Information Retrieval List Digest 322 (September 2, 1996) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-322 IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 September 2, 1996 Volume XIII, Number 35 Issue 322 ********************************************************** II. JOBS 1. U. Western Ontario: GSLIS, Assistant Professor 2. Yale U.: Database Librarian 3. DFKI: Positions in Computational Linguistics III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. The Future of Higher Education Networking 2. FARNET's Washington Update 3. JNLE Special Issue KRR for NLP in Implemented Systems B. Meetings 1. Communications Unleashed 2. ASIS Annual '96 ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Tim Craven Re: U. Western Ontario: GSLIS, Assistant Professor The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Western Ontario, invites applications for a full-time probationary (tenure-track) faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor. In addition to demonstrated ability in research and teaching, the successful candidate for this position will have a commitment to excellence in information studies, including but not limited to the following areas: studies of the role of information in the lives of individuals and communities in contemporary society, e.g. in education, culture, politics, and economics; theory and applications of technologically mediated forms of information transfer; qualitative and quantitative studies of information management in a variety of organizational and technological contexts. The successful candidate will bring enthusiasm and academic strength to help build a new faculty at The University of Western Ontario, one which takes as its scholarly domain the role and impact of information, media, and communications in the lives of individuals and in society. A minimal requirement is a Ph.D degree completed or nearing completion in library and information science or a discipline related to information studies. The closing date for this competition is September 30, 1996. The starting date is flexible, but will be no earlier than January 1, 1997. Interested candidates should send their curriculum vitae and the names of three (3) referees to: Bernd Frohmann, Acting Dean, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Elborn College, The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, CANADA, N6G 1H1. Positions are subject to budget approval. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents of Canada. The University of Western Ontario is committed to employment equity, welcomes diversity in the workplace, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including women, members of visible minorities, aboriginal persons, and persons with disabilities. Tim Craven, GSLIS, Elborn Coll., t.craven@uwo.ca Univ. of Western Ontario, (519)-679-2111 ext. 8497 London, Ont. N6G 1H1 CANADA fax (519)-661-3506 ********** II.2. Fr: Evelyn Wrinn Re: Yale U.: Database Librarian DATABASE LIBRARIAN, Systems Office, Yale University Library Minimum Rank: Librarian II (M & P 24) THE UNIVERSITY AND THE LIBRARY: The University Library, which is a highly valued partner in teaching and research at the University, has more than 10.5 million volumes housed in the Sterling Memorial Library and 16 school and department libraries. It employs a dynamic and innovative staff of nearly 600 FTE who have the opportunity to work with the highest caliber of faculty and students, participate on committees and are involved in other areas of staff development. A full spectrum of library resources, from rare books and manuscripts to a rapidly expanding network of electronic resources, constitutes one of Yale's distinctive strengths. The Library is engaged in numerous ambitious projects such as the renovation of the main library building, the complete retrospective conversion of the Library's catalog, and various automation projects which include network access to scholarly information and preservation imaging. THE POSITION: Working with appropriate staff throughout the library system and under the direction of the Senior Database Administrator, assists in preserving and protecting the quality and integrity of library databases, particularly Orbis, the central bibliographic database and its various related and supporting files. Participates in the planning and implementation of the library's retrospective conversion projects. Assists in expanding the library's databases beyond Orbis and in developing access to electronic resources through personal- computer-based workstations. Evaluates, tests and trains in the use of computer systems for the creation, retrieval and manipulation of information stored in the library's databases. RESPONSIBILITIES: In the Systems Office, and under the direction of the Senior Database Administrator, typically carries out the following responsibilities: Database Quality, Integrity, Import, Export and Reporting Participates in the comprehensive retrospective conversion of the library's card catalogs and in the redesign of the library's authority control processes. Assists library staff in the development of record specifications to ensure that externally produced records (especially those generated as part of retrospective conversion) will be compatible with the library's databases and will load in an efficient manner. Working closely with programmers and library staff, tests and debugs database correction, modification, import and export software. Drafts specifications for programs which perform batch correction or modification of problem