1st Call for Papers

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Please, take our apologies for multiple copies

This is the First Call for Papers for the

                           WORKSHOP
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       "Integrating Information from Different Channels
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                   in Multi-Media-Contexts"
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to be held as part of ESSLLI 2000 at Birmingham (UK), August 6-18, 2000

URL: http://www.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/~wicic

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Description:

In everyday situations agents must combine information from different
sources: Reference and predication can be based both on gestural and
spoken information. Inferences demand extracting information from
diagrams and the text built around them. Focus of attention is often
indicated by visual, gestural or acoustic means.

The growing number of researchers interested in multimodal information
reflects its practical relevance, not least in the construction of
man-machine interfaces. In order to model complex multimodal
information, a notion of composite signal is called for in which
the different "threads of information" are integrated. Understanding
composite signals may be necessary for all fields of science dealing
with information, whether empirically or formally oriented. Research
in this area is bound up with logical, linguistic, computational and
philosophical problems like

     - assessing the semantic contribution of information from
       different sources,
     - compositionality in the construction of information
     - extending the notions of reference, truth and entailment in
       order to capture the content of "mixed information states" and
     - experimentally measuring the activity on different channels or
     - investigating timing problems concerning "interleaving
       threads" of information.

Despite their foundational flavour, emerging theories in this area
have applications in domains as diverse as discourse analysis
(monitoring and back-channelling behaviour), styles of reasoning,
robotics (reference resolution by pointing) and Virtual Reality
(integration of gesture and speech).

Consequently, the workshop is addressed to scholars from different
fields: We welcome experimental researchers investigating
e.g. gesture, eye movement or other means of focussing in relation to
speech. At the same time workshop contributions of linguists,
logicians or computer scientists are invited who work on the
description and the formal modelling of complex signals. Finally, work
concerning the simulation of production or understanding of complex
signals, Virtual Reality type, neural net like or other, is also
encouraged.

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For further and occassionally updated information, please visit
http://www.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/~wicic

Kenneth Holmqvist (LUCS), Hannes Rieser (SFB360) and
Peter Kuehnlein (SFB360)