Information Retrieval List Digest 441 (February 8, 1999) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-441.txt IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 February 8, 1999 Volume XVI, Number 5 Issue 441 ****************************************************************** I. QUERIES 1. Digital Electronic Archiving Projects II. JOBS 1. National U. of Singapore: School of Computing: Research Fellow 2. Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY: Assistant Director/Systems Librarian III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. Medical Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery: Call for Chapters 2. [WASHINGTON-UPDATE] EDUCAUSE Washington Update 2-05-99 3. Study of Digital Image Distribution B. Meetings 1. CIA-99 Workshop 2. SOFSEM 99 3. SIGIR Tutorials and Panels 4. World Services Congress '99 IV. PROJECTS C. Awards, Fellowships, Grants, & Scholarships 1. NSF Wireless Info Tech & Networks Initiative 2. A Digital Library for Education 3. NSF International Programs: Deadline Dates D. Research 1. Ergo's ATIS Results [See Issue 438, January 4, 1999] ****************************************************************** I. QUERIES I.1. Fr: Gail Hodge Re: Digital Electronic Archiving Projects I am working on a project for the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) and CENDI (an interagency working group of federal STI managers) concerning digital electronic archiving. By this we mean the archiving of information that was originally disseminated in electronic form (such as electronic journals, web pages, etc.), rather than projects to digitize what was produced in paper. We are interested in cutting edge projects that are operational or at least close to a pilot stage. The hope is to identify models that could be used by other organizations addressing this issue. Of particular interest are issues of start-up and ongoing costs, resources, long-term access, policy issues such as intellectual property and security, and the responsibilities taken by various entities in the information chain (users, publishers, creators, vendors, libraries, etc.). The scope of the project is international, but we are focusing on scientific and technical information of all data and format types (regardless of the format -- numeric data, text, audio, video, etc.) I would like to hear from you. If you know of such a project but are not directly involved, please point me in the right direction. Thanks for your help, Gail Hodge Information International Associates, Inc. 312 Walnut Pl. Havertown, PA 19083 610/789-6769 gailhodge@aol.com ****************************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Liu Bing Re: National U. of Singapore: School of Computing: Research Fellow RESEARCH FELLOW for a Data (Text, Web) Mining project Seeking to employ a Research Fellow on a data mining project for a period of 2.5-3 years at School of Computing, National University of Singapore. The project involves the design and development of data (including text, and web) mining tools and techniques. Applicants for the position should have a Ph.D degree in Computer Science and should specialize in one of the following two combinations. Data mining (primary) + databases (secondary) Information retrieval (primary) + databases (secondary) Practical knowledge of database systems is a plus. Knowledge of web-based technology is also very useful. C/C++ programming is needed too. Salary: S$45,000 -- S$65,000 per annum (US$1 = S$1.68 approx). If you are interested, please send me a CV (email is preferred). Dr. Bing Liu School of Computing National University of Singapore Lower Kent Ridge Road Singapore 119260 E-mail: liub@comp.nus.edu.sg web: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~liub Tel: (65) 874 6736 Fax: (65) 779 4580 For more information about our project, please visit the web page. ********** II.2. Fr: Deborah Mohr Re: Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY: Assistant Director/Systems Librarian Monroe Community College, a member of the League for Innovation in the Community College, invites applications for the following full-time position. Assistant Director/ Systems Librarian Monroe Community College is seeking an individual to serve as Assistant Director/ Systems Librarian and assist a strong library faculty and staff in providing innovative, service-centered, leading edge library services to the students of Monroe Community College. The Assistant Director will be a key member of the administrative team and is expected to act in place of the Director when required. As System Librarian, this individual is charged with coordinating smooth and effective operation of the library's integrated system, network and college-wide access to library e-resources. This is accomplished by working in a team environment with MCC Educational Technology Service's support teams, the Director of Libraries, library faculty and staff, vendors and SUNY-wide support teams dedicated to these tasks. He/she will be concerned with actively researching the latest developments in library organization and technology and in advocating for and implementing these innovations where appropriate. The person we seek is highly motivated, positive thinking, and innovative, who works well in a collaborative environment and who is part of the new breed of librarians who are fully engaged in the technological revolution. The Assistant Director will work collaboratively with the Director of Libraries and the college community to support the mission of the college, head projects as assigned and represent the college at local, regional, or national conferences and events. MCC is a multi-campus institution located in Rochester, New York with an enrollment of 14,000 full and part-time credit students. The college is one of 30 SUNY Community Colleges and is a member of the prestigious League for Innovation in the Community