CONSTRUE/TIS: A System for Content-Based Indexing of a Database of News Stories

The Construe news story categorization system assigns indexing terms to news stories according to their content using knowledge-based techniques. An initial deployment of Construe in Reuters Ltd. topic identification system (TIS) has replaced human indexing for Reuters Country Reports, an online information service based on news stories indexed by country and type of news. TIS indexing is comparable to human indexing in overall accuracy but costs much less, is more consistent, and is available much more rapidly. TIS can be justified in terms of cost savings alone, but Reuters also expects the speed and consistency of TIS to provide significant competitive advantage and, hence, an increased market share for Country Reports and other products from Reuters Historical Information Products Division.