A Context-Based Approach Towards Content Processing of Electronic Documents

Most of our information sources and of our publications contain essential parts in form of natural language texts. During the process of publication this information is used by authors and transformed into new documents (e.g., new texts, abstracts, translations). Basically it is the content of texts which is accessed, not just the surface structure. In order to electronically support applications which are essentially devoted to the textual content (e.g., information retrieval, machine translation, hypertext links) natural language components have to provide immediate access to the contents of the various information objects. Natural language texts are very flexible means of information handling. They allow for the constitution of information as well as for its communication, and for the handling of heterogeneous and incomplete information as well as for the development of information in the progress of time. Successful future information systems will above all have to offer this flexibility of information handling which natural language provides.