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xerox.fr>`THE FUTURE OF THE DICTIONARY' A workshop co-sponsored by Rank Xerox European Research Centre (Grenoble) and ESPRIT BR Project Acquilex-II. 17-19 October 1994 Grand Hotel Uriage-les-Bains Nr. Grenoble, France CALL FOR PAPERS, SOFTWARE/PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS AND PARTICIPATION With the widespread introduction of computational techniques in traditional lexicography and the growing development in lexical tools for computational applications, the "dictionary" is becoming an increasingly heterogeneous notion. The object of this conference is to try to discern some pattern in the various visions of the dictionary of the future that are beginning to emerge. How will the conventional dictionary be changed through the use of computerized textual corpora, lexical databases, and other new compiling tools? How will it respond to new forms of publication that technology makes available: CD-ROM, handheld devices (e.g. PDAs), vastly expanded electronic networking infrastructure (the information `superhighway'), and so forth, which make possible new ways of displaying, distributing, and updating lexical information? At the same time, we want to know how the notion of the dictionary will change once it is thought of, not primarily as a reference tool in which users can look up meanings or other kinds of lexical information, but as a tool to aid in systems developed for machine-aided translation, information retrieval, software "localization," spelling and grammar checkers, and so on. At present, the use of machine-readable versions of conventional printed dictionaries in the development of these systems seems to imply that many people think of them as extensions or emendations of the conventional dictionary, but it is fair to ask whether over the course of time these lexical tools may develop in ways that make them wholly different from the human user-oriented works that have shaped the concept of the dictionary. At the limit, we may ask whether "the dictionary" has any future at all as a coherent category, or whether we will wind up with an array of distinct tools and texts that have little more than the name "dictionary" in common. To address these questions, this workshop aims to bring together lexicographers, linguists and computing professionals from both industry and academia, including people working in (computational) lexicography, (computational) linguistics and artificial intelligence, as well as in the commercial production of conventional and `electronic' dictionaries, and of machine-aided translation and other software systems containing a natural language processing component. We are asking participants to provide not simply a report of current research and development or market conditions that may bear on dictionaries or lexical tools, but an articulated vision of how continuing developments will shape the future of these tools, and what steps we must take to realize these visions. We ask participants, too, to speak to the question of what relations there will be among the various "dictionaries" that are likely to emerge, as well as between practictioners in the various fields -- lexicography, linguistics, computer science, and so forth -- who will be engaged in making them. The workshop will attempt to provide participants with an up-to-date survey of the both research and commercial activity uniting lexicography and dictionary-making with linguistic software development and research through six (1 hour) presentations, and via papers and software demonstrations selected from those proposed by prospective participants. ********* Preliminary Programme and Schedule: Monday (17 Oct) 9.00 Opening (5min) + Geoff Nunberg (Research Scientist, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center) Title: The Past and Future of the Dictionary 10.15 -11.15 Outside papers Coffee break 11.30 Paul Procter (Senior Lexicographer CUP) Title: The Cambridge Language Survey 12.15 Lunch break 14.00 -- 14.30 Outside Paper 14.30 Session: Representing Information about Words Bran Boguraev (Manager NLP Lab, Apple Computers) Title: Lexical Semantics via Knowledge Representation Ted Briscoe (Advanced Research Fellow, University of Cambridge) Title: From Lexical Database to Lexical Knowledge Base 16.15 Tea Break 16.45 -- 18.15 3 Outside Papers 18.15 -- 19.30 Software Demonstrations 20.30 Dinner Tuesday (18 Oct) 9.00 -11.00 4 Outside papers Coffee break 11.30 Jean Veronis (Universite de Provence) Title: From dictionaries to knowledge bases... and back. 12.15 Lunch break 14.00 -- 14.30 Outside Paper 14.30 Session: Multilingual Aspects of Lexical Database Development Annie Zaenen (Area Manager MLTT, Rank Xerox Research Centre) Title: The Compass Project [Speaker to be confirmed] 16.15 Tea Break 16.30 -- 18.30 4 Outside Papers 18.30 -- 19.30 Software Demonstrations 20.30 Dinner Wednesday (19th Oct) 9.00 -- 12.30 Acquilex-II Project Review Presentations (all welcome) 14.00 -- 16.00 Acquilex-II Project Formal Review (Closed Session) 14.00 -- 16.00 Round Table / Open Discussion (Organiser, Annie Zaenen): `Future of Collaboration on Dictionary Development' 16.00 -- 17.30 Site Visit and Software Demonstration (RXRC, Grenoble Laboratory) End of workshop *********************** IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE, PLEASE SEND US A FEW LINES OUTLINING YOUR EXPERIENCE, OR SEND US A 1000-2000 WORD ABSTRACT FOR A TALK, OR SEND US A SIMILAR LENGTH DESCRIPTION OF A SOFTWARE / PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION YOU WOULD LIKE TO OFFER. DEADLINE 19th AUGUST 1994. (Please indicate the resources you would require for presentations.) CONTRIBUTORS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO WRITE AN ABSTRACT OF APPROXIMATELY 1000 WORDS IF THEIR PAPER IS ACCEPTED AND TO PRODUCE A WRITTEN VERSION OF THEIR PAPERS AFTER THE WORKSHOP FOR SUBSEQUENT PUBLICATION IN AN EDITED VOLUME. ENGLISH WILL BE THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORKSHOP. ********************** There is no registration fee. All participants will receive a book of abstracts. The cost of the accommodation and all meals will be 2200 FF. (Sunday night until Wednesday afternoon inclusive.) Contributors' accommodation and meals will be paid for by the co-sponsors. Participants will be invited by the organising committee on a `first-come-first-served' basis up to the workshop limit of 35, subject to appropriate experience and research interests. Contributions will be selected by the organising committee on the basis of the quality and relevance of the submitted abstracts and contributors will be notified by 31st August 1994 and asked to submit an extended abstract by 30th September 1994. THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE Sue Atkins Ted Briscoe Nicoletta Calzolari Jean Veronis Annie Zaenen PLEASE SEND RESPONSES TO: briscoeMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue