Date: 20 Oct 1996 ----------------- ====================================================================== TOPICS: 1. E W N L G - 9 7 6th European Workshop on Natural Language Generation DEADLINE NOV 15 1996!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2. Post in Computational Linguistics, Stirling 3. Practical Human-computer conversation 1997 ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Topic 1: From: he232ho@rs1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de (Wolfgang Hoeppner) Subject: EWNLG-97 --------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS E W N L G - 9 7 6th European Workshop on Natural Language Generation March 24 - 26, 1997 Gerhard-Mercator University, Duisburg, Germany The workshop aims to bring together researchers interested in Natural Language Generation from such different perspectives as Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Engineering. The meeting continues the tradition of a series of workshops held biannually in Europe (Royaumont, 1987; Edinburgh, 1989; Judenstein, 1991; Pisa, 1993; and Leiden, 1995) but it is open to researchers from all over the world. Program Committee: Stephan Busemann, Saarbruecken Alison Cawsey, Edinburgh Robert Dale, Sydney Wolfgang Hoeppner, Duisburg (chair) Richard Kittredge, Montreal Stephan Mehl, Duisburg Koenrad deSmedt, Bergen Michael Zock, Paris Papers, posters and demonstrations are invited on original and substantial work related to the automatic generation of natural language, including computational linguistics research, artificial intelligence methods, computer models of human language processing, empirical research, and the development and evaluation of applied systems. Contributions on all aspects of natural language generation are welcome, but the special theme of this workshop will be 'System Architectures for Text Generation'. This topic comprises a variety of more specific questions, e.g. planning and/or schemata, pragmatic impact on content selection and form determination, serial or incremental processing, macro-planning and micro-planning. To encourage a workshop atmosphere while allowing a relatively large number of people to participate, selected papers will be given large time slots including ample discussion time; other papers will be grouped for shorter presentations and mutual interaction, and there will be sessions for posters and computer demonstrations. Submissions: Researchers wishing to present a PAPER are requested to submit three copies of an original unpublished article (10 pages). To allow for anonymous reviewing the name(s) and complete adress(es) of the author(s) have to be provided on a separate sheet. We would appreciate that you additionally send an electronic version of the paper (email or diskette). Researchers wishing to present a POSTER are invited to submit three copies of a reduced version of their poster on 4 normal pages that together form an A2 size sheet. Use a normal character size. As with papers any personal information about the author(s) should appear on a separate sheet. Researchers wishing to demonstrate a computer PROGRAM are invited to send three copies of a short description of their program together with some examples of input and output and hardware requirements. Please include the name(s) and complete address(es) of the author(s) in the description. ********** N E W D E A D L I N E ************* All contributions must be sent BEFORE NOVEMBER 15, 1996 to the Program Chairman at the following address: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoeppner Gerhard-Mercator University, Duisburg FB3 * Computational Linguistics D-47048 Duisburg, Germany Tel.: +49 203 379-2006/2008 email: hoeppner@unidui.uni-duisburg.de Internet: http://verdi.uni-duisburg.de/EWNLG-96.html Authors will be notified about acceptance or rejection by January 17, 1997. Local arrangements: Local arrangements are handled by: Wolfgang Hoeppner and Stephan Mehl (University of Duisburg). The meeting will be held from the morning of Monday March 24, 1997 through afternoon on Wednesday 26, in 'Die Wolfsburg' situated in the municipal forest of Duisburg. This conference site congresses and workshops from all scientific areas and is equipped with excellent presentation facilities and modern guest rooms. The cost of the workshop to each participant is currently estimated at about DM 500 including accommodation and meals, but the participants' fee may turn out to be lower depending on funding. The workshop will also be open to a limited number of participants not contributing a paper, poster or demo. A call for participation including more information and a registration form will be sent out later as soon as the program has been put together. Please direct any inquiries to the adress above. ---------->------->----->--->->>> <<<-<---<-----<-------<---------- Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoeppner ********* Gerhard-Mercator-Universitaet Duisburg *======* Fachbereich 3 * Computerlinguistik *====* D-47048 Duisburg *==* ----------------- * Tel.: (0203) 379-2006/2008 email: hoeppner@unidui.uni-duisburg.de internet: http://verdi.uni-duisburg.de/hoeppner.html or: http://verdi.uni-duisburg.de/Englisch/hoeppner.html ---------->------->----->--->->>> <<<-<---<-----<-------<---------- ====================================================================== Topic 2: From: Dr Judy L Delin Subject: Post in Computational Linguistics, Stirling Lectureship in Computational and Descriptive Linguistics University of Stirling, Scotland The University wishes to expand its growing activity in descriptive and computational linguistics by appointing a Lecturer to work alongside Dr. Judy Delin in the Department of English Studies. We are looking for an established researcher in the field who will invest in the development of research and teaching at Stirling, with expertise in discourse, pragmatics, contrastive