LINGUIST List 21.4447 Sat Nov 06 2010 Calls: Cog Sci, Comp Ling, Socioling/Egypt Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny <dilinguistlist.org> LINGUIST is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new feature: Easy Abstracts! Easy Abs is a free abstract submission and review facility designed to help conference organizers and reviewers accept and process abstracts online. Just go to: http://www.linguistlist.org/confcustom, and begin your conference customization process today! With Easy Abstracts, submission and review will be as easy as 1-2-3! Directory         1.     Sarmad Hussain , Conference on Human Language Technology for Development Message 1: Conference on Human Language Technology for Development Date: 05-Nov-2010 From: Sarmad Hussain <sarmadcantab.net> Subject: Conference on Human Language Technology for Development E-mail this message to a friend Full Title: Conference on Human Language Technology for Development Short Title: HLTD 2011 Date: 02-May-2011 - 05-May-2011 Location: Alexandria, Egypt Contact Person: Sarmad Hussain Meeting Email: sarmadcantab.net Web Site: http://www.hltd.org Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Sociolinguistics Call Deadline: 07-Feb-2011 Meeting Description: Human Language Technology (HLT) is a growing field of research and development, converging multiple disciplines including computer science, engineering, linguistics, sociology and cognitive sciences, striving to develop a natural, easy and effective user interaction. HLT, including localization, is particularly relevant for addressing access to information by the disadvantaged communities, including the illiterate, the rural poor, and the physically challenged population, especially in the developing countries. The Conference aims to promote interaction among researchers and professionals working on language technology, language computing industry, civil society engaged with deployment of language technology to end-users, and policy makers planning the use of HLT in national development projects. It aims to provide a single platform to engage these stakeholders in a dialogue over a wide range of relevant issues, to show- case state-of-practice in HLT and its use in development, and to identify needs and priorities of the end-users. It is hoped that the Conference will highlight HLTD challenges in the developing regions, especially in Asia and Africa. Call For Papers Conference Topics: Original unpublished research papers are invited for two tracks: (i) HLT Development track, focusing on engineering challenges and solutions for HLT, and (ii) HLT Use track, focusing on challenges and models for dissemination and adoption of HLT. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas, with special focuses on Asia and Africa. HTL Development: Linguistics and linguistic resources Language computing standards Localization HLT (MT, TTS, ASR, OCR, IR, Dialogue systems) HLT technology, people and process challenges Commercialization models Technology policy HLT Use: Education Health Governance Rural development Accessibility Culture Language and culture policy In addition, proposals are also invited for workshops, tutorials and product/project demonstrations. Submission details are available at the Conference website www.HLTD.org. Important Dates: Submission Deadline: 7th Feb., 2011 Acceptance Notification: 7th Mar., 2011 Camera ready paper: 23rd Mar., 2011 Conference dates: 2nd - 5th May, 2011 Venue: The Conference will be held at Bibliotheca Alexandrina at Alexandria, Egypt (http://www.bibalex.org). Travel and Registration Grants: A small number of grants are available on a competitive basis for travel support and Conference registration fees for authors. Further details are available from the Conference website. Technical Committee: Dr. Adel El Zaim, International Development Research Centre, Middle East Office, Egypt Dr. Ananya Raihan, D.NET, Bangladesh Dr. Chafic Mokbel, Balamand University, Lebanon Dr. Chai Wutiwiwatchai, NECTEC, Thailand Mr. Dwayne Bailey, Zuza Software Foundation, South Africa (co-chair) Mr. Donanl Z. Osborn, African Network for Localization, USA Dr. Florence Tushabe, Univ., Uganda Dr. Guy De Pauw, Univ. of Antwerp, Belgium Dr. Hammam Riza, Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, Indonesia Dr. Key-Sun Choi, Korean Advance Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea Dr. Lamine Aouad, Univ. of Limerick, Ireland Dr. Lisa Moore, Unicode Consortium, USA Dr. Magdy Nagi, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt Ms. Manal Amin, Arabize, Egypt Dr. Miriam Butt, Univ. of Konstanz, Germany Dr. Mirna Adriani, Univ. of Indonesia Dr. Mumit Khan, BRAC Univ., Bangladesh Dr. Peter Waiganjo Wagacha, Univ. of Nairobi, Kenya Dr. Rajeev Sangal, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India Dr. Roni Rosenfield, Carnegie Mellon Univ., USA Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe, Univ. of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka Dr. Satoshi Nakamura, National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Japan Dr. Sarmad Hussain, Univ. of Engr. and Tech., Pakistan (co-chair) Mr. Solomon Gizaw, Univ. of Limerick, Ireland  Dr. Steven Bird, Univ. of Melbourne, Australia Dr. Tim Unwin, UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, Univ. of London, UK Dr. Tunde Adegbola, African Languages Technology Initiative, Lagos, Nigeria  Dr. Virach Sornlertlamvanich, NECTEC, Thailand Dr. Wanjiku Ng'ang'a, Univ. of Nairobi, Kenya Oragnizing Committee: Dr. Adel El Zaim, International Development Research Centre, Middle East Office, Egypt (chair) Dr. Ananya Raihan, D.NET, Bangladesh Mr. Dwayne Bailey, Zuza Software Foundation, South Africa Dr. Magdy Nagi, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt Ms. Manal Amin, Arabize, Egypt Ms. Maria Ng Lee Hoon, International Development Research Centre, SE&E Asia Office, Singapore Dr. Peter Waiganjo Wagacha, Univ. of Nairobi, Kenya Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe, Univ. of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka Dr. Sarmad Hussain, Center for Language Engineering, KICS, Univ. of Engr. and Tech., Pakistan About the Organizers: The Conference is jointly organized by the PAN Localization Network (PAN L10n, www.PANL10n.net) of Asia and the African Network for Localization (ANLoc, www.africanlocalisation.net). It is supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC, www.idrc.ca). PAN L10n is network of Asian professionals and organizations, collectively working to develop local language computing capacity and its use across developing Asian countries, since 2003. It has been developing linguistic resources, language technology, human resource capacity and relevant language computing policy in the region. It has also been active in disseminating language technology to end users, and investigating effective training and adoption models. The network is coordinated by the Center for Language Engineering (www.cle.org.pk), Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan. ANLoc has the vision to empower Africans to participate in the digital age by removing 'the last inch' barriers to language usage. The project is working towards overcoming this by creating a network of African language localizers who through various projects are developing translation and localization tools, linguistic resources, standards and software in several African languages. Building local capacities and disseminating knowledge are also essential for achieving the mission. The network is coordinated by Zuza Software Foundation (www.translate.org.za) in South Africa. PAN L10n and ANLoc are funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. About the Host Institution: The new library of Alexandria, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, aims to be a center of excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge and to be a place of dialogue, learning and understanding between cultures and peoples. For Further Queries: Asia coordinator: Sarmad Hussain, sarmadcantab.net Africa coordinator: Dwayne Bailey, dwaynetranslate.org.za Egypt coordinator: Manal Amin, Manal.Aminarabize.com.eg Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 06-Nov-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.