records, for loading records into the Orbis database and related files, and for exporting records to external systems. Recommends procedures for ongoing data correction, import and export jobs. Trains appropriate staff to conduct the periodic jobs in a routine manner and acts as a point of contact when problems arise. Working with other staff in the Systems Office and in the library, assists in the development of efficient and productive methods of reporting information about the content of the library's databases. Integrated View of Database Applications: Maintains an understanding of the different functional components of the integrated, computer-based, library systems, such as NOTIS, in which the library's databases are stored, managed and used. Serves as a resource within the Systems Office and library regarding these systems. Facilitates communication between the Systems Office and other units in the library in order to translate user needs into specific system requirements. Participates in the evaluation, implementation, testing and training of new releases and upgrades of the library management system. Participates in the implementation of new automated services, such as sophisticated workstation software, technical services productivity tools and electronic text initiatives. Serves on committees, participates in library planning activities and is expected to be active professionally. QUALIFICATIONS: MLS degree from an ALA-accredited library school or equivalent experience. Two years of professional library experience, preferably in an academic research library. Demonstrated experience with automated library systems. Thorough understanding of the MARC bibliographic record. Knowledge of automated authority control. Ability to communicate effectively with both library and programming staff. Wide-ranging knowledge of library operations. Familiarity with personal computer hardware and software (IBM-PC compatible, Windows). Preferred: Experience with library database loads, conversions and retrospective conversion. Experience in training staff in the use of automated systems. Skill in identifying, documenting and correcting bugs in library systems. Awareness of current developments and issues in library automation. Salary from a minimum of $35,800. Comprehensive benefits package including 22 vacation days; 17 holiday, recess and personal days; health care; TIAA/CREF or Yale retirement plan; and relocation assistance. To be assured of consideration, please submit a letter of application, resume and the names of three references by September 16, 1996 to Diane Y. Turner, Director, Library Human Resources, P.O. Box 208240, New Haven, CT 06520-8240. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. EEO/AA ********** II.3. Fr: Hans Uszkoreit Re: DFKI: Positions in Computational Linguistics Positions in Computational Linguistics at DFKI The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH) is currently seeking research scientists to join the Computational Linguistics Lab in Saarbruecken, Germany. The successful candidates will work on different projects in the areas of information access and navigation, message extraction and understanding, controlled language checking, and grammar engineering. The candidates should have a background in the development of research or application prototypes. Applicants should have a degree in computational linguistics, computer science or linguistics, and competence in several of the following areas: Programming: C, C++, Perl, Java, Lisp, Windows-programming (APIs, DLLs) Computational linguistics: multilingual grammar development, German lexicography, syntax or semantics, corpus analysis NLP-Technology: parsing, finite state technology, statistical methods, machine learning methods, database applications, information retrieval Applications: Information extraction, information retrieval, WWW-applications, testing and evaluation of NLP applications The DFKI offers competitive salaries, excellent computational facilities, and the opportunity to work in an expanding team that combines leading-edge research in computational linguistics with the development of innovative applications. The DFKI is located on the campus of Saarbruecken University, which has internationally recognised departments in computational linguistics and computer science. Please refer to our web pages (http://cl-www.dfki.uni-sb.de/) for more information. The positions will become available from the fall of 1996 onwards with an envisaged minimum duration of two years. Please send your application (including a CV and list of publications) by e-mail before September 30, 1996 to the following address: cl-jobs@dfki.uni-sb.de Prof. Dr. Hans Uszkoreit DFKI GmbH Computational Linguistics Lab Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 D-66123 Saarbruecken Germany ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Paul Evan Peters Re: The Future of Higher Education Networking At the beginning of August CNI hosted a workshop with Advanced Network & Services, Educom NTTF, FARNET, and NYSERNet (with support from the RAC and the NSF) on the future of higher education net- working. Over 100 participants from higher education, the research community, government, and commercial sectors came together to organize thinking and effort regarding how best to meet the requirements for the next generation of networking in the higher education community. The proceedings from the workshop can be found at www.farnet.org/cheyenne. Several presentations were made at the workshop, and their slides