Information Retrieval List Digest 096 (December 18, 1991)
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-096

IRLIST Digest
December 18, 1991
Volume VIII, Number 53
Issue 96
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I.  NOTICES
    A. Meeting Announcements/Calls for Papers
       1. Workshop: Empirical Models & Methodology for Natural
          Language Dialogue Systems, Trento, Italy, March 30, 1992
       2. Workshop: Fully-Implemented Natural Language
          Understanding Systems, Trento, Italy, March 30, 1991
       3. 3rd Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing,
          Trento, Italy, April 1-3, 1992
       4. Use of Arabic Language in Information Technology,
          May 10-13, 1992, Riyadh
**********************************************************
I. NOTICES
I.A.1.
Fr: Don Walker <walker@flash.bellcore.com)
Re: Workshop on Natural Language Dialogue Systems

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Trento, Italy, 30 March 1992
EMPIRICAL MODELS AND METHODOLOGY FOR
NATURAL LANGUAGE DIALOGUE SYSTEMS
jointly organized by
Lars Ahrenberg Nils Dahlback Arne Jonsson
Department of Computer and Information Science
Linkoping University

There is an increasing recognition of the need to put theories
and systems within the field of Natural Language Processing on a
firm empirical ground (cf. the views of the panel on Language
Engineering:  The Real Bottleneck of Natural Language Processing
at COLING-88).  Researchers on various aspects of discourse,
especially, take pains to base, or at least illustrate, their
theoretical developments with some kind of corpus data. There is
quite often a problem, however, in determining what data are
relevant for a specific domain or application and in deciding
what conclusions the data warrant.

In this workshop we want to focus on data used for the design of
natural language interfaces and other dialogue systems accepting
natural language input. In this area we know of three basic
sources for the corpora used: (i) interactions with computers
using existing NLIs, (ii) interactions with computers using
simulated NLIs (Wizard of Oz-studies), and (iii) human-human
dialogues collected and/or analyzed with the purpose of
developing computational theories of discourse.

Several studies of this kind have been published in recent years.
However, the use of these different kinds of corpus data raises a
number of issues in need of clarification, theoretical as well as
methodological: e.g. what are the advantages and disadvantages of
corpora collected with these different methods; what is the
generalizability of the results obtained; what methodological
pitfallss have been found, what means to avoid them, and so on.
Behind many of these questions lies the issue of the extent to
which natural language as used in human-computer interaction is
to be seen as a distinct sublanguage, and to what extent there
are aspects common to all kinds of dialogue.

The workshop will adress both the methodological and the
theoretical issues raised above, but with the focus on the
methodological ones.  Its aim is to give active researchers in
the field an opportunity to exchange experiences of and opinions
on different practical/methodological topics such as those
mentioned above, and others. If possible, demonstrations of
software for the collection and analysis of these kind of data
will be demonstrated.

Those interested in making a presentation should submit an
abstract of 500-1000 words. The abstract should include a
description of the participant's current research in the area and
point to longer papers on the subject (if available).

Those interested only in participating should submit a statement
of their research interests together with a list of related
publications.

Submissions, by e-mail or surface mail, should arrive no later
than 20 January 1992 to the address below.

Nils Dahlback
Department of Computer and Information Science
Linkoping University
S-581 83 Linkoping, SWEDEN
email: nda@ida.liu.se

Notification of acceptance will be mailed by the end of January 1992.
**********
I.A.2.
Fr: Don Walker <walker@flash.bellcore.com)
Re: Workshop on Fully-Implemented Natural
    Language Understanding Systems

ANLP-92 Workshop
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Trento, Italy, 30 March 1992
FULLY-IMPLEMENTED NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS
jointly organized by
Kai von Luck (IBM Deutschland),
Claus-Rainer Rollinger (Universitaet Osnabrueck) and
Hans-Joachim Novak (IBM Deutschland)

A large set of theories have been proposed in recent years,
covering one or more aspects of NL understanding systems. Little
effort has been spent on integrating these theories into one
system. Experiments involving the integration of different
theories, e.g. unification-based analysis, DRT-based semantics,
logic-based reasoning, analogical reasoning, and two-level
morphology, have delivered interesting results. One of the major
outcomes in this respect is that the game of "my component/theory
is not responsible for that task/explanation/problem" cannot be
played any more; instead a much broader view has to be taken as
the deficits of the theories become apparent. The integration of
several theories explicates their requirements and necessitates
their revision.

In this workshop we hope to bring together researchers of
different disciplines within AI natural language understanding
systems, e.g. text understanding systems, dialog systems,
knowledge-based machine translation systems, etc. to discuss the
integration problems emphasizing a holistic view of natural
language understanding.

