++ Please forward to other people who might be interested. ++
Please contact us or use form at the end of this document if you have any
comments or if you are interested in participation. Please register before
10th June 1996.
WWW-announcement and form also to be found at:
http://alpha.mic.dundee.ac.uk/~slanger/workshop.html
DATE AND LOCATION
Thursday 26th and Friday 27th September 1996 at Dundee University, Scotland, UK.
The main workshop will be held on Friday 27th, discussion groups and
instructional courses will take place on Thursday 26th.
The workshop is being organised by the MicroCentre, University of Dundee
If you need it, we can send you travel and accommodation information, and we
can also help you with accomodation booking.
This is also an occasion to visit one of the most beautiful parts of the UK.
Dundee is centrally located within Scotland, on the Tay estuary, close to
both the Highlands and the beautiful east coast, and within easy range of
many places of interest such as Glamis Castle, St Andrews and many others.
AIMS OF THE WORKSHOP: AAC, COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS AND INTELLIGENT TEXT
RETRIEVAL
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) means any form of
communication that can be used instead of speech or ordinary writing. Many
people with speech impairment can't use ordinary spoken language and
therefore rely on special devices to communicate.
Computer based electronic devices occupy a very important place among
communication aids. So far, most of the currently used devices don't make
much use of techniques from natural language processing (NLP), but there is
a growing interest in evaluating those techniques for use in AAC. Syntactic
and semantic information can be used for word prediction in order to speed
up composition of messages; intelligent text retrieval, based on large
lexicons, can be useful for communication aids relying on pre-stored
messages. Pragmatic knowledge can be used to organise messages in a
user-friendly way.
The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers who are interested
in investigating connections between natural language processing and AAC.
The workshop will concern itself with the lexicon, semantics and syntax and
pragmatics. Another subject will be intelligent text retrieval for message
based communication aids. It is not planned to discuss speech synthesis,
although AAC-specific topics from this area might be included if there is
enough interest.
WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATION?
Researchers in Computational Linguistics, Computer Science, Linguistics,
Information Retrieval and Artificial Intelligence who are interested in the
field of AAC
Researchers in AAC who are using or intend to use techniques from NLP
Researchers who have designed or are designing a communication aid which
makes use of any kind of NLP (lexical, syntactic or semantic knowledge etc.).
HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE
Anything from traditional presentations to suggestions for subjects for a
short seminar is welcome. You can also show research prototypes or
communication aids making use of NLP.
POSSIBLE TOPICS (THIS IS AN OPEN LIST!):
* which communication aids do currently use NLP techniques?
* which techniques from NLP can be applied successfully in AAC?
* which are the benefits for AAC?
* use of lexicons in communication aids: types of information, size ...
* message and text retrieval for communication aids and information retrieval
* statistical NLP and AAC
* intelligent word prediction: any use for syntax & semantics?
* language acquisition and rehabilitation: improving language skills with
intelligent AAC-devices
COSTS
There will be a small fee (UK pounds 15, ~ECU 19, ~$ 22) to cover costs. The
fee is to be paid by cheque (payable to the University of Dundee: UK
participants) or at the workshop (overseas).
REGISTRATION AND COMMENTS
Workshop on Natural Language Processing in Communcation Aids for
Non-Speaking People
To be held 26th & 27th September 1996 at Dundee University.
Please return by 10 June, 1996.
Registration, questions, ideas, feedback to:
Stefan Langer
MicroCentre, University of Dundee
Park Wynd
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Scotland, UK
Tel: +44 1382 345080
Fax: +44 1382 345509
e-mail: slanger@mic.dundee.ac.uk
WWW-announcement and registration form:
http://alpha.mic.dundee.ac.uk/~slanger/workshop.html
Name:
Institution:
Adress:
E-mail:
Telephone/Fax:
(please tick appropriate items)
0 - Yes I want to register for the workshop and I could come on both
Thursday and Friday
0 - Yes, I want to come, but only for the main workshop on Friday
0 - In principle, I would be interested in a workshop on natural language
processing and AAC, but I'm not sure that I can come.
I'm especially interested in the following fields/topics:
I want to make a presentation (please give title and/or other specification:
Other comments:
I need help with accommodation (please specify category, date etc.):
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Stefan Langer Tel: +44 1382 345080
MicroCentre Fax: +44 1382 345509
University of Dundee e-mail: slanger@mic.dundee.ac.uk
Dundee DD1 4HN
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