Bayesian Query-Focused Summarization

We present BAYESUM (for "Bayesian summarization"), a model for sentence extraction in query-focused summarization. BAYESUM leverages the common case in which multiple documents are relevant to a single query. Using these documents as reinforcement for query terms, BAYESUM is not afflicted by the paucity of information in short queries. We show that approximate inference in BAYESUM is possible on large data sets and results in a stateof-the-art summarization system. Furthermore, we show how BAYESUM can be understood as a justified query expansion technique in the language modeling for IR framework.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ACL
• Authors: Hal Daumé III, Daniel Marcu
• Keywords: ACL 2006, ACL 2007, Bayesian Summarization, Query-focused Summarization, Stateof-the-art Summarization System