are available to view on-line or to download as PowerPoint files. Please feel free to share these proceedings with others. An "Executive Summary" is included for folks who do not have time to browse, let alone read, the full proceedings. If you have questions or comments about the workshop or the proceedings, please direct them to feedback@farnet.org with a CC to me at paul@cni.org. If you have questions or comments about a particular presentation, please contact the person who made that presentation directly; email IDs can be found in both the list of attendees and on the agenda. Best, Paul Evan Peters Executive Director Coalition for Networked Information 21 Dupont Circle Washington, DC 20036 paul@cni.org 202-872-0884 (fax) 202-296-5098 http://www.cni.org/CNI.homepage.html ********** III.A.2. Fr: Heather Boyles Re: FARNET's Washington Update FARNET's Washington Update --- August 30, 1996 IN THIS ISSUE: o FCC - interconnection rules challenged - Bell Atlantic's "Internet Traffic" campaign at the FCC o Congress - September calendar items o Communications Decency Act update >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Written from FARNET's Washington office, "FARNET's Washington Update" is a service to FARNET members and other interested subscribers. We gratefully acknowledge EDUCOM's NTTF and the Coalition for Networked Information for additional support. If you would like more information about the Update or would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Heather Boyles at heather@farnet.org ********** III.A.2. Fr: Sy Ali Re: JNLE Special Issue KRR for NLP in Implemented Systems Knowledge Representation for Natural Language Processing in Implemented Systems A Special Issue of the Journal Natural Language Engineering Guest Editors Syed S. Ali Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA syali@cs.uwm.edu Lucja Iwanska Department of Computer Science Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202, USA lucja@cs.wayne.edu NOTE: Deadline for submissions is December 31, 1996 http://tigger.cs.uwm.edu/~syali/jnle-kr-nlp/ CALL FOR PAPERS: This special issue is intended to be a forum for the presentation of the state-of-the-art in implemented knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) systems for general natural language processing (NLP). We are interested in papers that address or describe implemented knowledge representation systems that facilitate natural language processing for implemented systems. This call is intended to be as broad as possible. To this end, topics of interest include (but are not limited to): * Implemented systems that support ``interesting'' natural language processing tasks, such as the representation of collections, quantifiers, donkey phenomena, or contextual aspects of natural language. The paper should address how the representation has been used to support the task and include a sample interaction that was produced by the implemented system. * Theories of knowledge representation that are based on, or suitable for, the semantics of natural language. In addition to describing the formal theory, the paper should discuss how the theory has been used in the implementation of a system and should include a sample natural language text that the system processes. * Theories of representation for discourse-level language processing phenomena, such as anaphora, ellipsis, or rhetorical or intentional structure. The paper should discuss how the theory has been used in the implementation of a system and include a sample natural language text that the system handles. * Implemented theories of natural language as knowledge representation. For example, there are inference methods that parallel reasoning in natural language. Natural deduction systems are so called because of the apparent naturalness of the proof procedure. Another example is surface reasoning, which is based on the syntactic structure of natural language. * Practical results regarding the expressiveness and generality of a representation language with respect to some natural language processing task. For example, the paper might evaluate the coverage of an implemented KRR system for a particular classes of complex object descriptions or quantified expressions. It might also evaluate the performance trade-offs in increasing the expressiveness of the representation language to support natural language. * Empirical results regarding the representation requirements for a particular domain area or task; for example in a particular domain, it might be sufficient to identify quantifier ordering, without resolving scope ambiguities. Such papers must describe the work in sufficient detail for evaluation. * Methods for building knowledge representations on the basis of a statistical analysis of a natural language corpus. Submissions to the special issue should address these topics by showing one or more sample texts that the described implemented system can understand, how the information contained in that text is represented, what background information is used by the system, how that information is represented, how the system processes the knowledge to do interesting things (such as answering interesting questions about the text), and how the information is processed into answers. Reports on projects whose purpose is to simulate human understanding of texts are appropriate, as are descriptions of projects whose purpose is to provide natural language interfaces to databases, planners, or other knowledge-based systems. Such reports should provide specific implementation