Computers in Engineering Symposium
Session on Natural Language in Human-Computer Interfaces
Houston, TX
January 29 - February 2, 1996
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Petroleum
Division is sponsoring the Energy Week Conference & Exhibition,
at George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. One symposium
is devoted to various aspects of using computers in engineering.
Attendees will be from both academia and industry.
This year, one session of the Computers in Engineering Symposium
will consider the use of natural language in human-computer interfaces.
The value of being able to use natural language to interact with
computers is unquestioned. A natural language interface is a
flexible and efficient means of communication. For example, a natural
language interface for processing speech provides an additional means of
communication if a human user's eyes and hands are occupied. Providing
for dialogue, whether typed or spoken, allows for humans to collaborate
effectively with computer systems that are becoming increasingly complex
to use because of their capabilities. For these reasons, a user interface
that can process natural language has the potential for simplifying an overly
complex and unfriendly working environment.
The diversity of natural applications is mirrored in the research
communities that contribute to natural language research:
computer science, engineering, medicine, geography, and business.
The use of natural language in interfaces to problem-solving systems such
as medical experts, software engineering tools, navigation tools, and
database systems is becoming an increasingly important consideration.
The aim of this session is to bring together researchers
from two communities:
1- Researchers who are working on the design and/or implementation of
systems that use natural language as a primary modality. Discussions
should be relevant to engineering applications.
2- Researchers who are working on software tools for engineering applications
where a natural language interface is being, or could be used.
Papers should indicate how natural language is useful or could
be useful in these applications.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Empirical studies in designing human-computer interfaces with
natural language
- Multimodal interface designs that include natural language
- Use of natural language in computer-supported cooperative work
- Discussions of implemented systems that employ natural language
- Knowledge representation and reasoning to support natural language
in human-computer interfaces and cooperative work systems
- Speech recognition and synthesis in interface design
- Limitations and pitfalls of relying on natural language as
an interface
Papers submitted to this session should show how their work addresses the
issue of using natural language in the design of a human-computer interface
providing as much detail of the problem area as is necessary to evaluate the
work. Relevant examples of a system interacting with a user (either
on paper or video) are encouraged.
All presented papers will be published in the symposium proceedings.
Please contact the session organizers if you have any questions. We
look forward to your contributions.
This call for papers is available as a web page:
http://sy.smsu.edu/~syali/ETCE-96-CFP/CFP.html
SESSION ORGANIZERS:
Susan Haller, Asst. Prof. Syed Ali, Asst. Prof.
Computer Science & Engineering Dept. Computer Science Dept.
University of Wisconsin - Parkside Southwest Missouri State University
Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141-2000 Springfield, Missouri 65804
USA USA
E-mail: haller@cs.uwp.edu E-mail: syali@sy.smsu.edu
Tel.: (414) 595-2343 Tel.: (417) 836-5773
FAX.: (414) 595-2114 FAX.: (417) 836-6659
SUBMISSIONS:
Send 3 copies, a maximum of 20 pages double-spaced excluding references.
SEND SUBMISSIONS TO:
Susan Haller
Computer Science and Engineering Dept.
University of Wisconsin - Parkside
Kenosha, WI 53141-2000
E-mail: haller@cs.uwp.edu
Tel.: (414) 595-2343
FAX.: (414) 595-2114
*Note: We encourage electronic submissions, either plain text or postscript.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
Submisssions due June 30, 1995
Notification of acceptance August 25, 1995
Camera-ready copies due September 15, 1995
Computers in Engineering Symposium (Houston) Jan. 29 - Feb 2, 1996