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***First announcement and Call for Papers***<br>
<br>
*********************************************************<br>
Arabic Language Resources (LR) and Evaluation:<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Status and
Prospects<br>
<br>
A Post-Conference Workshop of LREC 2002<br>
<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Las Palmas
- Canary Islands (Spain)<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>1st
June 2002<br>
<br>
**********************************************************<br>
More details at:
<a href="http://www.lrec-conf.org/lrec2002/index.html" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://www.lrec-conf.org/lrec2002/index.html<br>
<br>
</a></u></font>Taking place on 1<font size=2>st </font> June, after the
main conference (29-30-31 MAY 2002),<br>
this post-conference workshop should add value to the issues
addressed<br>
during the conference.<br>
It should bring together people who are actively involved in Arabic
written<br>
language and/or speech processing in a mono- or multilingual
context,<br>
and give them an opportunity to report on completed and ongoing work
as<br>
well as on the availability of LR, evaluation protocols and campaigns,
products<br>
and core technologies. This should enable the participants to develop a
common<br>
view on where we stand with respect to Arabic language processing.<br>
<br>
We expect to identify problems of common interest, and possible
mechanisms<br>
to move towards solutions, such as sharing of resources, tools,
standards,<br>
sharing and dissemination of information and expertise, adoption of
current best<br>
practices, setting up joint projects and technology transfer mechanisms,
etc.<br>
<br>
By bringing together players in the Arabic NLP field, we target the
definition of a<br>
first broadly supported Roadmap for Arabic LR, i.e. a broadly supported
view on<br>
the longer, medium and shorter term needs and priorities. This would help
the<br>
community to identify new opportunities and possible synergies.<br>
<br>
The submissions should address some of the LREC issues that are specific
and<br>
of paramount importance to the Arabic resources and evaluation; some of
these<br>
issues are:<br>
<br>
- Issues in the design, construction and use of Arabic Language Resources
(LR);<br>
- Methods, tools, procedures for the acquisition, creation, management,
access,<br>
distribution, use of Arabic LR;<br>
- Exploitation of LR in different types of applications (information
extraction, <br>
information retrieval, vocal and multisensorial interfaces, translation,
summarisation,<br>
www services, etc.);<br>
- Industrial LR requirements and community's response;<br>
- Industrial production and/or use of LR;<br>
- Evaluation, validation, quality assurance of LR;<br>
- Benchmarking of systems and products; resources for benchmarking and
evaluation<br>
for written and spoken language processing ;<br>
- Evaluation of products and applications, benchmarking;<br>
- Local, regional, and international activities and projects;<br>
- Needs, possibilities, forms, initiatives of/for regional and
international cooperation.<br>
<br>
FORMAT OF THE WORKSHOP<br>
<br>
It will be a full-day workshop. The workshop is not intended to be a
mini-<br>
conference, but as a real workshop aiming at concrete results that should
clarify the<br>
situation of Arabic with respect to Language Resources and Evaluation.
