CALL FOR PAPERS
 
    "Speech and language technology for less-resourced languages"
 
      Special Session at INTERSPEECH 2007, Antwerp, Belgium
     
                   www.interspeech2007.org
 
Speech and language technology researchers who work on less-resourced languages often have very limited access to funding, equipment and software. This makes it all the more important for them to come together to share best practice, in order to avoid a duplication of effort. This special session will therefore be devoted to speech and language technology for less-resourced languages.
 
In view of the limited resources available to the targeted researchers, there will be a particular emphasis on "free" software, which may be either open-source or closed-source. However, submissions are also invited from those using commercial software.
 
Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:
 
    * Examples of systems built using free or purpose-built software (possibly with demonstrations).
    * Presentations of bugs in free software, and strategies for dealing with them.
    * Presentations of additions and enhancements made to the software by a research group.
    * Presentations of linguistic challenges for a particular less-resourced language.
    * Descriptions of desired features for possible future implementation.
 
Submission
----------
 
Researchers who are interested in contributing to this special session are invited to submit either a paper or a demo or both, as follows.
 
   1. Papers can be submitted by proceeding according to the regular submission procedure of Interspeech 2007 and selecting "Speech and language technology for less-resourced languages" as the topic of your first choice. The paper submission deadline is March 23, 2007.
  
   2. We offer a light submission procedure for demos. (Please note: unlike regular papers, texts submitted with a demo will NOT be published in the proceedings, but will be made available for download from the SALTMIL website at http://ixa2.si.ehu.es/saltmil/ ) In this case, please submit a short description of the system demonstrated, the demo, required materials for the demo, and references, to the first of the session organisers (see below) and to special_sessions@interspeech2007.org before April 27, 2007. Demo submission texts should be formatted in accordance with the Interspeech 2007 author kit, and should be between 1 and 4 pages in length.
 
Session organisers
------------------
 
Dr Briony Williams
Language Technologies Unit, Canolfan Bedwyr, University of Wales, Bangor, UK
Email: b.williams@bangor.ac.uk
 
Dr Mikel Forcada
Departament de Llenguatges i Sistemes Informrtics, Universitat d'Alacant, E-03071 Alacant, Spain
Email: mlf@dlsi.ua.es
 
Dr Kepa Sarasola
Dept of Computer Languages, Univ of the Basque Country, PK 649 20080 Donostia, Basque Country, Spain
Email: ksarasola@si.ehu.es
 
Important dates
---------------
 
Four-page paper deadline:
    March 23, 2007
Demo submission deadline:
    April 27, 2007
Notification of acceptance:
    May 25, 2007
Early registration deadline:
    June 22, 2007
Main Interspeech conference:
    August 28-31, 2007