The major result of this workshop is expected to be the exchange
and discussion of known deficits of today's theories that cover
only certain aspects or phases of the NL understanding process as
well as objectively collecting the requirements for these
theories. This effort seems to be promising, as can be observed
by the existence of various experiments underway like, for
instance, the text understanding system LILOG of IBM Germany, as
well as by recent trends as different areas of AI move away from
research on only intrinsic problems of a particular theory
towards a more holistic view of NL understanding. NL systems will
only have a future if our joint efforts are directed towards
formulating theories that can be integrated to a full view of NL
understanding.

Researchers of all areas of natural language understanding
systems are invited to actively participate. Contributions should
not cover a particular theory/explanation but rather RESULTS from
integrating different theories into one single system. Reports
which cover limitations of specific theories with respect to
integration and/or concrete demands for the further development
within theories are especially welcome.

Participation in the workshop will be by invitation only, based
on the extended abstracts of the applicants. For reasons of
efficiency the number of participants is limited to a maximum of
30 people.

Agreement of the participants assumed, a compilation of the
workshop and the discussions should be published in 1992 in order
to make the experiences of the participants available to a broad
public.

Send 3 to 5 page extended abstracts by surface mail (e-mail
copies are encouraged as well, but a hardcopy is required) no
later than 20 January 1992, to the address below:

Hans-Joachim Novak
IBM Deutschland GmbH
WT IWBS, 7000-75
Postfach 80 08 80
D-W-7000 Stuttgart 80, GERMANY
e-mail: novak%ds0lilog.bitnet

Notification of acceptance will be mailed by the end of January 1992.
**********
I.A.3.
Fr: Don Walker <walker@flash.bellcore.com)
Re: 3rd Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing

ANLP-92
3RD CONFERENCE ON APPLIED NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
Trento, Italy, 1-3 April 1992
sponsored by the
Association for Computational Linguistics

The conference is also supported by the European Coordinating
Committee for Artificial Intelligence (ECCAI), the Italian
Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA), and Istituto
Trentino di Cultura, Trento.

PURPOSE: The focus of this conference is on the application of
natural language processing techniques to real world problems. It
will include invited and contributed papers, tutorials, an
industrial exhibition, and demonstrations. A special video
session is also being organised. The organizers want the
conference to be as international as possible, and to feature the
best applied natural language work presently available in the
world. This conference follows on from ones held in Santa Monica,
California in 1983 and in Austin, Texas in 1988.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM: The program will be sent out early in
December (and will include the application form and the hotel
reservation form).  There were about one hundred papers submitted
from four continents. The scientific program will include
original papers solicited in all areas of applied natural
language processing, including: dialog systems; integrated speech
and natural language systems; machine translation; explanation
and generation; database interface systems; tool development;
text and message processing; grammar and style checking; corpus
development; knowledge acquisition; lexicons; language teaching
aids; evaluation; adaptive systems; multilanguage systems;
multimedia systems; help systems; and other applications. Papers
will also discuss applications, evaluations, limitations, and
general tools and techniques.  The program committee is
co-chaired by Oliviero Stock (IRST) and Madeleine Bates (BBN
Systems & Technologies) and also includes:

Robert Amsler (MITRE)Kathy McKeown (Columbia U) Giacomo Ferrari
(U Pisa)Sergei Nirenburg (Carnegie Mellon U) Eduard Hovy
(USC/ISI)Makoto Nagao (Kyoto U) Paul Jacobs (General
Electric)Remko Scha (U Amsterdam) Martin Kay (Xerox PARC)Karen
Sparck Jones (U Cambridge) Mark Liberman (U Pennsylvania)Henry
Thompson (U Edinburgh) Paul Martin (IBM)Wolfgang Wahlster (DFKI)

INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION: The industrial exhibition will feature
products in the usual one-booth-per-company format.  For further
information contact:

Gianpietro Carlevarophone: +39-461-814444
I.R.S.T.fax: +39-461-810851
I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALY     email: carleva@irst.it

To ensure that your requirements are met, you are advised to apply
early.  Prices for stands are as follows:

Stand type 1: 9 sqm - Lit. 1800000 + VAT 19% (approx. US$1400)
Stand type 2: 14 sqm - Lit. 2400000 + VAT 19% (approx. US$1900)

DEMONSTRATIONS: One area of the exhibition will be equipped with
SUNs, MACs, and possibly other hardware, and will be available
for informal demonstrations of various applied NL systems.  A
prize will be given for the best non-commercial demonstration.
Anyone wishing to present a demo should send a one-page
description of the demo and a specification of the system
requirements by 1 December 1991 to:

