nl-kr-request@CS.RPI.EDU (NL-KR Moderator Chris Welty) (05/09/91)
NL-KR Digest (Wed May 8 16:15:14 1991) Volume 8 No. 23 Today's Topics: IJCAI-91 Fully Implemented Natural Language Understanding Systems IJCAI-91 Natural Language Learning workshop - call for papers (2nd) call for participation for AAAI 1991 Fall Symposium Series Submissions: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu Requests, policy: nl-kr-request@cs.rpi.edu Back issues are available from host archive.cs.rpi.edu [128.213.10.18] in the files nl-kr/Vxx/Nyy (ie nl-kr/V01/N01 for V1#1), mail requests will not be promptly satisfied. If you can't reach `cs.rpi.edu' you may want to use `turing.cs.rpi.edu' instead. BITNET subscribers: we now have a LISTSERVer for nl-kr. You may send submissions to NL-KR@RPIECS and any listserv-style administrative requests to LISTSERV@RPIECS. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu Subject: IJCAI-91: Fully Implemented Natural Language Understanding Systems Phone: 213-822-1511 x 731 Date: Tue, 16 Apr 91 11:51:11 PDT >From: Eduard Hovy <hovy@isi.edu> IJCAI WORKSHOP Fully-Implemented Natural Language Understanding Systems The workshop is jointly organized by Kai von Luck (IBM Deutschland), Claus-Rainer Rollinger (Universitaet Osnabrueck) and Hans-Joachim Novak (IBM Deutschland) The outline of the workshop is as follows: A large set of theories have been proposed in recent years, covering one or more aspects of NL understanding systems. Little effort has been spent on integrating these theories into one system. Experiments involving the integration of different theories, e.g. unification-based analysis, DRT-based semantics, logic-based reasoning, analogical reasoning, and two-level morphology, have delivered interesting results. One of the major outcomes in this respect is that the game of `my component/theory is not responsible for that task/explanation/problem' cannot be played any more, instead a much broader view has to be taken as the deficits of the theories become apparent. The integration of several theories explicates their requirements and necessitates their revision. In this workshop we hope to bring together researchers of different disciplines within AI natural language understanding systems, e.g. text understanding systems, dialogue systems, knowledge-based machine translation systems, etc., to discuss the integration problems emphasi- zing a holistic view on natural language understanding. The major result of this workshop is expected to be the exchange and discussion of known deficits of today's theories that cover only certain aspects or phases of the NL understanding process as well as objectively collecting the requirements for these theories. This effort seems to be promising as can be observed by the existence of various experiments underway like, for instance, the text understanding system LILOG of IBM Germany as well as by recent trends of different areas of AI to move away from research on only intrinsic problems of a particular theory towards a more holistic view of NL understanding. NL systems will only have a future if our joint efforts are directed towards formulating theories that can be integrated to a full view of NL understanding. Intended Participants: Researchers of all areas of natural language understanding systems are invited to actively participate. Contributions should not cover a particular theory/explanation but rather RESULTS from integrating different theories into one single system. Reports which cover limitations of specific theories with respect to integration and/or concrete demands for the further development within theories are especially welcome. Please send a 3 to 5 page extended abstract by the 15th of May to Hans-Joachim Novak IBM Deutschland GmbH WT IWBS, 7000-75 Postfach 80 08 80 D-7000 Stuttgart 80 Germany e-mail: novak%ds0lilog.bitnet Please also send a hardcopy if you use e-mail. Notification of acceptance will be mailed by the end of May. ------------------------------ To: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu >From: David Powers <powers@uklirb.informatik.uni-kl.de> Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.ai.neural-nets,comp.ai.nlang-know-rep,comp.ai.edu,comp.ai.philosophy,comp.robotics,comp.cog-eng,news.announce.conferences Subject: IJCAI-91 Natural Language Learning workshop - call for papers (2nd) Keywords: language learning ontology vision grammar semantics concepts Date: 8 May 91 17:05:45 GMT CALL FOR PAPERS Natural Language Learning August 25 1991 - IJCAI Workshop - Sydney Machine Learning and Natural Language are two areas of Artificial Intelligence which not only overlap with each other, but with other significant areas of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. The focus of this workshop is computational language learning models. Primarily, we aim to bring together those who have implemented language learning models, or aspects thereof. However, we intend that computationally viable language learning theories developed by Linguists and Psycholinguists will also be examined at the workshop. In addition, Machine Learning or Natural Language research which has not specifically been undertaken from a language learning perspective may be considered relevant - in particular, for example, work in Concept Learning and Semantic Representation. Thus we wish to invite applications from all who have implemented language learning programs, and we will further encourage participation from those whose work could be of use in the implementation of language learning systems. A major goal will be the analysis of the various language learning models to allow comparison and contrasting of the theoretical perspective and hypotheses embodied, the implementation techniques and learning algorithms, and the implications of the virtues, failings and results of particular implementations and modelling