Off to Computational Linguistics workshop

I hope this post ends yet another spell of absense from writing to this blog. Thanks for bearing with me.

So, What's new? Well my tickets are booked and bags almost packed. I am off to the workshop I was planning to attend for so long. Guess, I'll meet some of you over there.

Workshop on Advanced Course in Computational Linguistics 16-25, March 2008

Organized by Department of Dravidian & Computational Linguistics Dravidian University, Kuppam -517425 In collaboration with Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore The Department

The Department of Dravidian and Computational Linguistics was established with a vision to fulfill the main objectives of the university and to meet the challenges of technological developments. It has identified the areas of Dravidian Linguistics and Computational Linguistics as the thrust areas of research. The Department offers part-time Certificate & Diploma courses in Dravidian Linguistics and Computational Linguistics.

The Department undertakes projects relating to Natural Language Processing such as building WordNets, Language Technology Tools, preparing Machine Readable Dictionaries and developing Machine Translation Systems pertaining to Dravidian Languages. At present, the Department is working on the Indian Language to Indian Language (Telugu-Tamil) Machine Translation System.

The Workshop

Development of language technology tools has emerged as a prime area of research in the technology age. That is why the role of language and the linguistic aspects have gained enormous importance. Various institutions in India are involved in the language technology activity, especially in developing tools in different Indian languages. The tools thus developed are intended to cater to the needs of researchers and language teachers working in the educational institutions all over the country. Further, the applicational aspects of these tools in areas such as language teaching, dictionary compilation, machine translation, etc. are yet to be utilized in a proper manner.

The Department organized a Workshop on Introduction to Computational Linguistics from 8-17th December 2006. It aimed at introducing the participants various computational techniques that are used to build language technology tools.

The present Workshop, Advanced Course in Computational Linguistics to be organized from 16-25, March 2008 will expose the participants to the advanced techniques in computational linguistics and its applications. This ten-day workshop will provide the participants an opportunity to get hands-on experience with the state-of-the-art systems.

A candidate who has attended the first workshop and participates in the advanced Workshop is eligible for a P.G. Diploma in Computational Linguistics provided he/she takes the requisite examination of two papers and submits a project work in the area of his choice in computational linguistics. A candidate who attends afresh for the Advanced Workshop will have to undergo the preparatory program of three-days prior to the Advanced Workshop will be awarded a Certificate in Computational Linguistics provided he clears the requisite two exams.

Course Content

The following areas would be covered in detail through lectures, labs and tutorials:

• Machine Translation
• Computational Semantics & ontology
• Information Extraction
• Bioinformatics & NLP
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
• Intelligent Tutoring Systems
• Artificial Intelligence in Education
• Dialogue Analysis
• Named Entity Recognition
• Cross Language Information Access
• Summarization
• Language Technology Policy and Planning

The Workshop Faculty

Prof. G. UmaMaheshwar Rao, Head, Centre for ALTS, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

Dr. Achuth Sankar S. Nair, Director, Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram

Dr. P. Umarani, Formerly Research Associate, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Mrs. Amba P. Kulkarni, Reader, Department of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad.

Dr. L. Sobha, Research Scientist, Computational Linguistics Group, AU-KBC Research Centre, MIT Campus of Anna University, Chennai.

Dr. Vasudeva Varma, Associate Professor, IIIT, Hyderabad

Mr. S. Viswanathan, Senior Programmar, Capgemini, Chennai.