College. Rochester is a community with numerous cultural attractions, academic institutions, dynamic corporate entities, and is near to Lake Ontario and the scenic Finger Lakes region. MCC Libraries are part of a SUNY-wide MultiLIS/DRA/ Alpha/VMS-based system that serves 44 institutions state-wide. The qualified candidate should have the following credentials and qualities: * a Master of Library Sciences degree from an A.L.A. accredited institution * excellent communication skills, both spoken and written * a minimum of three years equivalent post-M.L.S. experience * a solid record of success working with integrated library systems, computer applications or networked information * a minimum of one year of administrative, budgetary or project management experience. This position is a tenure-track faculty position with a salary range of $40,000 - $47,500. We will begin reviewing applications on February 22, 1999 and continue to accept new applications until the position is filled. Monroe Community College is an Affirmative Action Equal opportunity Employer. Women, minorities, Vietnam-era veterans, disabled veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Screening will commence immediately and continue until the position is filled. Send resume, list of three references and a letter of interest addressing qualifications to: Dr. Sherry Ralston, Director of Human Resources, 1000 E. Henrietta Rd., Rochester, NY 14623. Any person with a disability needing special accommodations to the application process should contact Human Resources. Visit our website address: http://www.monroecc.edu For more information call (716) 292-2012. ****************************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Re: Call for Chapters Fr: Krzysztof Cios Re: Medical Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery: Call for Chapters http://isl1.ni.utoledo.edu/cios/ Chapter contributions are requested for a book on MEDICAL DATA MINING AND KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY to be published by Springer in early 2000. Chapters describing novel approaches and applications of data mining (DM) methods for knowledge discovery (KD) in medicine are sought. They must be written very clearly to appeal to a diverse audience of medical doctors, computer scientists, and engineers. The first part of the book will contain application chapters written in a tutorial style. The chapters can describe in greater detail DM methods when used on real medical data. For instance, a chapter may describe several (but only those applicable to the database of images used) image preprocessing, feature extraction/selection, and machine learning algorithms, before actually using only a few of them. The second part of the book will consist of purely application chapters. The emphasis in part two will be on a KD process. Thus, authors may be asked to shorten description of their DM methods, if already covered in part one. Three hard copies of the chapters should be submitted to the editor by May 3, 1999. ********** III.A.2. Fr: EDUCAUSE Re: [WASHINGTON-UPDATE] EDUCAUSE Washington Update 2-05-99 EDUCAUSE: Transforming Education Through Information Technologies http://www.educause.edu EDUCAUSE WASHINGTON UPDATE --- FEBRUARY 5, 1999 ***IN THIS ISSUE*** "IT2": CLINTON ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES MAJOR INCREASE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH FUNDING FOR FY 2000 FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS COPA - CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORTERS VOW APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT COPYRIGHT OFFICE HOLDS HEARINGS ON DISTANCE LEARNING >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Written from EDUCAUSE'S Washington office, "The EDUCAUSE Washington Update" is a free service of EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming higher education through information technologies. Anyone may subscribe to the Update by sending e-mail to listserv@listserv.educause.edu with "subscribe update firstname lastname" in the body of the message. To unsubscribe, send a "signoff update" command to the same address. If you would like more information about the Update or would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Garret Sern at gsern@educause.edu. ********** III.A.3. Fr: Howard Besser Re: Study of Digital Image Distribution SPECIAL REPORT ON DIGITAL IMAGE DISTRIBUTION STUDY IS NOW AVAILABLE This press release looks better viewed on a web browser at http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/Imaging/Databases/1998mellon/99press-release.html A special report examining the costs of distributing digital images to the university community has just been released. "The Cost of Digital Image Distribution: The Social and Economic Implications of the Production, Distribution, and Usage of Image Data" is the result of a 22-month UC Berkeley study of the Museum Educational Site Licensing Project (MESL), supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The MESL Project, sponsored by the Getty Information Institute, was the first attempt to create a collection of images and descriptive information from a variety of museums and deliver it digitally to university users of campus networks. The two-year experimental collaboration among seven museums and seven universities succeeded in distributing approximately 10,000 images for classroom use and individual research, primarily in the areas of cultural studies, art history, history, and photography. The Cost of Digital Image Distribution identifies, defines, and explores MESL's primary cost centers in the digital network distribution of images and accompanying text. It examines the processes and costs of analog slide libraries, and compares the analog and digital distribution systems. It also considers the intangible factors that can lead to the success or failure