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CSLI Calendar, 6 October 1994, vol.10:2
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To: friends
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Subject: CSLI Calendar, 6 October 1994, vol.10:2
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From: Tom Burke <burke>
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 12:43:19 -0700
C S L I C A L E N D A R O F P U B L I C E V E N T S
______________________________________________________________________________
6 October 1994 Stanford Vol. 10, No. 2
______________________________________________________________________________
A weekly publication of the Center for the Study of Language and
Information (CSLI), Stanford University, Ventura Hall, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
____________
CSLI ACTIVITIES DURING 6 -- 14 OCTOBER 1994
THURSDAY, 6 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
An Introduction to Situation Theory
Keith Devlin, Saint Mary's College Mathematics
Abstract below
4:15 - SSP Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
Computers are Social Actors: A New Paradigm and
Some Surprising Results
Clifford Nass, Stanford Communication
Abstract below
7:30 - Phonology Workshop
306 San Mateo Drive, Menlo Park
Consonant Gradation as Aperture Reduction: Mende and Welsh
Susanne Gahl, UC Berkeley Linguistics
FRIDAY, 7 OCTOBER
12:00 - Logic Lunch
Building 380, Room 383-N
Report of L. Beklemishev's Work on Bimodal Logics
of Provability
Sol Feferman, Stanford Mathematics
Abstract below
12:30 - HCI Seminar
McCullough Building, Room 134
Where Should Industry and Academia Meet?
Joy Mountford, Interval Research
Abstract below
3:15 - Philosophy Colloquium
Building 90, Room 91-A
Dream Consciousness
Owen Flanagan, Duke Philosophy
WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER
4:00 - Seminar on Computational Learning and Adaptation
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Selecting Relevant Features for Machine Learning
Pat Langley, Stanford Computer Science
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Topic and speaker to be announced
2:15 - CSLI Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Ontology of Language and the Semantics of Quotation
Herman Cappelen, UC Berkeley Philosophy
Abstract below
4:15 - Symbolic Systems Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
Some Lessons and Observations from a Lengthy Student Career
Todd Davies, Stanford Psychology
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 14 OCTOBER
12:30 - HCI Seminar
McCullough Building, Room 134
The Interface Paradox
Jef Raskin
Abstract below
3:30 - Linguistics Colloquium
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Mental Spaces and the Grammar of Conditionals
Eve Sweetser, UC Berkeley Linguistics
Abstract below
____________
The CSLI Calendar appears on Thursday of each week throughout the academic
year. Announcements, abstracts, and other information to appear in the
Calendar on a given Thursday should be submitted by e-mail to
incalendar@csli.stanford.edu by 5:00 p.m. on the previous Tuesday.
Past issues of the CSLI Calendar, a quarterly schedule of upcoming CSLI
events, and other information about CSLI are available on the World Wide Web:
<http://csli-www.stanford.edu/>. The Calendar, with available abstracts, is
also posted each week to the csli.bboard newsgroup.
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 6 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
An Introduction to Situation Theory
Keith Devlin
Saint Mary's College Mathematics
<devlin@stmarys-ca.edu>
This is the second in a series of about six introductory lectures on situation
theory, concentrating on applications rather than the underlying mathematics.
At first, the lectures will cover material included in my book _Logic and
Information_ (Cambridge University Press, 1991), so people will be able to
join the course after it gets underway. However, the order of presentation
will not be exactly as in the book, and I plan to provide alternative
motivations and insights gained since the book was published. Later lectures
will cover material not in the book.
Motivational applications will include situation semantics, the analysis of
problems in sociolinguistics, and the design of information systems.
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 6 October
4:15 p.m., Building 60, Room 61-F
Computers are Social Actors: A New Paradigm
and Some Surprising Results
Clifford Nass
Stanford Communication
<nass@leland.stanford.edu>
In this presentation, we discuss the results of a multi-year research program
of experimental studies that demonstrate the ways in which users respond
socially to interfaces and computer-based agents. We demonstrate that users
use social rules and invoke social schema to interpret and respond to the
behavior of computers and agents. Hence, human-technology interactions are
fundamentally social. The studies all are based on the idea that one can
apply theories and methods from the social sciences directly to users'
interactions with computers.
