Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nl 2976 days ago
I do ML/NLP, and recently have been doing color related things.

I think you are underestimating how useful NLP could be in your application.

I tried out one of your test cases, and I did find it useful. However, I think that blending colors based on entity recognition along with your line based system could focus attention on important parts.

Have a look at [1] (sorry for the long URL) and imagine the colors blending with yours, so entities were slightly brighter than the rest of the text.

[1] https://explosion.ai/demos/displacy-ent?text=John%20Fitzgera...
2 comments
gnicholas 2976 days ago
I don't disagree that NLP could be powerful, and I have thought about ways to make it syntactically aware.

But honestly the biggest barrier we face in adoption among licensees (platforms that would integrate our tech) is that they are simply uncomfortable with text that has colors in it. It's not about how much it helps any metrics (the things that NLP could improve) — it's just that most folks don't want to be early-adopters of crazy-looking tech.

Though I should note we do have some great licensees, especially in the education, impact, and accessibility markets.

Regardless, I'd love to chat with you further — please shoot me an email (contact@[domain]) if you're up for chatting about how we could deploy NLP as we develop.

link
nl 2976 days ago
So.. the VCs weren't wrong, and it is really UI/UX issues stopping you? And those same UI/UX issues are actually things your primary business has to overcome anyway?

It sounds to me like you should talk to those investors again ;)

I'll drop you an email.

link
YeGoblynQueenne 2976 days ago
That sounds like a surefire way to annoy and distract the reader. Imagine if every entity was in bold, in a piece of text. It wouldn't draw your attention to important information, it would just disorient you completely. "Why is 'John' in bold? I already know this sentence is about him!".
link
nl 2976 days ago
Yes, I think I agree. But OTOH I thought different colours for different lines of text would be annoying and distracting, but that’s what this app does, and apparently it works.

So I guess test it and variations?

link