The semantics of the sentences are preserved, unlike keywords, and the listener can make a good guess as to the content of the text left out between the sentences. In this way users can find where the required information lies on the page to be read out in detail later. The development of the summarisation algorithms for BrookesTalk is part of a PhD project. The extracted keywords and abstracted text have been tested for representing the 'content' of a page. Over thirty subjects were used to factor out individual differences in their concept of the content of the page.
Concepts concerning 'content of a page' are complex and philosophical.
We view our summarisation as a best fit given the parameters we included in the algorithm. We feel justified in using this approach since however successful or unsuccessful the summarisation process is, there is just not enough time for blind visually impaired users to read everything on every Web page. Also when sighted users scan a page they could make a wrong decision about its content. The PhD work continues. New techniques are being developed and new parameters included.