Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Database
    • Servers

    IBM Open-Sources UIMA for Unstructured Text Analysis

    By
    Lisa Vaas
    -
    January 23, 2006
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      IBM on Jan. 23 plans to carry through with its promise to open-source search and text analysis technology that mines unstructured data—such as documents, images, comment and note fields, e-mail, and rich media such as video and audio—to uncover hidden relationships, trends and facts.

      IBM is handing code for the technology, called UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture), over to SourceForge.net, the worlds largest open-source development site.

      The company plans to move the project to a full open-source community development model later in the year.

      Nelson Mattos, IBM distinguished engineer and vice president of information and interaction, predicted that the impact of IBMs release of UIMA will be similar in magnitude to IBMs release of SQL as a standard for relational databases 30 years ago.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifIBM proposes open-source AJAX project to Eclipse. Click here to read more.

      “The moment SQL became a standard and became highly adopted in industry, it opened the door for development of huge numbers of applications,” Mattos said.

      “Were seeing exactly the same pattern here,” Mattos continued. “Today 80 to 85 percent of data is unstructured data. There is no standard to deal with unstructured data, to build applications, to leverage that. UIMA has the potential to be that standard.

      “IBM was doing similar moves in the 1970s, when we gave SQL to the standards bodies. Were giving UIMA to open source hoping we can create a standard for a whole new generation of applications.”

      UIMA already has solid traction, Mattos said. Unveiled by IBM in December of 2004, its already in use in industry and in academia.

      For example, the Mayo Clinic has adopted the framework as part of its collaboration with IBM on the processing of unstructured text—in particular, a collection of 20 million clinical notes.

      UIMA serves as the thread to stitch together the series of tools required to search and mine disparate unstructured data sources. Thus, Mayo Clinic has combined a series of its own, IBMs and open-source annotators in a plug-and-play fashion using UIMA as a framework.

      DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is also making use of UIMA. The agency is using it as part of a human language technology research and development program called GALE (Global Autonomous Language Exploitation), the goal of which is to analyze and interpret large volumes of speech and text in multiple languages.

      UIMA is also increasingly being used in software, with UIMA-compliant solutions now out from companies including ClearForest, Cognos, Factiva and Nstein.

      Source code for the IBM reference implementation of UIMA is available here. IBMs UIMA SDK can be downloaded for free at this site.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest database news, reviews and analysis.

      Lisa Vaas
      Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×