Studies to be discussed include:
(1) Are computer personalities like human personalities?
(2) Do users apply politeness rules to agents?
(3) Do users apply notions of "self" and "others" to agents?
(4) How do users differentiate agents?
(5) What does it mean when a computer says "I"?
(6) How does the gender of agents affect users' perceptions?
(7) Can computers be "teammates"?
(8) How does the labeling of technologies as "specialists" affect user
perceptions?
For each study, I will discuss theory, method, results, and theoretical and
design implications for the implementation of interfaces and agents.
(N.B. -- If you heard Nass's talk at CSLI last year, approximately 20% of the
material is new. If you heard Nass's talk at the PCD seminar two years ago,
approximately 90% of the material is new).
CLIFFORD NASS is an associate professor of Communication at Stanford
University, with appointments in Symbolic Systems, Sociology, and Science,
Technology, and Society. He received his B.A. cum laude in Mathematics and his
Ph.D. in Sociology, both from Princeton University. He has worked as a
computer scientist for the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights and Intel
Corp. He has been a principal investigator on grants sponsored by US West
Advanced Technologies, National Science Foundation, the Center for Integrated
Facilities Engineering, and Stanford University. He has consulted for
American Electronics Association, Amoco, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and the
Smithsonian Institute. He has published a couple dozen journal articles and
book chapters concerning technology and statistical methodology.
____________
PHONOLOGY WORKSHOP
on Thursday, 6 October
7:30 p.m., 306 San Mateo Drive, Menlo Park
Consonant Gradation as Aperture
Reduction: Mende and Welsh
Susanne Gahl
UC Berkeley Linguistics
<sgahl@garnet.berkeley.edu>
The talk will take place at the home of Paul Kiparsky, 306 San Mateo Drive,
Menlo Park. It is off Middle Avenue, the road that leads to the bike bridge.
The house is at the intersection of Bay Laurel and San Mateo Drive.
Upcoming Phonology Workshop talks: Cheryl Zoll, October 20; Larry Hyman,
November 3; Orhan Orgun, November 10.
____________
LOGIC LUNCH
on Friday, 7 October
12:00 noon, Building 380, Room 383-N
Report of L. Beklemishev's Work on Bimodal
Logics of Provability
Sol Feferman
Stanford Mathematics
<sf@csli.stanford.edu>
This will be a report on part of Beklemishev's recent paper in APAL on bimodal
logics of provability, in particular concerning logics associated with
recursive progressions of theories. Of side interest is the construction of
primitive recursive built up notation systems (in a Bachmann-Schmidt sense)
through all recursive ordinals.
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 7 October
12:30 p.m., McCullough Building, Room 134
Where Should Industry and Academia Meet?
Joy Mountford
Interval Research
<mountford@interval.com>
This talk will illustrate and discuss the various lessons about the process of
designing successful user interfaces. The success of involving educational
establishments with industrial partners will be shown through the last three
years of the Apple Interface Design Project. We will hear the successes and
limitations of this project from student, professor, and industrial liaison
alike.
The talk will raise and discuss the following issues:
What is interaction design?
Who are quality designers?
How can we establish apprenticeship programs?
How broad should interaction designers knowledge base actually be?
How should we teach/train HCI?
This talk will take the form of an interactive multi-media presentation
showing a series of interaction prototypes.
JOY MOUNTFORD recently joined Interval Research Corporation to manage a
multi-media development project, after eight years as the manager of the Human
Interface Group at Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group. She led a
number of major projects and initiated and continues to oversee Apple's
International Interface Design Project.
Before joining Apple, she worked at MCC, America's 5th generation computer
consortium and prior to that she designed advanced user interfaces for
military avionics systems at Honeywell. Her past research experience has
focused on the application of technologies such as speech recognition and
generation, intelligent systems, tactile controllers and head-mounted systems.
