Abstract
As the use of IT systems expands, growing amounts of textual data are being generated, stored, and searched. This trend is widely believed to be causing information overload. Although the increase of accessible data is intended to increase our knowledge and yield insights for better actions, the data glut is making it hard to find meaning. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a key technology to exploit text data, so applications for NLP are increasing rapidly. Such applications often exploit text mining [1], [2], but they involve a broad range of NLP technologies as the applications develop. This new trend is generating new demands for NLP that require more research. © 2009 IEEE.