EMNLP-11 Workshop on Language Generation and Evaluation<br>================================================<br><br>CALL FOR POSTER PAPERS<br><br>Language Generation and Evaluation (UCNLG+Eval) is a post-conference <br>workshop at EMNLP-2011, Edinburgh, on 31 July 2011.<br>
<br>Workshop aims<br>---------------------<br>There are many branches of NLP research that involve the generation of <br>language (summarisation, MT, human-computer dialogue, application <br>front-ends, data-to-text generation, document authoring, etc.). <br>
However, it is not always easy to identify common ground among the <br>generation components of these application areas, which has sometimes <br>made it difficult for generic research in 'Natural Language <br>Generation' (NLG) to engage with them effectively. Increasingly common <br>
corpus-based approaches across these areas, and in particular in NLG <br>itself, offer a new perspective on this situation and the <br>opportunity to explore synergies and differences from the common <br>grounding of corpus data. <br>
<br>This workshop is the fourth in an occasional series seeking to provide a<br>forum for discussing NLG and its links with these closely related fields<br>from a corpus-oriented perspective. The workshops <br>have the general aims <br>
<br> * to provide a forum for reporting and discussing corpus-oriented <br> methods for generating language;<br> * to foster cross-fertilisation between NLG and other fields where <br> language is automatically generated; and<br>
* to promote the sharing of data and methods for the purpose of <br> system building and comparative evaluation in all language <br> generation research. <br><br>Each of these workshops has a special theme: at the first workshop (at <br>
Corpus Linguistics in 2005) it was use of corpora in NLG; at the second <br>(UCNLG+MT at MT Summit XI in 2007) it was Language Generation <br>and Machine Translation; at the third it was Language Generation and <br>Summarisation (UCNLG+Sum at ACL-IJCNLP'09). The special theme of the <br>
2011 workshop is Language Generation and Evaluation, and the event will <br>showcase recent developments in methods for evaluating computationally <br>generated language across NLP, continue the discussion of future <br>directions and host an invited talk on shared-task evaluation campaigns.<br>
<br>Evaluation Special Theme<br>------------------------------------<br>The past five years have seen big changes in NLG evaluation. The field <br>has moved from a situation where there were no comparative evaluation <br>
results for independently developed alternative approaches to the <br>present increasingly rich diversity of data sets, methods and results <br>for comparative evaluation (intrinsic and extrinsic, human-assessed and <br>automatically computed). A distinctive and critical feature of these <br>
developments has been the community-led approach to the establishment of<br>tasks, datasets and evaluation methods. The aim of the special evaluation<br>theme at UCNLG+Eval is to provide a forum for reporting cutting-edge <br>
research on evaluation, taking stock of recent developments, discussing <br>and comparing alternative approaches to evaluation and exploring possible <br>directions for future development. <br><br>Call for Posters<br>---------------------<br>
The UCNLG+Eval Workshop organisers invite submissions for poster papers <br>addressing the special theme of evaluating computationally generated text<br>as well as submissions on all aspects of using corpora in the generation<br>
of language. Specific topics include, but are not limited to:<br><br> * Statistical and machine learning approaches to language generation<br> * Development and annotation of corpora for language generation <br> research<br>
* Reuse of corpus resources developed for NLU (e.g. treebanks) in <br> language generation research<br> * Domain-specific vs. general-purpose corpora for language <br> generation research<br> * Evaluation of automatically generated language<br>
* Meta-evaluation of evaluation methods for language generation<br> * Uses of corpora in the evaluation of automatically generated <br> language<br> * Proposals for new shared tasks in language generation <br>
