Posts tagged with wikipedia
Meaning-mining Wikipedia
DBpedia extracts information from Wikipedia, building a database that you can query. This isn’t easy because much of the information in Wikipedia is unstructured. On the other hand, there’s an awful lot that’s structured enough so that an algorithm can reliably deduce the semantic content from the language and the layout.
Through a process of a pre-set layout (size, margins, columns, gutter, relation text images, text processing, image processing, typography, pagination etc.) Randombooks ² generates randomly, according to a Wikipedia search, a book corresponding to your search. The objective of this installation is to index the flow of media through the web book, while adding various random layout constraints specific to the work of the graphic designer.
“ Contributors to Wikipedia have wondered aloud lately if — perish the thought — they are running out of topics. The obvious articles, low-hanging fruit like “China,” “Moses” and “Homer Simpson,” have been written and rewritten hundreds of times. … But these concerns seem misplaced — Wikipedia can no more be completed than can New York City, which O. Henry predicted would be “a great place if they ever finish it.” In fact, with its millions of visitors and hundreds of thousands of volunteers, its ever-expanding total of articles and languages spoken, Wikipedia may be the closest thing to a metropolis yet seen online.”
