Call for Papers and Participation <br>
<br>
Young Researchers' Roundtable on Spoken Dialogue Systems 2009 <br>
<br>
13th-14th September, at Queen Mary University of London <br>
<br><br>*Overview and goals*<br><br>
The Young Researchers' Roundtable on Spoken Dialogue Systems (YRRSDS)
is an annual workshop designed for post-graduate students, post-docs
and junior researchers working in research related to spoken dialogue
systems in both academia and industry. The roundtable provides an open
forum where participants can discuss their research interests, current
work and future plans. The workshop has three main goals: <br>
- to offer an interdisciplinary forum for creative thinking about current issues in spoken dialogue systems research <br>
- to provide young researchers with career advice from senior
researchers and professionals from both academic and industrial
backgrounds <br>
- to develop a stronger international network of young researchers working in the field. <br>
<br>
(Important note: There is no age restriction to participating in the
workshop; the word 'young' is meant to indicate that it is targeted
towards researchers who are at a relatively early stage in their
career.) <br>
<br>
*Topics and sessions*<br>
<p class="MsoBodyText"> Potential roundtable discussion topics include:
best practices for conducting and evaluating user studies of spoken
dialogue systems, the prosody of conversation, methods of analysis for
dialogue systems, conversational agents and virtual characters, <font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="3"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">cultural adaptation
of dialogue strategies</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">, </span></font>and user modelling.</p><p class="MsoBodyText">
YRRSDS’09 will feature:
</p>
- a senior researcher panel (both academia and industry) <br>
- a demo and poster session <br>
- a special session on frameworks and grand challenges for dialogue system evaluation <br>
- a special session on EU projects related to spoken dialogue systems.<br>
<br>
Previous workshops were held in Columbus (ACL 2008), Antwerp
(INTERSPEECH 2007), Pittsburgh (INTERSPEECH 2006) and Lisbon
(INTERSPEECH 2005).<br>
<br>
<div>*Workshop date*<br>
YRRSDS'09 will take place on September 13th and 14th, 2009 (immediately after Interspeech and SIGDial 2009).<br>
<br>*Workshop location*<br>
The 2009 YRRSDS will be held at Queen Mary University of London, one of
the UK's leading research-focused higher education institutions. Queen
Mary’s Mile End campus began life in 1887 as the People's Palace, a
philanthropic endeavour to provide east Londoners with education and
social activities, and is located in the heart of London's vibrant East
End.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>*Grants*<br>
YRRSDS 2009 will be supported this year by ISCA, the
International Speech Communication Association. ISCA will consider applications
for a limited number of travel grants. Applications should be
send directly to <a title="grants@isca-speech.org" href="mailto:grants@isca-speech.org" id="vcbg">grants@isca-speech.org</a>, details
of the application process and forms are available from <a href="http://www.isca-speech.org/grants.html" title="http://www.isca-speech.org/grants.html">http://www.isca-speech.org/grants.html</a>.We are also negotiating with other supporters the possibility of offering a
limited number of travel grants to students. <br>
<br>*Endorsements*<br>
SIGDial, ISCA, Dialogs on Dialogs<br>
<br>*Sponsors*<br>
Orange, Microsoft Research, AT&T<br>
<br>*Submission process*<br>
Participants will be asked to submit a 2-page position paper based on a
template provided by the organising committee. In their papers, authors
will include a short biographical sketch, a brief statement of research
interests, a description of their research work, and a short discussion
of what they believe to be the most significant and interesting issues
in spoken dialogue systems today and in the near future. Participants
will also provide three suggestions for discussion topics. <br>
Workshop attendance will be limited to 50 participants. Submissions
will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Submissions will
be collated and made available to participants. We also plan to publish
the position papers and presentations from the workshop on the web,
subject to any sponsor or publisher constraints. <br>
<br>*Important Dates*<br>
- Submissions open: May 15, 2009 <br>
- Submissions deadline: June 30, 2009 <br>
- Final notification: July 31, 2009<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>
- Registration begins: TBD <br>
- Registration deadline: TBD
</div>
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>
- Interspeech: 6-10 September 2009<br>
</div>
<div>
- SIGDial: 11-12 September, 2009<br>
- YRR: 13-14 September, 2009<br>
<br>*More information on related websites*<br>
- Young Researchers' Roundtable website: <a href="http://www.yrrsds.org/">http://www.yrrsds.org/</a> <br>
- SIGDIAL 2009 conference website: <a href="http://www.sigdial.org/workshops/workshop10/">http://www.sigdial.org/workshops/workshop10/</a> <br>
- Interspeech 2009 website: <a href="http://www.interspeech2009.org/">http://www.interspeech2009.org/</a> <br>
<br>*Organising Committee*<br>
- David Díaz Pardo de Vera, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain <br>
- Milica Gašić, Cambridge University, UK <br>
- François Mairesse, Cambridge University, UK <br>
- Matthew Marge, Carnegie Mellon University, USA <br>
- Joana Paulo Pardal, Technical University Lisbon, Portugal <br>
- Ricardo Ribeiro, ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal<br>
<br>*Local Organisers*<br>
- Arash Eshghi, Queen Mary University of London, UK <br>
- Christine Howes, Queen Mary University of London, UK <br>
- Gregory Mills, Queen Mary University of London, UK <br>
<br>*Scientific Advisory Committee*<br>
- Hua Ai, University of Pittsburgh, USA <br>
- James Allen, University of Rochester, USA<br>
- Alan Black, Carnegie Mellon University, USA <br>
- Dan Bohus, Microsoft Research, USA
</div>
<div>
- Philippe Bretier, Orange Labs, France<br>
- Robert Dale, Macquarie University, Australia <br>
- Maxine Eskenazi, Carnegie Mellon University, USA <br>
- Sadaoki Furui, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan <br>
- Luis Hernández Gómez, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain <br>
- Carlos Gómez Gallo, University of Rochester, USA <br>
- Kristiina Jokinen, University of Helsinki, Finland<br>
- Nuno Mamede, Spoken Language Systems Lab, INESC-ID, Portugal <br>
- David Martins de Matos, Spoken Language Systems Lab, INESC-ID, Portugal <br>
- João Paulo Neto, Voice Interaction, Portugal <br>
- Tim Paek, Microsoft Research <br>
- Antoine Raux, Honda Research, USA <br>
- Robert J. Ross, Universitat Bremen, Germany <br>
- Alexander Rudnicky, Carnegie Mellon University, USA <br>
- Mary Swift, University of Rochester, USA <br>
- Isabel Trancoso, Spoken Language Systems Lab, INESC-ID, Portugal <br>
- Tim Weale, The Ohio State University, USA <br>
- Jason Williams, AT&T, USA <br>
- Sabrina Wilske, Lang Tech and Cognitive Sys at Saarland University, Germany <br>
- Andi Winterboer, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands </div><div>- Craig Wootton, University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland<br>
- Steve Young, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom <br>
</div>
<br>