experiments. Attendance will be by invitation, and the number of participants will be strictly limited, probably to 35. It will be necessary to charge a fee of $65 for each participant. Issues - ----- What technology and ideas can be imported into Natural Language Learning from other areas of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science? Which phenomena, hypotheses and theories have been modelled, tested or used in Natural Language Learning, and with what success? To what extent do results in Natural Language Learning suggest the need for a revision of Formal Language, Linguistic, Neural Network and Psycholinguistic theory and application? How broadly must we define Natural Language Learning - in particular, do we need to learn simultaneously interpretation of both the symbolic and grounded modalities? Possible Sessions - ------- -------- The issues above suggest that the workshop could be organized into sessions along the following lines: Psycholinguistic Models Learning Algorithms Complexity & Restriction Semantics & Representation The final program will of course reflect the distribution of the submissions received, and other issues may also be highlighted. Organizing Committee - --------- --------- David M. W. Powers powers@informatik.uni-kl.de (or davidp@mqcomp.mqcs.mq.oz.au) FB Informatik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, 6750 Kaiserslautern FRG +49-631-205 -3449 (Tel), -3200 or -3210 (Fax), -3455 (Sec) Larry Reeker reeker@cs.ida.org Institute for Defence Analyses, 1801 N. Beauregard St, Alexandria VA 22311-1772 +1-703 -845-3577 (Tel), -845-6848 (Fax) Ephraim Nissan onomata@bengus.bitnet Dept of Computer Science, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia Submission Details - --------- ------- Prospective participants are encouraged to contact a member of the symposium committee to obtain a more detailed description of the symposium goals and issues. Participants should then submit an extended abstract of a paper (1000-2000 words) and/or a personal bio-history of work in the area (300-500 words) with a list of (up to 12) relevant publications. We will acknowledge your e-mail enquiries or submissions promptly, and will deal with other forms of communication as quickly as possible. Submissions should be sent by e-mail to powers=sub@informatik.uni-kl.de (and/or reeker@cs.ida.org) by May 15th. If e-mail is impossible, two copies should be sent to arrive by May 15th to: Larry Reeker, Institute for Defense Analyses, C & SE Div., 1801 N. Beauregard St, Alexandria, VA 22311-1772 OR, fax a copy (with cover page) by May 15th BOTH to 1-703-845-6848 (Larry Reeker, USA) AND to +49-631-205-3210 (David Powers, FRG). ------------------------------ To: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu Date: Thu, 11 Apr 91 16:27:29 EDT >From: pfps@allegra.att.com (Peter F. Patel-Schneider) Subject: call for participation for AAAI 1991 Fall Symposium Series CALL FOR PARTICIPATION AAAI FALL SYMPOSIUM SERIES November 15, 16, & 17, 1991 Asilomar Conference Center Pacific Grove, Monterey, California Sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence 445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (415) 328-3123 fss@aaai.org Introduction The AAAI presents the 1991 Fall Symposium Series to be held November 15 through 17, 1991, at the Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, Monterey, California. Asilomar is situated on the tip of the Monterey Peninsula overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Its rustic setting, secluded areas of forest and dunes, and clustered meeting space and accommodations make it ideal for smaller groups like the Fall Symposium Series. Asilomar operates under the American Plan, which means that participants are expected to room and board at Asilomar. The topics of the four symposia in the 1991 Fall Symposium Series are: - Discourse Structure in Natural Language Understanding and Generation; - Knowledge and Action at Social and Organizational Levels; - Principles of Hybrid Reasoning; - Sensory Aspects of Robotic Intelligence. Each symposia will be limited to approximately 60 participants. Working notes will be prepared and distributed to participants in each symposium. A general plenary session will be scheduled in which the highlights of each symposium will be presented. Informal receptions will be scheduled in the early evenings. Each participant will be expected to attend a single symposium throughout the symposium series. In addition to participants selected by the program committees of the symposia, a limited number of other interested parties will be allowed to register in each symposium. Registration information will be available by early September 1991. To obtain registration information please contact the AAAI office. Submission Requirements Submission requirements vary with each symposium, and are listed in the descriptions of the symposia. Please send your submissions directly to the address given in the description you are interested in. DO NOT SEND submissions to AAAI. All submissions must arrive by June 14, 1991. Acceptances will be mailed by August 15, 1991. Material for inclusion in the working notes of the symposia will be required by September 26, 1991. Discourse Structure in Natural Language Understanding and Generation Computational modeling of discourse structure is a fundamental component of theoretical and applications-oriented work in Natural Language Processing. A representation of the underlying structure of a discourse enhances the ability of a natural language system to interpret and generate a wide variety of linguistic phenomena. Modeling discourse is important to many subareas within Natural Language Processing, including text generation, plan synthesis and recognition, multi-media systems, user modeling, machine translation, psychological models of language, and spoken language systems. This