CALL FOR PAPERS

        Workshop on Shared Tasks and Comparative Evaluation in
                     Natural Language Generation

                          Arlington, VA USA
                          April 20-21, 2007
          http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~mwhite/nlgeval07/

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this workshop is to bring together leading international
researchers in the field of natural language generation (NLG), with
the aim of establishing a clear, community-wide, position on the role
of shared tasks and comparative evaluation in NLG research. There are
many views held in the NLG community as to the proper role of
evaluation, but so far there has been little scope to hammer out these
positions in a forum that provides the time and involvement required
to subject the different views to rigorous debate. (See the web site
for further background.) Our aim is for this workshop to provide that
forum. We expect the workshop to result in the working out of a number
of clearly argued positions on the issue that will serve as a base
resource for the field moving forward.

POSITION STATEMENTS

To spark discussion at the workshop, we invite the submission of short
position statements that make explicit arguments for or against the
adoption of shared evaluation campaigns in NLG; and/or argue for
specific approaches to comparative evaluation in NLG. Position
statements will be reviewed by the committee listed below. Authors of
accepted statements will be invited to attend the workshop.

REVIEW COMMITTEE

Dr Anja Belz            University of Brighton, UK
Prof Robert Dale        Macquarie University, Australia
Dr Helmut Horacek       University of Saarbrücken, Germany
Prof Donia Scott        The Open University, UK
Dr Michael White        The Ohio State University, USA

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Position statements should follow the two-column format of ACL
proceedings
(http://www.cs.rochester.edu/meetings/hlt-naacl07/styles/), should be
in PDF format, and should not exceed two (2) pages, including
references. These statements should be accompanied by a short (half
page) biographical sketch, also in PDF, highlighting previous work in
NLG. Reviewing will not be blind.  Please send your position statement
and biographical sketch to Michael White (mwhite at
ling.ohio-state.edu) and Robert Dale (rdale at ics.mq.edu.au) by no
later than Monday January 15, 2007.

WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION

Our intention is to hold the workshop at the Hilton Arlington adjacent
to the NSF's offices in Washington, DC. The workshop is planned for
April 20-21, 2007, immediately prior to the HLT-NAACL conference in
Rochester, NY, to maximize opportunities for attendance by overseas
participants who are already coming to that event. The workshop
program will contain ample time for intense and focused discussion,
and will include breakout sessions where groups of 4-5 attendees will
each elaborate on a specific proposal for how to address the
evaluation question in NLG. The outcomes of the workshop will be
documented in a report, brought together by the organizers,
summarizing the workshop discussions and including the participants'
contributions. These proceedings will be made publicly available on
the workshop website.

TIMETABLE

January 15, 2007        Deadline for submitting position statements
February 15, 2007       Acceptance decisions returned
April 20-21, 2007       Workshop in Arlington, VA

TRAVEL SUPPORT

We are currently looking into ways to provide travel support to attend this
meeting. If you do not have access to appropriate funds, please let us know so
we can gauge the level of need. Note, however, that international participants
will be encouraged to seek travel funds from their respective countries.

QUESTIONS

Questions regarding the workshop, its topics and submission procedure should be
directed to the organizers, Michael White (mwhite at ling.ohio-state.edu) and
Robert Dale (rdale at ics.mq.edu.au).