Outsource Natural Language Annotation for NLP Projects

People have heard about NLP or Natural Language Processing but do not automatically understand what this means. This is composed of different studies such as linguistics, data science, and computer science. The goal is to help computers understand language the way that people understand language. It seems complicated, right? Languages are broken down into different parts to make them easier to understand by machines.

Speech and language processing has always been different for humans and for other beings that communicate. It’s hard for people to understand their pets because they speak a different language. People may still not fully understand how their pets talk but they can pick up cues to understand what their pets want. This is the same as how machines are going to work when they are programmed to analyze data. 

Machines are being taught to learn the human language with the help of natural language processing machine learning. Experts can start by labeling language so that large numbers of data can be run through by machines and they will know what labels to look for. The labels will determine how they can decipher the data given to them in a short amount of time.

The Future of NLP

NLP seems to have a promising future especially since more NLP text annotation tools that are being used by experts. They can provide more efficient and reliable services to companies and people who need them.

Businesses need NLP, especially if they have to deal with large quantities of data. The larger that businesses become, the more that they have to rely on NLP data annotation services. Some business owners try to do this on their own but unless they have all the time in the world, it’s best to let specialists do the language annotation.

Steps to Doing NLP Labeling

language annotation

You cannot expect to provide a machine with a great number of data and expect it to understand everything immediately. Steps should be followed to make any machine more accurate in reading data. This will always depend on the text labeling and clustering specialist. The more that this person knows what to do, the easier the labeled data can be read.

Step 1:

Raw data will be gathered by humans and will be properly labeled before being introduced to the machine.

Step 2:

Active learning model will be adequately trained based on the labels placed on the data. Take note that the data that the learning model understands will be labeled accordingly without a hitch. The more ambiguous data will be sent to another category that can be double-checked by a professional that can do NLP annotation services.

Step 3:

The human-labeled data will be placed in the machine again to see if it would be properly labeled.

Step 4:

The accurate data training set can be used and will be the basis for future data that will be placed in the machine.

Data Sets and Getting Just the Right Amount of Data

Machines will not work without human beings. As much as computers can do work in a faster amount of time, they are still dependent on humans who will teach them how to do their tasks. Supervised machine learning is still important because, without it, machines will only be checking data inaccurately. They will not provide the type of work that they are expected to do.

Text annotation NLP experts understand that not all types of data are useful data. They know the right places to search for data that will be helpful for your business needs. Some of the datasets that they will find are free because they are readily available. Some may come with small fees. Be prepared in allotting enough budget to acquire the right type of data.

Machines still need a reliable supply of data. Learn more about the type of data that you need from here:

  • Data that you can trust. You cannot get random data from shady resources because you do not know what can be hidden in those data sets.
  • Data sets usually come in three types. The first type is record data. This is the type of data that is acquired by using various programs. The second type of data is graph-based data. This is a specialized type of data that can be available depending on what information you are searching for. This is helpful when you want to know how some types of information are connected. The third type of data is ordered data. This is the type of data that can be collected over a certain time. Let’s say that you want to check if there is a change in the data that you are getting over 6 months. The information that you will collect from the ordered data will clarify the details that you need to know.
  • You may need up to petabyte levels of data to make the data set reliable. Take note that this will still depend on the type of data that you need and what industry you are working in. Some need smaller volumes of data because this is the amount of data that can be handled by their storage at this time.
  • Always check the value of the data set that you are checking. Let’s say that you want to know if people are willing to buy more if you would advertise your products to be more “environment-friendly.” If you answer yes, then you know that you need to find that quality in the data that you will gather.

Since you will be needing a huge amount of data, you need to be prepared for storage. You do not want to end up having storage issues because you cannot store quality data anymore. Learn more about getting the right type of data when you check this.

You can be a business owner who knows a lot about business but what details do you know about acquiring data sets or looking for reliable data? This is the time when you need professionals who are experts at natural language annotation. You need people who understand the language processing hierarchy and would use their knowledge to help machines learn better.

Hiring NLP Annotators

natural language annotation

People who know text annotation NLP are in demand now as compared to before. Some still prefer to hire in-house employees but company owners are seeing the beauty of outsourcing NLP annotators. There are different options available:

Hire Freelancers

The number of people who do freelance work has increased over the past years. Some have started to see how they can earn more money without being confined to a 9-5 job. These people are available to do certain types of work depending on their specialty. A text labeling and clustering specialist can be helpful at this time. The only thing to remember is to make the best choice.

Pros:

  • They are more flexible and can work on hours that they see fit depending on your needs.
  • The costs are not that high since you do not have to pay for social security and other benefits.
  • You are in charge of the things that they will do and the projects that they are going to work on.

Cons:

  • The time difference can be extreme.
  • The lack of supervision might mean that they will slack off.

Managed Labeling Service

Instead of hiring just one person who will do the job for you, you are going to get people from a company that can manage people for you. You can specify the project details and what you want to achieve from the project. They will be in charge of making sure that their employees will do the tasks specific to your liking.

Pros:

  • They come with all-inclusive packages. You can sometimes get a whole team of people who are good at natural language annotation.
  • They are in charge of managing and updating the various services needed by your company.
  • They have a lot of resources available.

Cons:

  • They have a lot of clients all at once so you are not sure if your needed work will be prioritized.
  • They may not have loyalty to your brand.

Hiring Dedicated Labelers

A dedicated labeler is someone who will be focused on working on a single task or project. Instead of working on different tasks all at once, the person will be working solely for you until the project is finished. Different candidates are available from all parts of the world. 

Pros:

  • You can count on them because they are always professionals. They will show their expertise in the processing programming language.
  • They will be transparent in how they do work which means that you will still be in control.
  • They are less stressful to manage because they know what they are doing.

Cons:

  • Not all of them are willing to do short-term projects.
  • Finding a dedicated labeler can be time-consuming if you do not know where to start searching.

Get in Touch with Us to Hire the Best People for the Job

We know how important it is to get the right people who know how to work with a natural language processor. We know that specialists need to have the right tools. They need to know as many details as possible about programming languages so that they can do their tasks well. We leverage the latest techniques while delivering top-notch NLP solutions to clients who outsource natural language processing services to us. You can let us know what your project is all about and we will help you find the right fit. Contact us now and we will not let you down.

Svitlana Orlenko
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