Generating an acronym index by mining a collection of document artifacts

Abstract

Embodiments build a knowledge base that includes a list of acronyms and their expansions. The list of acronyms may be associated with a particular organization, e.g. a product team, such that the acronym may have a different meaning to a different organization. In some embodiments, acronyms and their expansions are extracted from artifacts associated with the organization, e.g. documents, emails, attachments, calendar items, etc. Multiple potential definitions identified within the artifacts may be ranked based on contextual data extracted from the artifacts, e.g. who authored the artifact, when was the artifact modified, how often did the author use the acronym, an author's rank in the organization, how long has an author been part of the organization, an author's relationship to other authors, etc. By basing the analysis on artifacts associated with the organization the resulting definitions may be more accurate than if broader resources, such as dictionary definitions, were used.