<br>
Sessions will include introductory speeches, invited talks, a small
number of refereed presentations, a panel session, etc.<br>
<br>
SUBMISSION DETAILS<br>
<br>
Submissions must be in English, Abstracts for workshop contributions
should not<br>
exceed two A4 pages (excluding references). An additional title page
should state:<br>
the title; author(s); affiliation(s); and contact author's e-mail
address, as well as postal<br>
address, telephone and fax numbers.<br>
<br>
Submissions are to be sent by email, preferably in Postscript or PDF
format, to <br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>choukri@elda.fr,</u> </font>by 11th February
2002. <br>
Abstracts will be reviewed by at least 3 members of the program
committee.<br>
<br>
Formatting instructions for the final full version of papers will be sent
to authors after<br>
notification of acceptance.<br>
<br>
IMPORTANT DATES<br>
<br>
- Submission deadline (receipt of abstracts):
11<font size=2>th</font><font size=1> </font>February 2002 <br>
- Notification of acceptance: 28<font size=2>th</font> February 2002
<br>
- Camera-ready final version for workshop proceedings due:
12<font size=2>th</font> April 2002 <br>
- Workshop date: 1<font size=2>st </font>June 2002 <br>
<br>
TIME AND LOCATION OF THE WORKSHOP<br>
<br>
The workshop will take place on 1<font size=2>st </font> June, following
the main LREC 2002 Conference,<br>
in the Palacio de Congreso de Canarias, Las Palmas, Canary Islands,
Spain.<br>
<br>
WORKSHOP REGISTRATION<br>
<br>
The registration fee for the workshop is:<br>
<br>
If you are also attending LREC: 90 EURO<br>
If you are not attending LREC: 140 EURO<br>
<br>
All attendees will receive a copy of the workshop proceedings.<br>
<br>
INVITATION LETTER<br>
<br>
If you need a visa to travel to Spain for the workshop and/or for the
conference, please<br>
send an email to <font color="#0000FF"><u>choukri@elda.fr<br>
<br>
</u></font>WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE URLs<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.lrec-conf.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.lrec-conf.org</a><br>
<br>
</u></font>CONTACT POINT<br>
<br>
Khalid CHOUKRI <br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>choukri@elda.fr<br>
</u></font>ELRA CEO<br>
Tel. +33 1 43 13 33 33 - Fax. +33 1 43 13 33 30<br>
Postal Mail: 55 Rue Brillat-Savarin, 75013 Paris France<br>
<br>
WORKSHOP PROGRAMME COMMITTEE<br>
<br>
Khalid Choukri, ELRA/ELDA, Paris, France<br>
Joseph Dichy, Lyon 2 university, Lyon, France<br>
Steven Krauwer, ELSNET and Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
<br>
Mustafa Yassen, Amman University; Jordan; myaseen@cbj.gov.jo<br>
<br>
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE (tentative)<br>
<br>
Abdelhadi Soudi; ENIM, Morocco; asoudi@enim.ac.ma<br>
Abdelhak Mouradi; ENSIAS, Morocco;
<font color="#0000FF"><u>mouradi@ensias.ac.ma,</u></font>
abmouradi@hotmail.com<br>
Abdelkader Fassi-Fehri; IRA, morocco; fassi@atlasnet.net.ma <br>
Achraf Chalabi ; Sakhr; Egypt; ac@sakhr.com<br>
André Jaccarini; Université d'Aix, France; jaccarini@mmsh.univ-aix.fr<br>
Bassam Haddad; Amman University; Jordan; bh@go.com.jo<br>
Chafic Mokbel; University of Balamand, Lebanon; <font color="#0000FF"><u>chafic.mokbel@balamand.edu.lb<br>
</u></font>Everhard Ditters; University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands; e.ditters@let.kun.nl<br>
Fathi Debili;CELLMA ENS LSH Lyon, France; Fathi.Debili@ehess.fr<br>
Jean Senellart ;SYSTRAN, France; senellart@systran.fr<br>
John Makhoul ; BBN Technologies, GTE Corp., USA; makhoul@bbn.com<br>
Ken Beesley; Ken.Beesley@xrce.xerox.com<br>
Malek Boualem; FTRD/DMI/LAN, France; malek.boualem@rd.francetelecom.fr<br>
Mohamed Hassoun; ENSIB, Lyon, France; hassoun@enssib.fr <br>
Mohamed Maamouri; LDC, Pen University, USA.<br>
Mohsen Rashwan; RDI, Egypt; mrashwan@rdi-eg.com<br>
Ossama Emam; IBM, Egypt; emam@eg.ibm.com<br>
Paul Roochnick; paul@apptek.com <br>
Salem Ghazali; IRSIT, Tunisia; Salem.ghazali@irsit.rnrt.tn<br>
Salim Roukos; IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA; roukos@us.ibm.com<br>
Violetta Cavalli-Sforza; San Francisco State University, USA; vcs@sfsu.edu<br>
<br>
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