<br>Note that by 'language generation research' we mean any field in which <br>language is automatically generated including research commonly coming <br>under the headings of NLG, MT, document summarisation and human-computer<br>
dialogue. <br><br>The following types of submissions are appropriate for poster <br>presentations:<br><br> * small, focused contributions<br> * work in progress<br> * negative results<br> * opinion pieces<br><br>Poster Papers Submission information<br>
---------------------------------------------------<br>Submissions should follow the two-column format of the ACL 2011 proceedings. <br><br>Poster submissions take the form of short papers of up to four (4) pages<br>of content, and up to two (2) additional pages with references only. <br>
Only submissions in pdf format will be accepted. Please use the official<br>ACL 2011 style files (at <a href="http://www.acl2011.org/call.shtml">http://www.acl2011.org/call.shtml</a>). We reserve <br>the right to reject submissions that do not conform to these styles, <br>
including letter size and font size restrictions. Submission is <br>electronic, using the START system, via a link on the workshop website. <br><br>The deadline for submission is 22nd May 2011. <br><br>Reviewing<br>---------------<br>
Each paper will be reviewed by at least three programme committee members.<br>Final decisions on the technical programme will be made by the workshop <br>organisers.<br><br>As reviewing will be blind, papers should not include the authors' names<br>
and affiliations. Self-references that reveal the authors' identity, <br>e.g., "We previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...", should be avoided. <br>Instead, use citations such as "Smith previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...". <br>
Acknowledgments sections should be removed before submission.<br><br>Papers will be reviewed according to the following criteria:<br>- Clarity<br>- Originality/Innovativeness<br>- Soundness/Correctness<br>- Meaningful comparison<br>
- Substance<br>- Replicability<br>- Sharing of resources<br><br>A link to the evaluation form used by reviewers is available from the <br>workshop website.<br><br>Proceedings<br>------------------<br>The proceedings of the workshop will be edited by the workshop organisers<br>
and published by the EMNLP 2011 conference organisers.<br><br>Poster Presentations<br>----------------------------<br>Accepted poster papers will be presented during a walkabout poster <br>display session on the day of the workshop. Authors of poster papers <br>
will also be given the opportunity to give a 3 minute 'boaster' <br>presentation just before the poster session.<br><br>Important Dates<br>---------------<br>22 May 2011 Deadline for poster paper submissions<br>
01 June 2011 Notification of acceptance to authors of poster papers<br>15 June 2011 Camera-ready copies of poster papers due<br>31 July 2011 UCNLG+EVAL workshop in Edinburgh<br><br>Workshop organisers<br>-------------------<br>
Anja Belz, NLTG, University of Brighton, UK<br>Roger Evans, NLTG, University of Brighton, UK<br>Albert Gatt, University of Malta, Malta<br>Kristina Striegnitz, Union College, USA<br><br>Programme committee<br>-------------------<br>
Aoife Cahill, Stuttgart University, Germany<br>Charlie Greenbacker, University of Delaware, USA<br>Emiel Krahmer, Tilburg University, NL<br>Mirella Lapata, University of Edinburgh, UK<br>Oliver Lemon, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK<br>
Daniel Marcu, ISI, University of Southern California, USA<br>Kathy McKeown, Columbia, USA<br>Karolina Owczarzak, NIST, USA<br>Ehud Reiter, Aberdeen, UK<br><br>Workshop website<br>----------------<br><a href="http://www.nltg.brighton.ac.uk/ucnlg/ucnlg11">http://www.nltg.brighton.ac.uk/ucnlg/ucnlg11</a><br>
<br>Contact email<br>-------------<br><a href="mailto:ucnlg@itri.brighton.ac.uk">ucnlg@itri.brighton.ac.uk</a><br><br clear="all"> <br><div>-----------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div>Albert Gatt</div>
<div>Institute of Linguistics</div>
<div>Centre for Communication Technology Rm 402B</div>
<div>University of Malta</div>
<div>Tal-Qroqq Msida MSD2080</div>
<div>Malta</div>
<div> </div>
<div>tel: (+356) 2340 2150<br></div>
<div><a href="http://staff.um.edu.mt/albert.gatt/" target="_blank">http://staff.um.edu.mt/albert.gatt/</a></div><br>