of digital distribution schemes, such as learning curve, ease or difficulty of maintenance, and faculty attitudes towards teaching with digital images. The findings presented in this report should be of interest to anyone contemplating image digitization or distribution, particularly to a scholarly audience. It should be of particular interest to those involved in funding and/or planning activities involving either analog or digital image distribution. Major findings include: -It will be a long time before digital image repositories will be able to deliver the critical mass of images needed for instruction and research. Analog slide libraries and digital image repositories will necessarily coexist for many years. -The higher education community is enthusiastic about providing access to digital images and information from cultural heritage repositories. However, many impediments to widespread adoption must be dealt with--ranging from lack of comprehensive content and the absence of necessary tools to facilitate use, to inadequate recognition and support for faculty who adopt new technology in their teaching. -The anticipated shift from analog slide libraries to licensed digital images represents a shift from ownership to access through ongoing subscription. This shift is analogous to the changes that have taken place in university library collections. University administrators are concerned about controlling content costs and faculty are concerned about ongoing access to the images they use and need. Those university positions are at odds with those of museum image distribution consortia, who seek a consistent revenue stream and are reluctant to assure ongoing access without ongoing payment. For such image distribution schemes to work, both museums and universities have to see their common goals as outweighing their individual concerns. "The Cost of Digital Image Distribution: The Social and Economic Implications of the Production, Distribution, and Usage of Image Data" Howard Besser, Principal Investigator; Robert Yamashita, Project Manager A report to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--A Study of the Economics of Network Access to Visual Information: The Museum Educational Site Licensing Project, Published by the School of Information Management and Systems, U.C. Berkeley, 1998 Available online at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Imaging/Databases/1998mellon in both html and PDF format Paper copies of this report may also be ordered c/o Howard Besser, School of Information Management & Systems, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720-4600 Howard Besser Associate Professor UCLA Department of Information Studies address thru August 1999: School of Information Management & Systems 102 South Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-4600 tel: (510)643-7365 office: (510)642-1464 fax: (510)642-5814 howard@sims.berkeley.edu http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~howard/ ********** III.B.1. Fr: Matthias Klusch Re: CIA-99 Workshop Third International Workshop CIA-99 COOPERATIVE INFORMATION AGENTS July 31 - August 2, 1999 Uppsala, Sweden IMPORTANT DATES: Deadline for Paper Submission MARCH 5, 1999 Notification of Acceptance/Rejection April 18, 1999 Deadline for camera-ready version May 10, 1999 Proceedings will be published in LNAI series (Springer). MORE INFORMATION AT WORKSHOP Homepage: http://www.informatik.tu-chemnitz.de/~klusch/cia99.html Many thanks for your efforts in advance! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need any further information about the workshop. Cordially, Matthias. Dr. Matthias Klusch Computer Science Department Technical University of Chemnitz Strasse der Nationen 62, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany Phone: +49-371-531-1511 Fax: +49-371-531-1530 eMail: klusch@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de WWW: http://www.informatik.tu-chemnitz.de/~klusch/ ********** III.B.2. Fr: Jan Staudek Re: SOFSEM 99 Preliminary Announcement SOFSEM'99 XXVI-th Seminar on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Informatics November 27 - December 4, 1999 Devet-skal hotel, Milovy Czech Republic http://www.ics.muni.cz/sofsem/sofsem.html Organized by Czech Society for Computer Science Subject: SOFSEM (SOFtware SEMinar) is the eight-day international seminar devoted to the theory and the practice of software systems. Its program consists of the series of invited talks given by prominent academic professionals and researchers. Contributed talks and posters of participants are also included in the program of SOFSEM. The working language is English. Invited talks and contributed talks are published by Springer-Verlag in the "Lecture Notes in Computer Science" series and distributed at the seminar. Sofsem'99 is the 26th in the series of Sofsem seminars held annually. It is intended to foster cooperation among people working in various areas of computer science. Its scientific program offers a unique opportunity to gain a relatively quick and representative overview about the selected parts of computer science, presented by top researchers. Its social program provides an optimal framework for discussions, meetings, contact establishing, and socializing. Especially suited for young computer scientists. Topics: Trends in Theory Core Technologies Software and Information Engineering From Data to Knowledge Applications Programme Committee Jan Pavelka, DCIT, Prague, CZ, Chair Gerard Tel, Utrecht Univ, NL, Co-Chair Submissions: The categories for submissions include Contributed Talks and Posters. Each submission should have a title giving the following information: - name, address, e-mail address, and phone/fax number of each author; - specification of one of the authors as the contact person. To submit, please send via e-amil a postscript file of your contribution. With each submission, please