Recently she has turned her attentions towards the design of media SoundScapes
that can be shared across the Internet.
(Note: There will also be a special appearance by Ramon Felciano of the
Stanford "Just Kidding" 1994 Apple Design Competition project team, with their
prize-winning project presentation.)
____________
PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 7 October
3:15 p.m., Building 90, Room 91-A
Dream Consciousness
Owen Flanagan
Duke University
____________
SEMINAR ON COMPUTATIONAL LEARNING AND ADAPTATION
on Wednesday, 12 October
4:00 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
Selecting Relevant Features for Machine Learning
Pat Langley
Stanford Computer Science
<langley@cs.stanford.edu>
In this talk, I review the problem of selecting relevant features for use in
machine learning. I describe this problem in terms of heuristic search
through a space of feature sets, and identify four dimensions along which
approaches to the problem can vary: the starting point of the search, the
organization of the search, the strategy used to evaluate alternative feature
sets, and the criterion used in halting the search process. I consider recent
work on feature selection in terms of this framework, focusing on results with
decision-tree and nearest neighbor methods. I also discuss some other uses of
feature-selection techniques, such as the elimination of redundant attributes
in Bayesian classifiers.
The goal of this seminar is to increase communication among local researchers
with interests in computational approaches to learning and adaptation. If you
would like to be added to (or removed from) the mailing list, or if you are
interested in giving a talk in the seminar, please send email to
<langley@cs.stanford.edu>.
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 13 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
Topic and speaker to be announced
Next week Keith Devlin will continue with the third in a series of about six
introductory lectures on situation theory, concentrating on applications
rather than the underlying mathematics. Motivational applications will
include situation semantics, the analysis of problems in sociolinguistics, and
the design of information systems.
____________
CSLI SEMINAR
on Thursday, 13 October
2:15 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Ontology of Language and the Semantics of Quotation
Herman Cappelen
UC Berkeley Philosophy
<hwcap@uclink2.berkeley.edu>
I argue that much work in philosophy of language and linguistics is based on
fundamentally mistaken assumptions about the relation between types and tokens
and about what we are talking about when we use quotation. The standard view
is that a type is some sort of abstract object, a class or a pattern, and that
quotations are singular noun phrases that denote these abstract objects. I
first show that the standard view is wrong. I then present a new theory of
what it is for entities/events to be occurrences of the same word. I use this
theory to develop a new analysis of quotation. On my view they are not
singular noun phrases. They are expressions that quantify over
entities/events that stand in a certain relation to each other.
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 13 October
4:15 p.m., Building 60, Room 61-F
Some Lessons and Observations from a Lengthy Student Career
Todd Davies
Stanford Psychology
<tdavies@csli.stanford.edu>
I've planned this session of the forum in order to introduce myself to
Symbolic Systems Program students. As such, this talk is intended for
undergraduates, but others are welcome to attend. I will discuss three pieces
of research I have done since my undergraduate days, emphasizing what led to
or motivated each project at the time. The three topics I will cover are (1)
a theory about the relationship between analogical reasoning and logical
deduction, work that was supervised by John Perry when I was an undergraduate
at Stanford, (2) a result about the conditions required for representing
propositions in neural networks, arrived at while I was working in the
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at SRI, and (3) experiments on the effect
of forced-choice procedures on human judgments of probability, the topic of my
forthcoming dissertation under Amos Tversky.
Each of these projects has taught me something different about how research
questions can arise. The first arose from introspective confusion, the second
from a desire to solidify an intuitive response to questions posed by others,
and the third from testing a longstanding empirical assumption and later from
a surprise in the results of that test. Each of the projects falls within
"cognitive science," but each was done in a different setting and within a
different academic discipline. I have had varying degrees of success and
failure in adapting to each of these settings, and as I marvel at the insights
achieved by my fellow researchers, many of whom employ strategies distinct
from the three above, I realize that my own experience as a thinker is still
quite limited and always will be. A general conclusion is that different
groups of researchers tend to emphasize and value different styles of inquiry,
and that it is worth observing one's own habits of mind and work in relation
to those of others.
