Re: <nettime> Computer Generated News Articles

[Jeffrey fisher <jeff.jfisher@gmail.com>]

On Sep 11, 2011, at 3:41 AM, nettime's filter algorithm <nettime@kein.org> wrote:

> In Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This Column
> By STEVE LOHR
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/business/computer-generated-articles-are-
> gaining-traction.html
> 
> ???WISCONSIN appears to be in the driver???s seat en route to a win, as it 
> leads 51-10 after the third quarter. Wisconsin added to its lead when 
> Russell Wilson found Jacob Pedersen for an eight-yard touchdown to make the 
> score 44-3 ... . ???
> 
> Those words began a news brief written within 60 seconds of the end of the 
> third quarter of the Wisconsin-U.N.L.V. football game earlier this month. 
> They may not seem like much ??? but they were written by a computer.

Yes, and they read like they were written by a human being who is used to "composing" paint-by-numbers accounts of football, baseball, and basketball games. I find it weirdly depressing that we are now making it possible for computers to write like the humans who already write like computers. That it might work only goes to show how little we have come to expect of journalism / reporting / "the media." 

jf


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