e-mail also an abstract in plain ASCII. Any other form of electronic submission should be consulted in advance with the PC sectretary. Contributed Talks: 8-page drafts in English are expected. A full camera-ready copy of contributed talks on current topics in Computer Science should be no longer than 8-pages. Presentation time for contributed talks is 25 minutes. Contributed talks will be included in the Proceedings of SOFSEM '99, published in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series by Springer-Verlag. The Organizing Committee will supply the authors of accepted contributed talks with detailed technical instructions and the LaTeX style file for the preparation of the camera-ready copy. Posters: We actively encourage posters describing work in progress. Final versions of two A4 page poster are expected. Deadlines Submission of the contributed talk/poster May 7, 1999 Notification of acceptance / rejection June 30, 1999 Camera-ready copy of the talks September 6, 1999 Contact Addresses Sofsem www-page http://www.ics.muni.cz/sofsem/sofsem.html Communications and enquires should be adressed to: sofsem@ics.muni.cz Submissions should be adressed to: sochor@fi.muni.cz or Jiri Sochor Faculty of Informatics Masaryk University Botanicka 68a, 602 00 Brno Czech Republic ********** III.B.3. Fr: Susan Dumais Re: SIGIR Tutorials and Panels Reminder: The deadline for submitting SIGIR'99 Tutorial and Panel proposals is Feb. 15, 1999. SIGIR is the major international forum for the presentation of new research results, systems and techniques in information retrieval. The conference will be held on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, August 15-19, 1999. General topics of interest include but are not limited to: - IR Theory including statistical and logical models and data fusion; - Experimentation: test collections, evaluation measures, experimental design, testing methodology, scalability; - Systems and Implementation Issues: integration with database systems, networked systems and the internet, compression, efficient query evaluation; - Natural Language Processing: word sense disambiguation, discourse analysis, and summarization for the purposes of IR; cross-lingual IR systems, dialog management, use of linguistic resources for IR; - Filtering, Routing, and Text Classification; - Applications: task-embedded IR, electronic publishing, digital libraries, text data mining; - Human Computer Interaction in Information Access; - Multi-Media Retrieval TUTORIAL PROPOSALS for either half-day or full day tutorials must specify: (1) the tutorial length (2) the intended audience (introductory, intermediate, advanced) (3) complete contact information for the contact person and other presenters (4) brief biographies (maximum 2 paragraphs each) of the presenters. The complete submission should be less than 1,500 words long, and should include an outline of the tutorial, along with descriptions of the objectives and course materials. Tutorial proposals must be sent via email by February 15. PANEL PROPOSALS are sought which address issues that would broadly appeal to the information retrieval community and would stimulate lively debate between panelists and audience. For example, issues and unsolved problems between IR research and industrial application have been a successful topic in the past. Panel proposals (up to 1,000 words) must include: (1) complete contact information for the moderator (2) the rationale for addressing this topic as a panel (3) the names and affiliations of the panel members (4) a description of how the panel will be structured and how audience participation will be encouraged. Panel proposals must be sent via email by February 15. Additional details about the conference and submission procedures can be found at -- http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/conferences/sigir99/index.html ********** III.B.4. Fr: M.A. Finnell Re: World Services Congress '99 WORLD SERVICES CONGRESS 99 Services: Generating Global Growth and Opportunity Sponsored By Coalition of Service Industries Research & Education Foundation Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Georgia November 1-3, 1999 Call for Papers: The Coalition of Service Industries Research and Education Foundation is now accepting submissions of abstracts for papers to be presented at the World Services Congress 99, November 1 to 3, 1999 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Deadline for submission of abstracts is February 28, 1999 Services Will Dominate the 21st Century Global Economy: The overriding objective of the World Services Congress is to create a heightened awareness of the commanding role of services in the 21st Century economy. The World Services Congress will be the definitive conference on the role and impact of services on the World economy. Members of academia, government and business from across the globe will convene in Atlanta to present papers and exchange ideas designed to enhance the understanding of services issues, and to develop policy measures for International services negotiations and for strategic planning for services providers. Papers may be submitted on a wide range of services-related topics, including: O Sectoral Issues o Assessing the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services/Preparing for GATS 2000 Negotiations o Classification, Measurement, and Economic Analysis of Service Sector Activity o Regulation of Service Industries o Services and Economic Growth in Developed and Developing Countries o Labor, Job Creation, and Services o Electronic Commerce o Government Services o Other For additional information on the Congress, or to submit an abstract, please access the Call for Papers on-line submittal form on the Internet at www.uscsi.org Accepted papers will be included in a CD-ROM. At the last stage of the selection procedure, the letter of acceptance for