text analysis, natural language generation, and/or speech generation. Experience or an interest in contrastive text analysis in languages other than English, especially Japanese, would be particularly desirable. The level of the appointment reflects our expectation that the new person will be able to generate external research funds and will have initiative in developing collaborative research within and outside the group. The post will be research-led, but the ideal candidate would also be able to help develop future undergraduate and postgraduate teaching modules in linguistics and computational linguistics. Future teaching and our research development will also require expertise in programming for NLP. Stirling is a small University situated in what is perhaps the most beautiful campus in the U.K., and within easy reach of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The accommodation is modern and well-equipped (networked, Unix workstation or other platform if preferred). The Lecturer will be part of the Language and Communication Research Group, an interdisciplinary group that includes researchers from Psychology, Education, English Studies, Japanese Studies, and the Centre for English Language Teaching. Initiative in establishing further cross-disciplinary links will be particularly encouraged. The post would be for two years in the first instance with good prospects of renewal. The appointment will be on the Lecturer B Scale, L. 20677 to L. 26430 a year, with placement according to qualifications, experience, and potential. Starting date is negotiable, although we hope that the new Lecturer will be with us by January 1997. Informal enquiries are welcome: please contact Dr Judy Delin on(+44) (0) 1786 467974, email: jld1@stir.ac.uk, or consult the Web page at http://www.stir.ac.uk/english/Communication/post.html. Anyone sending email or making an enquiry will be informed of the official closing date, which is likely to be during September 1996, and will be sent a copy of the further particulars for the post once this date is finalised with our Staff Office. Dr Judy Delin Department of English Studies/Language and Communication Research Group University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: (+44) (0) 1786 467974 Fax: (+44) (0) 1786 466201 email: jld1@stir.ac.uk URL: http://www.stir.ac.uk/english/Communication/post.html ====================================================================== Topic 3: From: Yorick Wilks Subject: Practical Human-computer conversation by Lake Como 1997 CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: PLEASE RECIRCULATE THIS WIDELY 1st INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON HUMAN-COMPUTER CONVERSATION Bellagio, Italy, 14-16 July, 1997 We are seeking expressions of interest before formally announcing a rather different kind of workshop: one that will survey and demonstrate techniques for practical, plausible, human computer conversation. The workshop would be in the spirit of the Loebner Competition meetings, but would not constitute any kind of "Turing" competition under controlled deception conditions, but would, we hope, give opportunity for extensive demonstrations of working conversational systems, preferably without domain restrictions. As well as practical demonstrations we would hope for papers and discussions on How-To-Do-It: including abstract discussions of the computer individual as well as reports of practical experiences of using the large resources and knowledge data bases now available through forms of information retrieval and natural language processing and their impact (together with fast access techniques) on high-quality conversation simulations. The meeting is not intended to be yet another get together on linguistic methods for dialogue modelling or human-computer interaction, but rather based on the assumption that, in a range of places, great strides are actually being made in real conversation simulations from practical techniques and points of view, and that all would benefit from face-to-face interaction on this, as well as exploring the industrial/commercial applications of these technologies in HCI/WWW environments in the very near future. The proposed site is the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, in Bellagio, Italy, on Lake Como, the legendary site of Pliny's villa where the two arms of the lake meet, and one of the most beautiful spots in the world, though easily reached from Milan. The date, 14-16 July 1997, immediately follows the EACL/ACL in Madrid. Working system demonstrations would be central, and there would also be a range of panels on aspects of the state of the art. Interest is solicited by email at the address below from anyone with new ideas, results or ongoing work to report on any aspect of human-computer conversation, or those with an interest in or commitment to the exploitation of this technology. The emphasis should be on the software techniques for communication in natural language and NOT on speech recognition or speech synthesis. Given sufficient interest a committee will be established and conditions for submission announced before the end of November 1996. Please put Serbelloni in the message line of your email. Updatings of developments for this workshop will be posted to: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/research/ilash/Meetings/Bellagio/ ********************************* Professor Yorick Wilks AI and NN Research Group, Department of Computer Science University of Sheffield Regent Court 211 Portobello St., Sheffield S1 4DP UK phone: (44) 114 282 5561 fax: (44) 114 278 0972 email: yorick@dcs.shef.ac.uk www: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/People/Y.Wilks ********************************* ====================================================================== eof ======================================================================