As usual, the Forum is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 14 October
12:30 p.m., McCullough Building, Room 134
The Interface Paradox
Jef Raskin
<RaskinJef@aol.com>
In 1979 I proposed a commercial computer project that would be based on an
improved user interface, rather than having its genesis in the latest
processor or operating system. I called it "Macintosh." At the time, being a
specialist in interface design was to be in professional limbo, unless you
were lucky enough to be at Xerox PARC or a handful of other places. Now HCI is
a widely recognized discipline, with thousands of us flocking together
annually, it has spawned formal curricula for higher education, and we have
over a dozen periodicals in which to immortalize our thoughts.
The paradox is this: in spite of all this churning, interfaces have not gotten
better. The best that can be said is that we now tackle much more difficult
tasks with only slightly greater levels of frustration and annoyance than we
did a decade ago. But credit here is better assigned to application
development than to interface improvement.
I will argue that most of what practitioners in the HCI field do is more akin
to interior decorating than to architecture, and I ask (and try to partially
answer) what the HCI analog of structural engineering might be.
JEF RASKIN is an independent consultant on interface design, best known for
having created the Macintosh computer project at Apple, the one button mouse
and the click-and-drag paradigm for using it, the "Apple Style" of manuals,
the Canon Cat, and other interface-based products. He was CEO of Information
Appliance Inc. Prior to joining Apple he was a professor and computer center
director at the University of California at San Diego. He has also taught at
the University of Kansas, Notre Dame, and Penn State and was a visiting
scholar at Stanford.
Raskin holds many patents and is a prolific writer, with articles appearing in
dozens of journals and magazines, including Interactions, the Communications
of the ACM, Byte, Nature, Quantum, IEEE Spectrum, Computer, Wired, the SIGCHI
Bulletin, American Scientist, California Business, and others. Raskin has been
a keynote speaker, speaker, or session chair at a number of conferences.
____________
LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 14 October
3:30 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
Mental Spaces and the Grammar of Conditionals
Eve Sweetser
UC Berkeley Linguistics
<sweetser@cogsci.berkeley.edu>
Fauconnier (1985) has proposed that if-clauses be viewed as setting up a
mental space, within which the content of the main clause applies. Sweetser
(in press) argues that such a framework will allow us to predict the ways in
which so-called counterfactual verb forms extend to further subordinate
clauses (embedded conditionals, relative clauses). In this presentation, I
will present a mental-space analysis of the semantics of a broader spectrum of
conditional constructions, including speech-act conditionals such as (1),
epistemic conditionals such as (2), and metalinguistic conditionals such as
(3)--(4).
(1) If you're so smart, when was George Washington born?
(2) If he typed her thesis, then he loves her.
(3) My ex-husband, if that's the right word for him, was seen in
Vegas last week. (The divorce won't be final till next month,
so maybe "ex-husband" isn't a correct usage here.)
(4) If we were in Louisiana, you'd be eating a green trout.
(Louisianans call the kind of bass you're eating "green trout.")
The advantage of such an analysis is that formal similarities and differences
between various classes of conditionals (in particular, whether they show
so-called "backshifting" of futures to present in main clauses, and/or
tolerate "distanced" -- aka counterfactual -- verb forms) can be shown to
correlate with the parameters of mental space structure and space-building
function. Traditionally central conditional constructions ("If she arrives in
time, we'll go out to dinner") remain central, but are seen to be part of a
broad range of related constructions, which show relatively compositional
relationships between form and meaning.
The work presented here is being done in collaboration with Dr. Barbara
Dancygier.
____________
COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
Seminar on Concepts of Space
Psychology 219
Thursdays, 1:15-3:00
Building 420, Room 358
The seminar will discuss recent work in concepts of space as revealed in the
language, graphics, gestures, and buildings that people produce. Each session
will be devoted to a different body of work from all areas of cognitive
science. All participants will read a general article or two, and one
participant will be responsible for reading more broadly and conducting the
discussion. Instructor: Barbara Tversky.
____________