symposium is designed to bring together researchers in different areas of discourse, in order to identify common issues, goals and techniques, and to transfer associated theoretical and practical results. Some of these issues are: - What should a discourse model model (e.g., rhetorical relations, speaker intentions, statistical probabilities)? - How should discourse models be represented (e.g., using logics of belief, connectionist frameworks, discourse grammars)? - How are complex discourse structures modeled (for collaborative or multi-agent discourse)? - How is the structure of a particular discourse marked (from indicators such as anaphoric reference, cue phrases, tense and aspect, intonational features, turn-taking signals, inferred speaker intention)? - How are models of discourse evaluated (e.g., what criteria are appropriate for generation or understanding)? - What advantages do various models of discourse have over one another? - What role do empirical studies play in discourse modeling and evaluation? - How are theoretical models of discourse implemented in working systems? - How can work in related disciplines such as psychology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and philosophy contribute? Those interested in presenting their work for discussion should submit an abstract of 500-1000 words. The abstract should describe the participant's current research in discourse, and point to longer papers (if available) on the subject. Those interested only in participating should submit a paragraph stating research interests, together with a recent list of related publications. For hardcopy submissions, send four (4) copies of each submission to arrive by June 14 to: Diane Litman Department of Computer Science 450 Computer Science Columbia University New York NY 10027 For e-mail submissions, send one (1) copy to arrive by 14 June 1991 to: litman@cs.columbia.edu Program Committee: Julia Hirschberg (co-chair), Diane Litman (co-chair), Kathy McCoy, Candy Sidner. Knowledge and Action at Social and Organizational Levels Research on representing and reasoning about knowledge and action at analytical levels more aggregated than that of the individual---topics such as social and organizational foundations of knowledge, multiple-perspective reasoning, consensus, multiple rationality, coordination and collaboration, commitment, stable organization, representing groups and group activity, etc.---is becoming increasingly important. Such research influences many fields, including cognitive science, distributed systems, design, human-computer interaction, natural language processing, computer-supported cooperative work, basic AI and distributed AI, social studies of science, and the engineering of AI systems. This symposium will address a number of relevant foundational scientific issues, such as: CONCEPTUAL MODELING: How can agents, knowledge, commitment, etc. be modeled at the social, the individual, and at integrated levels? Can a group be a locus of knowing, rather than an individual? How can groups model their own activities and influence other groups, even in so-called "open systems?" INTEGRATING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES: How do actors reason among multiple representations? How can actors deal with conflict in knowledge and action? How can actors dynamically construct useful meanings for the objects and actions that are part of their joint activity? INTEGRATING SITUATED AND GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: How can agents and groups address the basic tension between local, "situated" knowledge and action, and the non-local conception of general knowledge and action-at-a-distance? How can an actor influence another actor, e.g. by sending a message, without global semantics or control? INTEGRATING SOCIAL AND INDIVIDUAL LEVELS OF ANALYSIS: What would a "middle ground" theory, that integrates both individual agency and social structure, be like? (How) can we make middle-ground theories computational? COMMON GROUNDS FOR INTERACTION: What are the foundations for mutually compatible languages, assumptions, and other common bases for interaction? How is global or shared knowledge possible? How can agents "stay out of each others' way?" METHOD: What are appropriate research methods for addressing these questions in principled ways? What are the roles and limitation of data from biological, human, and social studies? What are the roles and limitations of current formal models and theories? Prospective participants should contact a symposium committee member for a more detailed description of goals and issues. Then they should submit a 3 to 4 page description of their work, and some indication of their relevant background. Ideally, presentations would integrate theoretical perspectives and practical experience, addressing either the scientific issues in some space of empirical phenomena, or engineering concerns in applications domains. Submissions should be sent BY ELECTRONIC MAIL to hovy@isi.edu to arrive by June 14 and will be promptly acknowledged. If electronic mail is impossible, send four paper copies, clearly marked "AAAI FALL SYMPOSIUM" to arrive by June 14 to: Dr. Eduard Hovy USC / ISI, 4676 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695 Fax: (213) 823-6714. Program Committee: Phil Agre (agre@cogs.sussex.ac.uk), Danny Bobrow (bobrow@parc.xerox.com), Les Gasser (gasser@usc.edu, chair), Jim Hendler (hendler@cs.umd.edu), Eduard Hovy (hovy@isi.edu), Ed Hutchins (ehutchins@ucsd.edu), Leigh Star (soa03@gec.keele.ac.uk). Principles of Hybrid Reasoning One of the most promising approaches to designing more-efficient automated reasoning systems is that of integrating multiple reasoners to form a hybrid reasoner. By exploiting the efficiency of special-purpose reasoners operating on specialized representations, hybrid reasoners can outperform homogeneous