authors will include instructions on how to provide an electronic copy of the paper. Satellite meetings are welcome. Professional and academic societies, trade associations, corporate groups, and International organizations are invited to plan committee and working group meetings in connection with (or in parallel with) the World Congress. FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information on the Congress, or to request to be added to the mail list to receive updates as they become available, please contact / send your complete mailing information including phone, fax and e-mail address to: Bonnie B. Jessup CSI Research & Education Foundation 805 - 15th Street, N.W., Suite 1110 Washington, D.C. 20005 E-mail: jessup@uscsi.org Telephone: + 202-289-7460 Fax: + 202-775-1726 Updated information on the World Services Congress 99 is available at: http://www.uscsi.org ********** ****************************************************************** IV. RESEARCH IV.C.1. Fr: Maria Zemankova Re: NSF Wireless Info Tech & Networks Initiative The following document (nsf9968) is now available from the NSF Online Document System Title: Wireless Information Technology and Networks Type: Program Announcements & Information Subtype: Computer/Information Sciences, Engineering, International It may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf9968 DEADLINE DATE: APRIL 30, 1999, 5:00 PM Excerpt: INTRODUCTION: The coming generation of tetherless (terrestrial wireless and satellite) communications technology promises a leap forward in information accessibility with an attendant increase in economic yield similar to that stimulated by the Internet in the 1990s. Researchers face many technical challenges, but data rates of tens of megabits per second (enabling broadband Internet access, for example) are apparently a realizable goal early in the 21st century. ... Current trends point to a revolution in wireless mobile information technology within the next couple of decades that will completely modify the way we work, learn, play, seek services, and purchase products, providing complete freedom of location to the individual. Clearly, this mobile component of the information infrastructure (i.e., the interconnected series of telecommunications networks and computer based services) will continue to develop in importance as people demand more and more flexibility in their day-to-day activities, whether work or recreation related, as we move into the 21st century. The great demand for Internet services, wireless cable television distribution, and information technology makes the development of broadband wireless mobile communications systems a national imperative. In order to build an underlying science and technology base that enables further wireless mobile communications advances and applications, the National Science Foundation encourages proposals for research projects in wireless information technology and networks. It is expected that under this initiative, depending on the quality of the proposals received, ten to fifteen awards will be made typically ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 per year for periods of up to three years. In exceptional cases, awards for up to five years or up to $500,000 per year may be made if the justification and promise are compelling. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Significant advances in basic research to provide a foundation for designing high information-capacity wireless communication systems for full mobility will require synergistic, multidisciplinary research efforts encompassing a breadth of communications functions from the physical through application layers. Such research would be expected to lead to breakthroughs enabling future wireless networks to be flexible, scalable to large numbers of users, able to provide location information of mobile users on a global scale, eavesdropper proof, coordinated with wireline and other networks, dynamically adaptable with demand, and able to provide guaranteed service while accommodating mixed traffic representing varied applications. NOTE: Proposals for INTEGRATIVE AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH are encouraged. Please see the announcement for details. You are encouraged to subscribe to the NSF Custom News Service http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm in order to receive annoucements of pertinent NSF program and initiative announcements and other relevant information. ********** IV.C.2. Fr: Clifford Lynch Re: A Digital Library for Education January 29, 1999 A Digital Library for Education "It is a time to build, to build the America within reach ... an America where every child can stretch a hand across a keyboard and reach every book ever written, every painting ever painted, every symphony ever composed." - President Bill Clinton Summary: This $30 million initiative will begin the development of a national library of text, images, sound recordings, and other materials available to every school-child and every American with access to the Internet. It will include: hundreds of thousands of America's historical and cultural artifacts that are now only accessible to scholars visiting archives; hundreds of thousands of books and images of paintings; and leading-edge material to help America's children meet high academic standards in math and science. Modern information technology gives us powerful new tools for making America's rich and diverse cultural legacy and educational content available to Americans of all ages. This initiative supports the President's Educational Technology Initiative by making unique historic, cultural, and scientific materials available to teachers, children, and parents. It also supports the goals of the White House Millennium Project by "honoring the past and imagining the future." The Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service, and