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CALL FOR PAPERS
Energy Week Conference and Exhibition
Session on Natural Language in Human-Computer Interfaces
Houston, TX
January 28 - January 30, 1997
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The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Petroleum Division is
sponsoring the Energy Week Conference & Exhibition, at George R. Brown
Convention Center in Houston, Texas. One symposium is devoted to various
aspects of using computers in engineering. Attendees will be from both
academia and industry.
This year, one session of will consider the use of natural language in
human-computer interfaces. The value of being able to use natural language
to interact with computers is unquestioned. A natural language interface is
a flexible and efficient means of communication. For example, a natural
language interface for processing speech provides an additional means of
communication if a human user's eyes and hands are occupied. Providing for
dialogue, whether typed or spoken, allows for humans to collaborate
effectively with computer systems that are becoming increasingly complex to
use because of their capabilities. For these reasons, a user interface that
can process natural language has the potential for simplifying an overly
complex and unfriendly working environment.
The diversity of natural applications is mirrored in the research
communities that contribute to natural language research: computer science,
engineering, medicine, geography, and business. The use of natural language
in interfaces to problem-solving systems such as medical experts, software
engineering tools, navigation tools, and database systems is becoming an
increasingly important consideration.
The aim of this session is to bring together researchers from two
communities:
1. Researchers who are working on the design and/or implementation of
systems that use natural language as a primary modality. Discussions
should be relevant to engineering applications.
2. Researchers who are working on software tools for engineering
applications where a natural language interface is being, or could be
used. Papers should indicate how natural language is useful or could be
useful in these applications.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
* Empirical studies in designing human-computer interfaces with natural
language
* Multimodal interface designs that include natural language
* Use of natural language in computer-supported cooperative work
* Discussions of implemented systems that employ natural language
* Knowledge representation and reasoning to support natural language in
human-computer interfaces and cooperative work systems
* Speech recognition and synthesis in interface design
* Limitations and pitfalls of relying on natural language as an interface
Papers submitted to this session should show how their work addresses the
issue of using natural language in the design of a human-computer interface
providing as much detail of the problem area as is necessary to evaluate the
work. Relevant examples of a system interacting with a user (either on paper
or video) are encouraged.
All presented papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Please
contact the session organizers if you have any questions. We look forward to
your contributions.
This call for papers is available as a web page:
http://cs.uwp.edu:80/staff/haller/Activities/etce97.html
SESSION ORGANIZERS:
Susan Haller
Computer Science and Engineering Department
University of Wisconsin -- Parkside
241 Molinaro Hall
Phone: 414-595-2343
E-mail: haller@cs.uwp.edu
Syed Ali
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee
3200 N. Cramer Street
University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee
Phone: 414-962-8560
E-mail: syali@tigger.cs.uwm.edu
SEND SUBMISSIONS TO:
Susan Haller
Computer Science and Engineering Dept.
University of Wisconsin - Parkside
Kenosha, WI 53141-2000
E-mail: haller@cs.uwp.edu
Tel.: (414) 595-2343
FAX.: (414) 595-2114
*Note: We encourage electronic submissions, either plain text or postscript.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
* Paper Submission (maximum of 8 pages): September 15, 1996
* Notification of acceptance: October 16, 1996
* Camera-ready copies due: November 15, 1996
* Energy Week Conference and Exhibition (Houston): Jan. 28 - Jan. 30,
1997