Expanded RST Web Site

[Bill Mann]

     Dear RST List folk:

     Ever since the RST web site was first created,  there has been an
     expectation that it would be upgraded regularly.  Earlier I had
     hoped for an upgrade every 2 to 3 months, but that was not
     possible.  The goal was (and is) to make the site more useful,
     for people doing many different things.

     All of the previous material is still there, including an
     introduction to RST, analyses of texts, relation definitions,
     bibliographies, and information about this list.

     Now there are a number of new kinds of information and access:

        * A list of research ideas, including many that might be
     useful in planning academic dissertations or theses.

        * A list of ongoing and recently completed projects (many of
     them dissertations) that have used RST.

        * A newly released RST analysis and display tool by Mick
     O'Donnell.  It runs on Windows 95 and above on PCs, and all of
     its parts can be downloaded through the website, all free.

        * Other downloadable resources are easily accessible,
     including analysis diagram files.  These are file resources,
     compatible with Mick O'Donnell's tool.   Also, the entire newly
     expanded website is downloadable as one file.

        * A project at University of Edinburgh has used RST as a
     design orientation for programming a computer authoring tool, a
     text generation system named ILEX.  ILEX is well represented on
     the Internet and now is accessible through the RST website. There
     are design reports, the project final report, and AN ACTUAL
     ACTIVE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM  that will GENERATE TEXT FOR YOU on
     the Internet.  (You take a simulated museum tour, and the program
     tells you about the things you choose to look at.)

     All of these, and a few more things, are now available at the
     same address as before, and the site has been made easier to use.

     I encourage you to visit the site and to use the resources.

     It is at

     http://www.sil.org/linguistics/RST  .

     Happy surfing.

     Bill Mann