systems. The common challenge faced by all hybrid-system designers is the successful integration of the system's components. The focus of this symposium will be on architectures for integrating the components of hybrid reasoners, and, in particular, on the principles that underlie such architectures. Though it seems unlikely that all hybrid reasoning systems can be explained by a common set of principles, there are general architectural classes that can each be explained by common principles. The major goals of the symposium are to explore principles that have been applied to hybrid reasoners, identify general classes to which they apply, and seek unifying themes among the current diversity of systems and theoretical models. Systems of central interest are deductive systems that incorporate special-purpose reasoning modules operating on their own representation. Examples include: - Unification-based systems that incorporate special-purpose reasoners in their unification algorithms (for example, systems that use sorted unification or E-unification); - Knowledge representation systems that mix assertional information with terminological information; - Deductive systems, including planners, that incorporate constraint processing mechanisms (especially constraint logic programming); - Systems such as theory resolution that build domain theories into reasoning algorithms; - Parsers for feature-based grammars that use special mechanisms to handle constraints among features or to perform inheritance; and - Deductive systems for modal logic that exploit special techniques for reasoning about the accessibility of possible worlds. Further examples and discussion can be found in the report on the 1988 Workshop on Principles of Hybrid Reasoning, which appears in Volume 11, Number 5 (special issue) of AI Magazine (January 1991). In addition to the obvious candidates, we encourage the participation of - those who have related interests, including interests in non-deductive systems, that bear on the central themes of the symposium; - those whose work on building hybrid reasoners raises questions about underlying principles, sheds light on the principles, or provides empirical results that must be accounted for; and - newcomers to the field, especially graduate students. Prospective participants are encouraged to contact the chair of the program committee (preferably by email) to obtain a more detailed description of the symposium's goals and issues. Those wishing to attend the symposium should submit a statement of research interests and accomplishments (2 pages maximum), a bibliography of selected publications, and, optionally, a paper. Those wishing to present their work for discussion should submit, in addition, an extended abstract (4 pages maximum). Five (5) copies of each submission should be sent to arrive by June 14 to: Alan Frisch Beckman Institute University of Illinois 405 N. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 frisch@cs.uiuc.edu Program Committee: Alan Frisch (chair), Gert Smolka, Lynn Andrea Stein, Richmond Thomason. Sensory Aspects of Robotic Intelligence It probably is not an exercise in hyperbole to say that sensory faculties will be the primary determinants of the degree of autonomy that will be achieved by the machines of the future. Some of us therefore believe that the aspects that deal with sensing should be at the core of the intellectual enterprise that is artificial intelligence, assuming, of course, that an important aim of this enterprise is to design better and better machines in the service of humankind. This symposium will provide a forum for reviewing the state of the art in the sensory aspects of robotic intelligence and, through such review, an attempt will be made to delineate the potentially productive directions for future research. Many questions at varying levels of generality will be debated. Questions at the most general level will include: Given the level of competence we can pack into the sensory faculties of a robot today, what is the most sophisticated demonstration of robotic intelligence that could be made in the near future? More specific questions will deal with the how's and why's of integrating sensing with planning; integrating different modalities of sensing, such as vision, force/torque, touch, etc.; representation of actions; representing uncertainties and dealing with them through sensing and actions; dealing with the complexities introduced by geometry and topology; etc. Hopefully, by trying to answer such question we will see more clearly the conceptual frontiers of our knowledge in this area. Prospective participants are encouraged to submit papers that deal with the above mentioned issues at philosophical, theoretical, and experimental levels. Especially welcome will be papers that attempt to show fundamental limits on the level of competence that would be possessed by robots with the current state of our knowledge, assuming of course that it is at all possible to formulate measures of robotic competence. Also welcome will be papers that attempt to do the same in more task-specific contexts. High priority will be given to papers that report actual implementations, especially if such papers point out the lessons learned from the implementations Those interested in presenting their work for discussion at the symposium should submit a draft submission (maximum 10 pages) describing this work. Those interested only in attending the symposium need only submit a one-page summary of their research interests. Five copies of either type of submission should be sent to arrive by June 14th to: Avi Kak Robot Vision Lab EE Building Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907 kak@ecn.purdue.edu Program Committee: Bruce Donald, Avi Kak (Chair), Matt Mason, Ed Riseman, Saburo Tsuji. ------------------------------ End of NL-KR Digest *******************