Carlo Strapparava       phone: +39-461-814444
I.R.S.T.fax: +39-461-810851 38050
I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALYemail: strappa@irst.it

TUTORIALS: The meeting will be preceded by one day of tutorials
on 31 March 1992 by noted contributors to the field.  The program
is being currently defined and will be mailed with the general
conference program. Responsible for tutorials:

Jon Slackphone: +39-461-814444
I.R.S.T.fax: +39-461-810851 38050
I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALYemail: slack@irst.it

FEES: The early registration fee (before February 29, 1992) for
the conference is Lit. 400.000 (approx. US$300).  Early student
registration is Lit. 130.000 (approx. US$100). After 29 February
1992 the regular registration fee will be Lit. 500.000 (approx.
US$400), and student registration will be Lit. 200.000 (approx.
US$150).  The application form and the hotel reservation form
will be sent out with the program early in December.

WORKSHOPS: The conference will also be preceded by two conference
special workshops, to be held on March 30th. The call for papers
for the two workshops follows. Workshops will admit only a
limited number of participants (about 30 people each) and will
cost an additional fee of Lit. 50.000 (approx. US$40). Please
note that workshop participation is restricted to those
registered to the conference.  Requests for information and
applications for the workshops should be directed to the workshop
organizers.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Local arrangements are being handled by:

Tullio Grazioli and Oliviero Stockphone: +39-461-814444
I.R.S.T.fax: +39-461-810851
I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALYemail: interne@irst.it

For information on the ACL, contact:

Donald E. Walker (ACL)phone: +1-201-8294312
Bellcore MRE 2A379fax: +1-201-8295981
445 South Street Box 1910email: walker@flash.bellcore.com
Morristown, NJ 07960 USA
**********
I.A.4
Fr: Ibrahim Al-Kharashi AAIC19 at SAKACS00
    Kacst
Re: The Use of Arabic Language in Information Technology

THE USE OF ARABIC LANGUAGE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Riyadh, May 10-13, 1992

The objective of this conference is to provide a forum for
the discussion of the problems faced by the Arab world in making
effective use of new information technologies which were
designedfor non-Arabic speaking people. As a matter of fact all
the systems designed by the western world for the collection,
analysis, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information
cater the needs of their own cultures and peoples. In
calling this conference we are soliciting the participation
of Arabists, linguists, computer scientists and
manufacturers as well as the active involvement of the
academic community. We are specifically looking forward to
reports detailing experiments, evaluation, problems, and
opportunities associated with the design, implementation, and
operation of systems in Arabic.

The Conference will be held in Riyadh under the auspices of
King Abdulaziz Library on May 10-13 1992. Prospective authors
are invited to submit their contributions on related topics which
include:

 1. Characteristics of Arabic language
 2. Use of computers in religious sciences
 3. Arabization hardware and software
 4. Standards and Measurements
 5. Grammatical and syntactical analysis.
 6. Speech synthsizer and its applications for handicapped
 7. Computer networks
 8. Storage media
 9. Arabization of terms
10. Machine translation
11. Wordprocessing and desktop publishing
12. Information retrieval systems
13. Database managment systems
14. Computer and education

Conditions for the submission of papers:

1. The paper should be within the subject area of conference and
related to the use of Arabic language or experimentations with
other languages which can benefit Arabic language.
2. The research paper should be orginal and should not have been
published before or accepted for publication/presentation in a
journal or conference.
3. It is preferable to submit papers in Arabic.
4. It is preferable to submit the title and the abstract of the
paper in both Arabic and English.
5. Papers should not be less than 10 pages or more than 40 pages.
6. The paper should be typed or printed on one side of A-4 size
pages with suitable margins.
7. The paper should consist of the following parts:
a. Title of the paper which should be brief and precise.
b. Name of the author and his address.
c. A brief informative abstract.
d. Text of paper. It should be divided in parts under suitable
headings; illustrations and figures should be clear and located
at appropriate placed with reference numbers in the text. All the
sources referred to in the paper should be listed.
8. All papers submitted will be reviewed by the program committee
with respect to their quality, orginality and relevance.  Authors
will be notified of the acceptance/rejection. Rejected papers
will not be returned.
9. Mail three copies of the paper to the following address:

 Secretary
 Conference on the Use of Arabic in Information Technology
 King Abdulaziz Library
 P. O. Box 86486
 Riyadh 11622
 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
 Fax: (966-1) 491-1949
10. Questions, suggestions and papers in machine-readable formats
can be e-mailed to:  Ibrahim Al-Kharashi aaic19 at
sakacs00.bitnet
**********************************************************
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