CLiT: Combining Linking Techniques for Everyone

Abstract

While the path in the field of Entity Linking (EL) has been long and brought forth a plethora of approaches over the years, many of these are exceedingly difficult to execute for purposes of detailed analysis. In many cases, implementations are available, but far from being a plugand-play experience. We present Combining Linking Techniques (CLiT), a framework with the purpose of executing singular linking techniques and complex combinations thereof, with a higher degree of reusability, reproducibility and comparability of existing systems in mind. Furthermore, we introduce protocols for the exchange of sub-pipeline-level information with existing and novel systems for heightened out-of-the-box compatibility. Among others, our framework may be used to consolidate multiple systems in combination with meta learning approaches and increase support for backwards compatibility of existing benchmark annotation systems.