Date: 17 Dec 1995 ----------------- ====================================================================== TOPICS: 1. Job offer: Trenton State College (Ursula Wolz ) 2. CFP Ecai Workshop `Argumentation for Agent Communication' Budapest (Deadline: March 1, 1996). ====================================================================== Topic 1: TRENTON STATE COLLEGE Department of Computer Science Faculty Vacancy for Fall 1996 Assistant Professor: One tenure track position. Responsibilities include teaching major curriculum courses and service courses, research, and committee work. Expected contributions include course development in the area of applied software development using object-oriented methodologies (C++). Req'd: Ph.D. in Computer Science, evidence of quality teaching and record of scholarly activities. Applicants will be considered regardless of field in computing. Send vita, statements on teaching philosophy and research plan, and three references, with at least one addressing teaching capabilities and at least one focusing on research qualifications, to: Dr. Ursula Wolz, Chair, Department of Computer Science, TRENTON STATE COLLEGE, CN4700-Hillwood Lakes, Trenton, NJ 08650-4700. Address inquiries to wolz@trenton.edu. Non U.S. citizens must include a statement of current visa status. Resumes will be considered until position is filled. Trenton State College is a highly selective institution located on 250 wooded acres in Ewing Township, within seven miles of central New Jersey's high-tech and research corridor. Computer Science computing facilities include fully networked classrooms, labs, and offices of Suns, Silicon Graphics, Macintoshes, and IBM PC's. Information on Trenton State College is available on the World Wide Web at URL http:/www.trenton.edu. To enrich education through diversity, TSC is an AA/EOE. ====================================================================== Topic 2: PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS ECAI-96, Budapest (Hungary), August 12th, 1996 ``Argumentation for Agent Communication'' With the increased sophistication of the tasks performed by computers and the increased use of computers in collaborative settings, argumentation has become an important component of the interaction between computers and users. For example, Knowledge-based Systems must present arguments to justify their recommendations, Intelligent Tutoring Systems need to explain why a particular proposition is or isn't true, and negotiation systems need to justify why a particular course of action is better than some alternative. Different disciplines, such as AI, Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Philosophy, have provided models of argumentation that differ in their approach and objectives. In this workshop we propose to examine how we can make use of different viewpoints and insights from diverse disciplines. In particular, we propose to address the following issues: Computational models of argumentation -- Several computational models of argumentation have been presented in the literature. Is there a generic computational argumentation model? If not, what are the parameters that differentiate one model from another? Are certain parameters more significant in one application than another? Ways of presenting an argument -- An argument may be deductive or inductive. It may be presented by means of text, graphics or a combination of modalities. Textual arguments may be presented in different styles, e.g., counterfactual or illustrative. What is the relationship between the style of the argument and the line of reasoning used to reach a conclusion? Why should a particular line of reasoning or a particular style be chosen in preference to another? How does the type of argument affect the appropriateness of a modality and vice versa? Parameters that affect argumentation -- An argument may be presented to a software agent or a person, a novice or an experienced user, an adult or a child. Arguments may be used in a variety of contexts, where the context is characterized by parameters such as the setting of the interaction, e.g., negotiation, instruction and information providing, its urgency, and the relative standing of the interacting agents. Arguments are also generated to achieve different goals, e.g., convince an agent to perform an action, justify the correctness of a proposition, and support a claim. How is the argumentation model influenced by these (and possibly other) parameters? Submissions are invited on original and substantial research that addresses one or more of the above questions. In addition to AI researchers, we would like to encourage researchers from allied disciplines such as Linguistics, Psychology and Philosophy to present their points of view. Accepted submissions will be published in workshop notes that will be distributed to workshop attendees. After the workshop, we intend to solicit revised versions of selected high-quality papers for publication in a book. SUBMISSION INFORMATION ---------------------- Attendance at the workshop will be limited to 30 participants. Participants will be selected on the basis of submitted papers (10 pages maximum in postscript, point size no less than 12). Electronic submissions will be accepted for papers generated from latex source. Papers generated from other sources, e.g., Word, must be submitted by mail. Papers must include in the first page: the title, author's name(s), affiliation, complete mailing address, phone number, fax number, e-mail, an abstract of 300 words maximum, and up to five keywords. Submissions should be sent to: Ingrid Zukerman Department of Computer Science Phone: +61 3 9905-5202 Monash University Fax: +61 3 9905-5146 Clayton, VICTORIA 3168 AUSTRALIA Email: ingrid@cs.monash.edu.au ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: -------------------- Patrick Brezillon, University Paris 6 (France) Sandra Carberry, University of Delaware (USA) Graeme Hirst, University of Toronto (Canada) Cecile Paris, University of Brighton (UK) Katia Sycara, Carnegie Mellon University (USA) Ingrid Zukerman, Monash University (Australia) WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AND PRELIMINARY AGENDA: ---------------------------------------- Papers received: March 1, 1996 Author notification: April 1, 1996 Final papers received: May 1, 1996 Preprints distributed: May 20, 1996 ====================================================================== eof ======================================================================