Multilinguality in the Software Industry:
The AI Contribution
(MULSAIC'96)
August 12 or 13, 1996, Budapest, Hungary
In conjunction with the ECAI'96 conference
(August 12 - 16, 1996)
WWW: http://www.iit.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr/~costass/mulsaic.html
Workshop Objectives
The objective of the workshop is to bring together people from the software
industry and the AI research community. In this way, it will provide an
opportunity for people from the software industry to present particular
problems and questions associated with multilinguality as well as an
opportunity for AI researchers to show that AI-based methods and tools can
help to find solutions and answers.
Workshop Background
The ability to develop products which can be adapted to the language and
culture of local markets is a prerequisite for software companies wishing
to be active internationally. This process, often known as Localisation,
has become an important and increasingly sophisticated part of the overall
development process. AI-based methods and tools can be used in the software
industry to build such multilingual software. AI contribution concerns not
only the use of AI in the software engineering process but also the
embedding of AI modules in the end products.
AI-based methods and tools have the potential to enhance the intrinsic
capability of products in a number of different application areas. For
example, they can be used to improve processes such as multilingual
information retrieval, multilingual generation of messages and
documentation, software translation.
Information retrieval and browsing systems of the future will need to be
knowledge-based. They will use knowledge representation techniques to
organise information in language-independent knowledge bases, make useful
associations and identify important information. Message generation systems
will use knowledge representation techniques to organise the software
knowledge in language-independent knowledge bases as well as natural
language generation techniques to generate messages on-line in the end-user
language. Automatic generation of documentation in more than one languages
will also be possible using knowledge representation and natural language
generation techniques. Knowledge representation techniques will be used for
the development of intelligent translation tools such as multilingual
terminological knowledge bases and translation memories, in order to
facilitate translation of software and documentation. Multilingual language
resources, such as lexica, grammars and morphological modules will be added
to software applications in order to improve functions such as spelling and
syntax checking in more than one languages.
Workshop Themes
This workshop will investigate existing and new AI-based approaches in the
field of multilingual software in areas such as the following:
- Multilingual information retrieval
- Multilingual Human Computer Interfaces (HCIs)
- Multilingual on-line message generation
- Multilingual documentation generation
- Multilingual communication through networks
- Intelligent translation tools for software and documentation
- Multilingual language resources
Organising Committee
- Costas Spyropoulos, N.C.S.R. "Demokritos", Athens, Greece
(costass@iit.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr)
- Joerg Schuetz, IAI, Saarbrucken, Germany (joerg@iai.uni-sb.de)
- Aarno Lehtola, VTT, Helsinki, Finland (aarno.lehtola@vtt.fi)
- Richard Sutcliffe, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
(richard.sutcliffe@ul.ie)
- Alan Barrett, Lotus Development, Dublin, Ireland (abarrett@crd.lotus.com)
Workshop Format and Attendance Requirements
The format of the workshop will encourage interaction and discussion
between people from software industry and AI researchers. Invited
speakers from the software industry will present particular problems and
questions concerning multilinguality. There will be two types of
submission for interested participants: papers and statements of interest.
The workshop agenda will involve three main sessions that will be followed
by a discussion session. Each session will last about 90 minutes. At most
six presentations will be given in each of the three main sessions. At the
workshop end there will be a discussion on the major issues addressed.
A panel will direct this discussion.
There will be a limited number of participants, around 30 - 40 people.
Please note that workshop participation is not possible without
registration for the ECAI'96 conference.
Submission Guidelines
Interested authors are requested to submit an extended abstract of
up to 5 pages before the 15th of March 1996. The abstract should start
with the title, authors, full address, telephone, fax and e-mail. The
authors are requested to state clearly the problem examined and the AI
method used as well as to discuss the costs and benefits of their approach.
Performance evaluation results are also encouraged. Authors of accepted
submissions will be asked to provide a camera-ready copy of their paper
before the 15th of May 1996.
Other potential participants are requested to send a one page summary of
their interests and experience on relevant matters before
the 15th of May 1996.
Submission through e-mail is strongly encouraged. E-mail submissions should
be addressed to costass@iit.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr whereas hard copy
submissions should be mailed (3 copies) to the following address:
Costas Spyropoulos,
Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications,
National Centre for Scientific Research (N.C.S.R.) "Demokritos",
15310 Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece
E-mail: costass@iit.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr
Tel: +301-6510310, +301-6513110 ext.520, Fax: +301-6532175
Deadlines
Submission of extended abstract: March, 15, 1996
Notification of acceptance: April, 15, 1996
Statement of interest: May, 15, 1996
Camera ready copy: May, 15, 1996
Workshop Notes
All participants will receive copies of the accepted papers. Note also that
if there is sufficient interest we intend to publish the workshop results
in a book.