details (where applicable) such as: source of data (artificial or real), corpus statistics, scope, dictionary/grammar size and coverage, project size (estimate of person-years of development), scalability, and if part of a larger, possibly non-NLP system, describe interaction/interfacing Operational characteristics of implementations should also be provided, such as the input/output (modality, whether pre-processed, etc), translation (language to logic, for example), representation(s) (of a sample interaction), and how inferencing/processing works. SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Submit full papers of no more than 25 pages (exclusive of references), twelve point, double-spaced, with one inch margins before the initial submission deadline. Submissions not conforming to these guidelines will not be reviewed. Email submission is preferred, and should be directed to the special issue editor at the email address: jnle-sub@tigger.cs.uwm.edu. The subject line should read: JNLE KRR/NLP Submission. Preferred email submission formats are: stand-alone LaTeX, PostScript, or plain text (for papers without complex figures, etc). If email submission is not possible, then five copies of the paper should be mailed to: Syed S. Ali Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 3200 N. Cramer Street University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53211 (414) 229-5375 Mailed submissions must arrive on or before the deadline for submission. SUBMISSION DATES: * Submissions for the symposium are due on December 31, 1996. * Notification of acceptance will be given by January 31, 1997. * Camera-ready copy due March 1, 1997. ********** III.B.1. Fr: Susan Evoy Re: Communications Unleashed, Oct 19-20, DC COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY presents a conference on COMMUNICATIONS UNLEASHED What's At Stake? Who Benefits? How To Get Involved! OCTOBER 19-20, 1996 Georgetown University - Washington, DC Co-sponsored by the Communication, Culture, and Technology program of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 KEYNOTE SPEAKER - RALPH NADER (invited); consumer advocate and founder of the Center for the Study of Responsive Law; Green Party presidential candidate THE COMMUNICATIONS TSUNAMI - In today's world of corporate mergers and the mega-packaging of services, what's at stake for consumers and who will represent their views? What is the meaning of "public interest" in the new digital environment? Panelists will examine the ramifications and effects of the Telecommunications Act in such critical areas as universal service, the opening of local exchanges to competition, the provision of fair pricing rules, and the stewardship of the dazzling array of emerging broadband services. TOOLKITS FOR ACTIVISTS - Media giants and merger-mania dominate the public dialogue on communications issues. How can activists at the local, state, and national levels develop an effective voice in the currently one-sided debate over changes in the marketplace and the regulatory environment? How can community-based organizations use the Internet as a tool for online organizing, enhancing public interest campaigns and increasing the efficiency of their internal communications? THE INTERNET: COMMERCIALIZATION, GLOBALIZATION, AND GOVERNANCE - The accelerating commercialization and globalization of the Internet raises new and divisive problems of governance and control that will profoundly affect the future of the net and all of its users. What is the outlook in key areas like pricing schemes, access to information and services, and Internet telephony? INFORMATION RIGHTS - New information technologies and the policy responses to them raise many critical issues related to information rights on the Internet. Panelists will discuss these topics in detail, including the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech online, copyright protection, and threats to privacy from the collection of personal information online. COMPUTERS AND ELECTIONS: RISKS, RELIABILITY, AND REFORM - There are widespread, legitimate concerns about the accuracy, integrity, and security of computer-generated vote totals. Panelists will explore the technical, social, and political origins of these concerns within the context of today's little-scrutinized election system. They will also make recommendations for changes in the areas of technology, election law, accountability, and oversight. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 will feature WORKSHOPS on: communications access and the consumer; broadcasting and mass media; civic networking; media tactics and outreach; Internet legal issues; and using the Internet for political action. The 1996 CPSR Annual Meeting will take place Sunday afternoon. All conference attendees are welcome. