Google News had some months ago introduced a ‘quote extraction’ feature, using which one could access parts of the speeches or statements of important persons, compiled from various news sources. It had recently been expanded to quotes dating back to five years.

This is a good example of a news archive based tool that is not likely to lose its utility value with the passage of time. And also a good example of the kind of innovation that is possible in re-packaging and presenting news in unexpected ways that might prove interesting to users.

When this tool was launched in April it only displayed quotations extracted from the past 30 days of news. A few days ago, Google brought in a five-year index.

It is now part of Google News search. And using conventional Google News search you can input a name, use the Quotes option, and get a collection of quotes (if available) and even narrow it down further to quotes on specific topics. “You can now more easily keep track of what your favorite politician, actor or sports star is saying,” said Google.

The tool has a kind of a standalone avatar in the form of ‘In Quotes’. In introducing this tool, Goolge News is trying to transcend the parameters of conventional journalism. “Much of the published reporting about people is based on the interpretation of a journalist. Direct quotes, on the other hand, are concrete units of information that describe how newsmakers represent themselves,” says Google in this explanation about it.

While journalists can sometimes get their quotes wrong, the tool could compensate for such aberrations by presenting quotes from a wide range of news sources. And more importantly, by providing links to the context in which these quotes were made. This tool now comes in a custom edition, and in US, Canada, UK and Indian editions.

Google is trying to enhance its versatility. Right now it offers visitors the option of generating a browsable collection of quotes based on key topics and persons. There is also a spin button that generates a fresh pair of quotes every time it is clicked.

There are some problems when machines do this kind of a thing - they may not be able to accurately gauge the context in which a key word has been used in a quote.