LINGUIST List 8.109

Sun Jan 26 1997

Calls: Lg & Space, Hypertext

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <seelylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Patrick Olivier, Workshop on Language and Space
2. Maria Milosavljevic, Final CFP: Flexible Hypertext Workshop

Fourteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-97) 

WORKSHOP ON LANGUAGE AND SPACE

July 27-28 (two-days), 1997
Providence
Rhode Island 

People frequently talk about space and the things in it. They describe
the size, shape, qualities, orientation, and position of objects using a
range of spatial expressions in the service of goals such as
localisation, visualisation, and navigation. The semantic treatment of
such expressions presents challenges for natural language processing
since it needs to distinguish between fine-grained sense differences and
ambiguities grounded in our experiential and perceptual structure.

The primary goal of this workshop is to foster links between researchers
in artificial intelligence and other disciplines (in particular
cognitive psychology, lingusitics and geography) interested in the
representation and processing of space and spatial expressions. The
workshop will consist of formal presentations, as well as mini-panels,
taking issue sessions, software demonstrations, and poster
presentations. 

We invite submissions on both the cognitive and computational
characterisation of the relationship between language and space. Three
copies of full papers of not more than 5000 words should be submitted to
the address below; those interested in participating, but not making a
formal presentation, should submit three copies of a statement of
interest of not more than 1000 words. Submissions are encouraged to be
sensitive to the interdisciplinary nature of the workshop and formulate
the presentation of topics accordingly. 

For further details see: http://www.aber.ac.uk/~plo/AAAI-97/

Submission deadline: March 11, 1997
Notification date: April 1, 1997
Final date for camera-ready copies to organizers: April 22, 1997

Submit to: 

Patrick Olivier 
Computer Science
University of Wales
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
SY23 3DB, Wales, UK
ploaber.ac.uk
Tel: +44 1970 622447
Fax: +44 1970 622455

Workshop Committee: 

KENNY COVENTRY, University of Plymouth, K.coventryplymouth.ac.uk
KLAUS-PETER GAPP, Universistaet des Saarlandes, gappcs.uni-sb.de
WOLFGANG MAASS, Universistaet des Saarlandes, maasscs.uni-sb.de 
AMITABHA MUKERJEE, Indian Institute of Technology, amitiitk.ernet.in
PATRICK OLIVIER, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, ploaber.ac.uk 
MICHAEL SCHOBER, New School, SCHOBERnewschool.edu
ROHINI SRIHARI, CEDAR, Buffal0, rohinicedar.buffalo.edu 
BARBARA TVERSKY, Stanford University, btpsych.stanford.edu
LAURE VIEU, IRIT, Toulouse, vieuirit.fr

Apologies if you receive this message more than once.
- ------

 Flexible Hypertext Workshop --- Final Call for Participation
 http://www.mri.mq.edu.au/~mariam/flexht/

 A Workshop Held in Conjunction with
 The Eighth ACM International Hypertext Conference (Hypertext'97)

 Southampton, UK --- April 6-11, 1997
 http://journals.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ht97/


Workshop Theme:
- -------------

Hypertext has become a popular form for encoding electronically-available
information, particularly on the world wide web and as an interface for
multimedia products. However, a common problem with hypertext documents is
that they are static and inflexible; that is, their content cannot be
modified dynamically in order to address a particular user's knowledge or the
context of delivery. As a result, document authors must construct documents
which appeal to a variety of backgrounds, and multimedia products are
developed according to one intended audience model (for example, separate
encyclopedias for adults and children). The recognition of this problem has
led towards building more flexible hypertext systems in order to provide
user-tailored information.

This workshop is intended as an inter-disciplinary exploration into flexible
hypertext systems. Flexible hypertext systems are systems which can present
different users with different views of the same hypertext network, or which
can dynamically create the hypertext network and the content of the documents
at the nodes of that network at run-time. This workshop aims to draw together
a number of research groups taking different approaches to flexible hypertext
systems, in order to promote the cross-fertilisation of ideas and highlight
the prospects for future collaboration. The target research areas include
(but are not limited to):

- Information retrieval and filtering: the use of information retrieval or
other techniques to determine the relevance of the nodes within a static
hypertext network for the individual user. That is, the content of the
documents remain static, but links to other documents are flexible.

- Adaptive hypertext: the adaptation of an existing hypertext network of
documents to a model of the user. That is, providing flexible document
content and flexible views of a static hypertext network.

- Dynamic hypertext: employing text generation or other techniques to
dynamically create both the hypertext network and the documents within the
network as the user requests them. The hypertext network does not exist in
any form; it is built dynamically.

Organising Committee:
- -------------------

(In alphabetical order)

- Peter Brusilovsky, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.
- Maria Milosavljevic, Microsoft Research Institute, Department of Computing,
- Johanna D. Moore, Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh.
- Jon Oberlander, Human Communication Research Centre, University of
Edinburgh.
- Oliviero Stock, Cognitive & Communication Technologies Division, IRST.

Workshop Format:
- --------------

The workshop will run for one full day. The number of attendees will be
limited to 20 in order to encourage participation in workshop discussions.
Participation will be on the basis of submitted position papers or by
invitation. The workshop will include a limited number of paper presentations
(3-6) and general group discussions. Group discussions will focus on the
issues raised in the position papers, as well as on some focus questions. A
workshop dinner will also be organised to encourage informal discussion.

A draft outline of the programme:

 Welcome and Introduction
 Three Workshop Sessions consisting of:
 1 to 2 Position Paper Presentations (15-30 minutes), and
 Group Discussion on the Issues Raised (30-60 minutes)
 Open Session:
 Open Research Questions
 General Discussion
 Closing:
 Planning for post-workshop activities
 Conclusions and Wrap-up
 Workshop Dinner

Position Papers:
- --------------

We invite position papers describing demonstrated techniques for improving
the flexibility of hypertext documents. We are particularly interested in
papers which present innovative solutions to providing flexible hypertext
documents, or which address any unresolved problems with providing flexible
hypertext documents. We are also interested in receiving papers of a more
speculative nature which focus on the future of flexible hypertext systems.
Those aspects of the paper which are important for discussion in the workshop
should be clearly outlined in the paper.

Papers should be 3-5 pages long, and should be put up on the Web. If you
don't have access to a web server, then some space will be allocated for you.

Electronic submission of the URL address of the position paper will be
preferred, although papers submitted as ascii (html) or postscript will be
accepted. To submit a position paper, send the URL address and an ascii
version of the paper itself to: mariammpce.mq.edu.au
If this is not possible, please send hard copies to:

Maria Milosavljevic
MRI Language Technology Group
Department of Computing
Macquarie University
Sydney NSW 2109
Australia
email: mariammpce.mq.edu.au
Tel: (+61 2) 9850 6345
Fax: (+61 2) 9850 9529

Papers should arrive by 31st January 1997.

Before the workshop, all attendees will be able to access the position papers
from the web. We strongly encourage attendees to read these before the
workshop.