DM: Call for Papers: Workshop on Machine Learning in Human Language Tech

[Kyriakos Sgarbas]

CALL FOR PAPERS:

WORKSHOP ON MACHINE LEARNING IN HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY

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MACHINE LEARNING AND APPLICATIONS
Advanced Course on Artificial Intelligence 1999 (ACAI'99)
5-16 July 1999, Chania, Greece
(http://www.iit.demokritos.gr/skel/eetn/acai99)

European Coordinating Committee on Artificial Intelligence (ECCAI) 
(http://www.eccai.org)
& Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society (EETN) 
(http://www.iit.demokritos.gr/skel/eetn)

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Workshop Objectives

The Workshop aims to present current Machine Learning (ML) research 
activities in the area 
of Human Language Technology (HLT) (i.e. Written and Spoken Language 
Recognition / 
Understanding / Generation). The fields of interest include (but are 
not limited to): 
speech processing, natural language processing, machine translation, 
optical character 
recognition, speaker recognition, text processing, information 
retrieval, semantic 
disambiguation, commonsense reasoning, language modelling, dialogue 
modelling, user 
modelling, corpus handling, data mining, etc. The techniques used 
have to exhibit an 
intelligent adaptive behaviour resulting to the gradual improvement 
of system performance. 
Such techniques include (but are not limited to): hidden Markov 
models, neural networks, 
genetic algorithms, decision trees, rule-based models, simulated 
annealing, fuzzy reasoning, 
hybrid models, etc.

Workshop Background

The area of Human Language Technology is an emerging field which is 
expected not only to 
facilitate future applications as the natural improvement of today's 
Graphical User 
Interfaces, but also to provide applications of significant 
importance like machine 
translation systems and tele-services. The use and testing of 
existing and innovative 
machine learning techniques in the field of Human Language Technology 
will effect 
significantly the overall performance of such systems and will 
indicate new directions for 
research and development. The machine learning field is mature enough 
to provide solutions 
and methodologies from which an emerging technology like HLT will 
certainly benefit. It is 
important for the scientific community to realise in what extend 
these two fields can 
cooperate and what promises lie towards this direction.

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Organizing Committee

Assist. Prof Nikos Fakotakis
Wire Communications Lab., University of Patras, GR-26500, Greece
Tel: +30.61.996216 Fax: +30.61.991855
e-mail: fakotaki@wcl.ee.upatras.gr

Dr. Kyriakos Sgarbas
Wire Communications Lab., University of Patras, GR-26500, Greece
Tel: +30.61.991722 Fax: +30.61.991855
e-mail: sgarbas@wcl.ee.upatras.gr

Dr. George Demetriou
Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, UK
Tel: +44 114 222 1800, Fax: +44 114 222 1810
e-mail: demetri@dcs.shef.ac.uk

Assoc. Prof. Maria-Teresa Pazienza
Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemi e Produzion
Universita' di Roma, Tor Vergata ITALY
Tel. +39 067259 7378
e-mail: pazienza@info.uniroma2.it

Dr. Roberto Basili
Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemi e Produzion
Universita' di Roma, Tor Vergata, ITALY
Tel. +39 067259 7391
e-mail: basili@info.uniroma2.it

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Submission Format

Interested authors are requested to submit a paper, of no more than 
10 pages,
before 20 February 1999 (FINAL DEADLINE)

The authors are requested to state clearly the problem examined and 
the machine learning 
method used as well as to discuss the costs and benefits of their 
approach. Performance 
evaluation results are also encouraged. Authors of accepted papers 
will be asked to provide
a camera-ready version of their paper before 1 April 1999. 

Submission should be sent by e-mail to:

Assist. Prof Nikos Fakotakis
Wire Communications Lab., University of Patras, GR-26500, Greece
Tel: +30.61.996216 Fax: +30.61.991855
e-mail: fakotaki@wcl.ee.upatras.gr

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Organisational Issues

Up to 10 accepted papers will be presented (each 15 min). The 
Workshop will take place 
during the afternoon sessions of ACAI-99, from 14:30 to 18:00. The 
exact date of the 
workshop (between 5 and 16 July) will be finalized soon by the 
ACAI-99 organizing committee.

Anyone registered for the main ACAI-99 event can also attend all the 
workshops. For the 
Workshop participants who will not be registered for the whole 
ACAI-99 there will be a fee 
of 100 ECUs.

Proceedings will be published as a technical report in collaboration 
with the ACAI-99 
organization committee.

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Important Dates

20 February, 1999 Deadline for paper submission 
10 March, 1999 Notification of acceptance 
1 April, 1999 Deadline for final camera ready papers 

The Workshop will be held between 5 and 16 July, 1999, in the 
framework of ACAI'99. The 
exact date will be finalised soon and will be announced in the 
ACAI'99 Web-page 
(http://www.iit.demokritos.gr/skel/eetn/acai99)