We describe SkillSum, a Natural Language Generation (NLG) system that generates a personalised feedback report for someone who has just completed a screening assessment of their basic literacy and numeracy skills. Because many SkillSum users have limited literacy, the generated reports must be easily comprehended by people with limited reading skills; this is the most novel aspect of SkillSum, ...

BACKGROUND Our study investigated the readability of printed material about dementia that is offered to patients and caregivers. METHODS Comparisons of various brochures (at least three standard pages in length) on dementia and related disorders were made using automated measuring by the SMOG readability index grade. RESULTS 118 brochures were assessed (25 in English, 93 in German), for whi...

BACKGROUND The understandability and readability of the text are significant indicators of evaluation of textbooks. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study - rationale of improving the readability and understandability of textbooks. METHODS 60 modern textbooks for 5-11th classes on History, Physics, Biology and 23 textbooks of 1960-1980's edition. Flesch index was used to assess the readability, Fog...

BACKGROUND The National Institutes of Health recommend a readability grade level of less than 7th grade for patient directed information. In this study, we use validated readability metrics to analyze patient information from prominent websites pertaining to ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. METHODS The terms "Crohn's Disease," "Ulcerative Colitis," and "Inflammatory Bowel Disease" were...