423 Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure, in certain embodiments, are directed toward providing a visual representation of question quality in a question answering system. More particularly, aspects are directed toward receiving, by a question answering system, an input question having a set of query attributes. The set of query attributes may be user-influenced characteristics of the input question. Aspects of the present disclosure are also directed toward evaluating, by comparing the set of query attributes to a set of assessment criteria, the quality of the input question. Aspects of the present disclosure are also directed toward assigning, in response to evaluating the quality of the input question, a set of quality values to the set of query attributes. Using the assigned set of quality values and the set of query attributes, an icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question may be generated.

Claims

1. A method in a deep question answering system for providing a visual representation of question quality, the method comprising:

receiving, by a question answering system, an input question having a set of query attributes, wherein the set of query attributes are user-influenced characteristics of the input question;

evaluating, by comparing the set of query attributes to a set of assessment criteria, the quality of the input question, wherein evaluating includes;

parsing, using a natural language processing technique configured to analyze semantic and syntactic content, the input question,

identifying, based on the semantic and syntactic content, the set of query attributes of the input question, and

determining whether the set of query attributes achieves a satisfaction threshold with respect to the set of assessment criterion;

assigning, in response to evaluating the quality of the input question, a set of quality values to the set of query attributes; and

generating, using the assigned set of quality values and the set of query attributes, an icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of query attributes include query syntax, part-of-speech usage, query length, and query complexity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of query attributes further include abbreviation usage, ambiguous terminology, missing elements, and question focus.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, to a subset of the set of query attributes, a set of weighting values, wherein the set of weighting values indicates a quantitative representation of the relative importance of a particular query attribute of the set of query attributes with respect to the input question.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

collecting, by analyzing the input question using a linguistic profiling technique, multi-factorial user context data including age data, level of education data, native language data, sentiment data, and input device data;

modifying, based on the multi-factorial user context data, the set of weighting values assigned to the set of query attributes; and

calculating, based on the set of weighting values assigned to the set of query attributes, the set of quality values.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the icon includes:

mapping, to a first facial element of a digital face icon, a first query attribute of the set of query attributes;

selecting, based on a first quality value assigned to the first query attribute, a set of visual characteristics for the first facial element.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the set of visual characteristics for the first facial element include color, shape, size, location, and animation style.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

assembling, based on the set of quality values, the set of weighting values, and the set of query attributes, a digital face icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

collecting, using a graphical user interface, user feedback data regarding the digital face icon;

defining, using a machine learning technique configured to process the user feedback data, a decision parameter for generating the digital face icon; and

adjusting, based on the feedback data and the decision parameter, the set of visual characteristics of the digital face icon.

10. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a visual representation generation mechanism executed by one or more of the at least one processor, the visual representation generation mechanism including;

a receiving module to receive, using a question answering system, an input question having a set of query attributes, wherein the set of query attributes are user-influenced characteristics of the input question;

an evaluating module to evaluate, by comparing the set of query attributes to a set of assessment criteria, the quality of the input question, wherein evaluating includes;

a parsing module to parse, using a natural language processing technique configured to analyze semantic and syntactic content, the input question,

an identifying module to identify, based on the semantic and syntactic content, the set of query attributes of the input question, and

a determining module to determine whether the set of query attributes achieves a satisfaction threshold with respect to the set of assessment criterion;

an assigning module to assign, in response to evaluating the quality of the input question, a set of quality values to the set of query attributes; and

a generating module to generate, using the assigned set of quality values and the set of query attributes, an icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of query attributes include query syntax, part-of-speech usage, query length, and query complexity.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of query attributes further include abbreviation usage, ambiguous terminology, missing elements, and question focus.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a first computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive, by a question answering system, an input question having a set of query attributes, wherein the set of query attributes are user-influenced characteristics of the input question;

evaluate, by comparing the set of query attributes to a set of assessment criteria, the quality of the input question, wherein being caused to evaluate includes being caused to;

parse, using a natural language processing technique configured to analyze semantic and syntactic content, the input question,

identify, based on the semantic and syntactic content, the set of query attributes of the input question, and

determine whether the set of query attributes achieves a satisfaction threshold with respect to the set of assessment criterion;

assign, in response to evaluating the quality of the input question, a set of quality values to the set of query attributes; and

generate, using the assigned set of quality values and the set of query attributes, an icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the set of query attributes include query syntax, part-of-speech usage, query length, query complexity, abbreviation usage, ambiguous terminology, missing elements, and question focus.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

assign, to a subset of the set of query attributes, a set of weighting values, wherein the set of weighting values indicates a quantitative representation of the relative importance of a particular query attribute of the set of query attributes with respect to the input question.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

collect, by analyzing the input question using a linguistic profiling technique, multi-factorial user context data including age data, level of education data, native language data, sentiment data, and input device data;

modify, based on the multi-factorial user context data, the set of weighting values assigned to the set of query attributes; and

calculate, based on the set of weighting values assigned to the set of query attributes, the set of quality values.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

map, to a first facial element of a digital face icon, a first query attribute of the set of query attributes;

select, based on a first quality value assigned to the first query attribute, a set of visual characteristics for the first facial element.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the set of visual characteristics for the first facial element include color, shape, size, location, and animation style.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

assemble, based on the set of quality values, the set of weighting values, and the set of query attributes, a digital face icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

collect, using a graphical user interface, user feedback data regarding the digital face icon;

define, using a machine learning technique configured to process the user feedback data, a decision parameter for generating the digital face icon; and

adjust, based on the feedback data and the decision parameter, the set of visual characteristics of the digital face icon.