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CONFERENCE, CONTACT CPSR at 415-322-3778, 703-739-9320 or cpsrannmtg@cpsr.org or http://www.cpsr.org/home.html **** http://www.georgetown.edu/grad/CCT ********** III.B.2. Fr: Richard Hill Re: Annual Meeting Program Outline ASIS 1996 Annual Meeting October 19-24, 1996 Baltimore, Maryland Global Complexity: Information, Chaos and Control The ASIS 1996 Annual Meeting will consider the complexity of the working world of information professionals as well as theoretical perspectives involving the nature and use of information. Special *Telecom Update *Information Warfare Sessions *Competitive Intelligence *Standards Feature: *Changing Owners in the Information industry *Habanero -- NCSA's collaborative work successor to Mosaic An outline of the conference program and tutorials/seminars follows. For complete, up to date information or to register, see the ASIS Home Page:http://www.asis.org under Conferences, 1996 Annual Meeting. The registration form on the Web page is a secure form for Netscape users. SCHEDULE OF PROGRAM SESSIONS MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 Eli M. Noam, professor of Finance and Economics; Director, Columbia Institute for TeleInformation, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. Author of "The Dim Electronic Future of the University" *Controlling Risk in a Complex Environment: The Design of Computer-Based Systems to Minimize Human Error in Medicine *Free Speech, Privacy & Intellectual Freedom in a Global Network *Social Impacts of Digital Libraries *Interactive Information Retrieval: Contributed Papers *Internet Resources: Contributed Papers *Creating an Effective, Visible Presence of Information Centers *Bringing Wellness Out of Chaos *Investigations of Online Catalogs: Contributed Papers *Interface Design and Navigation: Contributed Papers *Creating an Electronic Journal: First Hand Experiences *Copyright: Chaos or Control? *Theories of Information Science *Changing Owners in the Information Industry TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22 Ivars Peterson, mathematics and physics editor at Science News. His most recent book is _Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs_. Shepherding Bits: Chaos and Control in the Information Age. *Legislative/Regulatory Update *Digital Imagery: Photographs and Art *Standards *Bibliometrics, Indexing and the WWW: Contributed Papers *The Net Within: Intranets & Organizational Communications *Icons and the Web: Communicating Classificatory Structure through Graphics *Information Management Responses to Complexity *Information Search Process: Contributed Papers *Methodological Issues in Studying Users of Networks and Digital Libraries (SIGs/IAE and ED) *Information Warfare WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 *Archival Control & Access: Finding Aids Using SGML *Frameworks for Scholarly & Scientific Communication in the Age of the Internet *Visual Access to Retrieved Objects *Searching the World Wide Web: Contributed Papers *Information Science and Sustainable Global Development *Reflections on Our Future *Doctoral Forum *Information in Organizations: Contributed Papers *Navigating Complexity: Interfaces for WWW & Data Visualization *Online Visuals: Maps, Entertainment and Texts of the Internet *Competitive Intelligence (Co-sponsored by the SCIP) *Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 1996 *Habanero *Issues Associated with Electronic Resources: Contributed Papers *What Kinds of Text Summarization Are Possible Now? *Science Educators' Use of Internet Resources *Planning Curricula for Information Professionals of the 21st Century *Browsing Online & in Stacks: How Can It Be Facilitated? THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 *Reengineering User Interfaces for Governmental and Public Organizational Information Systems *Indexing and Abstracting: Contributed Papers *Measures in Information Retrieval: Contributed Papers *Telecommunications Update *Out of Business? How Is the Internet Really Impacting Libraries? *Images of Dynamics and Complexity in Information Science *Usability Testing of Text-Based and Visual User Interfaces *Scholarly Communication and Information Use: Contributed Papers *Sarajevo Library Reconstruction Update CONTINUING EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 * Finding the Right Stuff: Using and Evaluating Internet Search Engines (1/2 day) * Copyright in an Electronic World * Thesauri for Indexing and Retrieval * HTML Basics: A Hands-on Workshop SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 * HTML: Beyond Basics. A Hands-on Workshop * Introduction to SGML * Digital Libraries: Computer Concepts & Technologies for Managing Library Collections * Preparing for the Explosion of JAVA on the World Wide Web * 7th SIG CR Classification Research Workshop * Introduction to Image Databases * Managing Web Servers: Technical, Fiscal and Personnel Issues * Using Lotus Notes for Information Management * Building the Virtual "Intranet" Knowledge Center * Interactive Web Development with ActiveX and VBScript, A Hands-on Workshop * History of Information Science: Reminiscences and Assessments FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION, CONTACT: 301/495-0900, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, EST. For additional conference and registration information: E-mail: meetings@asis.org Phone: 301/495-0900 Fax: 301/495-0810 Mail: ASIS 8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 501 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Relay Service number for the hearing impaired: 800/735-2258 ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests and submissions to: NCGUR@UCCMVSA.UCOP.EDU Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch calur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu The IRLIST Archives is set up for anonymous FTP. Using anonymous FTP via the host ftp.dla.ucop.edu, the files will be found in the directory /data/ftp/pub/irl, stored in subdirectories by year (e.g., data/ftp/pub/irl/1993). Search or browse archived IR-L Digest issues on the Web at: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/idom/irlist/ These files are not to be sold or used for commercial purposes. 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