Which classification algorithm works best with stylistic features of Portuguese in order to classify web texts according to users. needs

Abstract

In order to improve Web Information Retrieval, we have, in a previous work (Aires et al., 2004), investigated the use of stylistic features of Web texts in Portuguese to classify web pages according to users’ needs, using in most of the experiments the classification algorithm J48 (the Weka implementation of C4.5). From that study, we concluded that it was possible to identify some of the categories reliably, but we should investigate whether it was possible to get even better classification schemes using other algorithms. Language is a different domain, and the fact that C4.5 has been used successfully in other applications (even others dealing with written language) does not imply that it is also the best solution for our problem. In this paper, we document the replication of the experiments presented in Aires et al (2004), using all relevant Weka algorithms, also providing more information on the linguistic features used and on the issues concerning algorithm choice.