BBN: description of the PLUM system as used for MUC-3

Traditional approaches to the problem of extracting data from texts have emphasized hand-crafted linguisti c knowledge . In contrast, BBN's PLUM system (Probabilistic Language Understanding Model) was developed a s part of a DARPA-funded research effort on integrating probabilistic language models with more traditional linguistic techniques . Our research and development goals are • more rapid development of new applications, • the ability to train (and re-train) systems based on user markings of correct and incorrect output, • more accurate selection among interpretations when more than one is found, an d • more robust partial interpretation when no complete interpretation can be found.