other Federal agencies are the custodians of priceless records and objects of American achievements in the arts and sciences as well as the raw material of American history. Currently, only about one to two percent of these collections are on display at any given time. Fortunately, new digital technology and the Internet can make these materials easily available to homes and schools throughout America. The Administration will seek to leverage these funds by partnering with corporations, libraries, museums, archives, foundations, and other organizations. Elements of the Initiative: 1. America's Treasures Online ($5 million, Smithsonian and $5 million, National Park Service) The Federal government is the custodian of such things as the Apollo 11 command module, Rose Kennedy's personal tour of the John F. Kennedy birthplace, the Gettysburg battlefield, Ansel Adams photographs of Yosemite, the compass Lewis and Clark used to explore the American West, immigration records of Ellis Island, and Thomas Edison's laboratory notes. These funds will allow the Smithsonian and the National Park Service to digitize, index, and make available on the Internet not only pictures and documents, but music, oral history, 3-dimensional objects, and virtual tours of cultural sites like historic buildings or battlefields. 2. Digitizing the classics and putting museums online ($10 million, Institute for Museum and Library Science) This initiative will digitize hundreds of thousands of books that are in the "public domain," such as the complete works of Mark Twain, the Federalist Papers, Shakespeare, the Odyssey and the Illiad, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great Greek philosophers, Dante's Inferno, Charles Darwin's diary, Henry David Thoreau, John Locke, Jane Austin, etc. Uses will expand rapidly as better screen resolution, longer battery life, and lower costs make it as easy for students to read electronic books as their electronic equivalents. Students will be able to download entire books from the Internet, carry many books in one lightweight device, and search large archives for material. The Administration intends to work closely with the publishing industry to ensure full compliance with U.S. copyright laws. This initiative will also support the digitization of hundreds of thousands of images, paintings, sculptures and other works of art from museums around the country. 3. Digital Library for Math and Science Education ($10 million, National Science Foundation) The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) found that the performance of U.S. secondary school students in science and mathematics is well below the international average. As the National Science Board concluded, "No nation can afford to tolerate what prevails in American schooling: generally low expectations and low performance in mathematics and science, with only pockets of excellence at a world-class level of achievement ... In the new global context, a scientifically literate population is vital to the democratic process, a healthy economy, and our quality of life." This initiative will help address this problem by supporting a digital library for math and science education, which might include: - Tools to make it much easier for students and teachers to find high-quality resources, using specialized search engines and "peer review" mechanisms. - Hands-on, interactive content that makes math and science come alive and enables students to "learn by doing." Students could track the progress of a real scientific experiment, or understand a concept using simulation and multimedia. ********** IV.C.3. Fr: Maria Zemankova Re: NSF International Programs: Deadline Dates The following document (nsf9966) is now available from the NSF Online Document System Title: Announcement of Fiscal Year 1999 Deadline Dates -- Dear Colleague Letter Type: Program Announcements & Information Subtype: International It may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf9966 NSF Custom News Service http://www.nsf.gov/home/cns/start.htm Please send questions and comments to webmaster@nsf.gov ********** IV.D.1. Fr: Philip A. Bralich Re: Ergo's ATIS Results [See Issue 438, January 4, 1999] As part of the parsing contest we posted a couple of weeks ago in which we challenged members of the academic and industrial NLP community to meet or beat our parsing results on 100 sentences in the areas of basic grammatical analysis, navigation and control, and question and answer repartee, we have just posted our results on the ATIS (Air Travel Industry Sentences) sentences for the standards and tasks of that contest. Refer to our web page at http://www.ergo-ling.com for the contest details, our results on the 100 sentences for that contest and the ATIS sentences parsed as to the requirements of the contest. Again we would be happy to post results from IBM, Microsoft, Stanford, MIT or any of the smaller companies and universities who would like to participate in this contest for either the specific 100 sentences of the contest or for the ATIS sentences. Contest results will be posted at the end of March or early April, but we will post all entrants on our web site as soon as they arrive. We are especially interested in seeing the ATIS results from other companies and universities. Phil Bralich Philip A. Bralich, President Ergo Linguistic Technologies 2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 175 Honolulu, HI 96822 tel:(808)539-3920 fax:(880)539-3924 Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D. President and CEO Ergo Linguistic Technologies 2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 175 Honolulu, HI 96822 Tel: (808)539-3920 Fax: (808)539-3924 bralich@hawaii.edu http://www.ergo-ling.com ****************************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA. 94607-5200. 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