jon@INCSYS.COM (Jon Shultis) (04/04/91)
Workshop on Informal Computing 29-31 May 1991 Santa Cruz, California Fundamental questions about the nature of informality are gaining importance in computer science. What is informal understanding? What is the nature of informal reasoning? Why is it so powerful and efficient? How are the inconsistency, vagueness, and incompleteness of informal thought managed? How does natural language manage to communicate informal knowledge and reasoning? Computer applications in many fields, ranging from economics and medicine to software engineering and artificial intelligence, demand effective and cognitively accurate answers to these questions in order to capture, represent, and process informal information in computer systems. Inspired by trends toward formalization in logic, mathematics, linguistics, and philosophy, computer scientists historically have tended to regard informal processes as approximate, or imperfect, realizations of formal ideals. Increasingly, however, the idea that informal languages, ontology, and reasoning can (or should) be reduced to (or supplanted by) regimented and "perfected" formalisms is being challenged. Far from being flawed formalisms, informal processes are emerging as fundamental to human understanding and language. From the "informalist" perspective, formalism has been mistaken for the paradigm of intelligence, rather than simply a useful outgrowth of intelligence. The purpose of the Workshop on Informal Computing is to define the study of Informalism, and to begin a coordinated attack on the fundamental issues and problems of the field, bringing together the insights and experience of those who have been working to understand informality in specialized domains. Discussion at the workshop will focus on three major themes: informal knowledge and reasoning; modelling and interpretation; and conversational computing and adaptive languages. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: intentionality and consciousness; dialogue management; informal meaning and pragmatics; evidential reasoning and belief; resource- and information-limited reasoning; neurocomputation; lessons and techniques from computational linguistics; dynamical and chaotic representations and reasoning; and philosophy of language. The program will be divided between hour-long presentations by invited speakers, and discussion sessions aimed at defining and clarifying informal computing issues, and at identifying promising directions and approaches for future research. The discussion sessions should provide ample opportunity for participants to exchange views, and the schedule will be flexible enough to permit impromptu presentations as appropriate. Also, a follow-up conference may be organized if there is sufficient interest. We are busy making arrangements for speakers and drawing up the schedule, but the basic plan is to devote one day to each of the three themes mentioned above. A preliminary list of speakers includes Bruce d'Ambrosio (Oregon State University) Sandra Carberry (University of Delaware) David Fisher (Incremental Systems) Donald Good (Computational Logic) David Mundie (Incremental Systems) Larry Reeker (IDA) Jeff Rothenberg (RAND) Jon Shultis (Incremental Systems) Tim Standish (University of California at Irvine) Edward Zalta (Stanford University) The final program will be announced on or before 8 May 1991. If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please submit, by 12 April 1991, a brief summary of your interests, and previous or ongoing research that is relevant to the workshop themes. The summaries will be reviewed, and notices of acceptance sent out on 26 April 1991, together with local arrangements information. Summaries should be sent to Jon Shultis Incremental Systems Corporation 319 South Craig Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213 e-mail: jon@incsys.com tel: (412) 621-8888 FAX: (412) 621-0259 Funding for the Workshop on Informal Computing is being provided by DARPA/ISTO in conjunction with ongoing research at Incremental Systems Corporation on adaptive languages for software engineering.