For a while I’ve looked at News Summarization sites and gotten a headache. Colombia University used to have a News Blaster, a News Summarizer, out for several years that creates a virtual newspaper and timeline of events - but it does not actually simplify anything for you.
I looked at something tonight that’s much closer to what I think a News Summarizer should be, called the 2006 PostGlobal Power Barometer hosted on the one of the Washington Post’s blogs. Looking at today, November 28th:
This is basically a "Widget" and I’ve mentioned this a couple of times this week ……Widgets are good at getting people engaged with the content - if the Widget is good, and this one seems to be. Here’s some of the data that powers this widget.
"..Drivers
- UNITED STATES
- NBC declares Iraq in a civil war…but no one can figure out exactly who’s on which side.
- Former US Deputy Sec of State suggests the stakes in Afghanistan are larger in the near term than those in Iraq because the potential for spillover into neighboring countries is greater.
- Some thought leaders are suggesting the US is having success in developing a new alliance of moderate Arab allies (read traditional monarchies including Saudi Arabia) that could put significant pressure on Iran. Some of these same thought leaders blame the US democracy drive for many of the problems that the new alliance of "less-than-democracies" would resolve.
- Global Thought sees US influence in the Middle East declining dramatically…likely to be replaced by China, Russia and/or Iran.
- South America takes another left turn…Chavez ally Rafael Correa is headed for victory in Ecuador’s presidential race.
- CHINA
- China is looking to seal a $100 billion 25-year oil & gas deal with Iran…before sanctions are imposed.
- India thought leaders are beginning to discuss the risks of a "Chindia". Hu signed lots of trade agreements during his recent visit but didn’t deal with territorial claims…and what happens to India’s trade balance in a China free trade situation?
- The Zambian people, unlike many African leaders, are asking whether Chinese investments mean livable-wage jobs or more sweat shops.
- Global Thought is discussing China’s increasingly successful efforts to position itself in key areas of the world as the A2A or "Alternative to America"…a great marketing tool in today’s global political environment. Hugo Chavez likes A2A as he forms a "mutually beneficial partnership" with China.
Every country on the chart has raw data - the only question ……. is that data summarized by a human OR is it extracted off the web, using data mining techniques. It looks like a person still needs to filter though and write a couple of sentences - but I’m not sure.
But it’s not so much this data… you could do the same thing with say……Topics, like Op-Eds, and you could also do something like this….maybe, with House Plans (my architectural clients). It’s not the specific data - it’s the way it’s represented via this "widget" that I find, very useful.
