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CSLI Calendar, 19 Oct 1995, vol.11:04
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To: friends
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Subject: CSLI Calendar, 19 Oct 1995, vol.11:04
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From: Tom Burke <burke>
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Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 14:30:56 -0700
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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
______________________________________________________________________________
19 October 1995 Stanford Vol. 11, No. 4
______________________________________________________________________________
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 18 -- 27 OCTOBER 1995
WEDNESDAY, 18 OCTOBER
3:15 - Philosophy of Computation Seminar
Ventura Hall, Room 17
Formal Symbol Manipulation (Part 1)
Brian Cantwell Smith, Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 19 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Practical Content
John Perry and David Israel
Abstract below
12:00 - Cognitive Science Lunch
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Consciousness in Psychology
Ernest Hilgard, Stanford Psychology
Abstract below
4:00 - Seminar on Computational Learning and Adaptation
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Incremental Formation of Probabilistic Concept Hierarchies
Pat Langley, Stanford Robotics Lab
Abstract below
4:15 - SSP Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
An Introduction to Systems Thinking
Maggie Johnson, Stanford Computer Science and Symbolic Systems
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 20 OCTOBER
12:30 - HCI Seminar
Skilling Auditorium, SITN Channel E1
Hypermedia Applications in BETA
Kristen Nygaard, Joergen Lindskov Knudsen, Elmer Sandvad,
and Kaj Groenbaek, University of Oslo, University of Aarhus
Abstract below
3:15 - Philosophy Colloquium
Encina Hall, Room 423
The Meaning of "Life" in Aristotle
Chris Shields, U Colorado Philosophy
3:30 - Linguistics Colloquium
Building 460, Room 146
Evidence for Constraints on Phonological Contrasts
Edward Flemming, Stanford Linguistics
Abstract below
TUESDAY, 24 OCTOBER
7:00 - SSP Film Series
Cubberley Hall, Room 128
Two films:
The Human Language (Part 3): The Human Language Evolves (1995)
and
In Praise of Language (1989)
Abstract below
WEDNESDAY, 25 OCTOBER
3:15 - Philosophy of Computation Seminar
Ventura Hall, Room 17
Formal Symbol Manipulation (Part 2)
Brian Cantwell Smith, Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
Abstract below
THURSDAY, 26 OCTOBER
10:00 - STASS Seminar
Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Cognitive Content
John Perry and David Israel
Abstract below
12:00 - Cognitive Science Lunch
Cordura Hall, Room 100
Making Robots Conscious of their Mental States
John McCarthy, Stanford Computer Science
Abstract below
4:15 - SSP Forum
Building 60, Room 61-F
Harnessing Automated Inference to Enhance the
Computer-Human Interface
Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research
Abstract below
FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER
12:30 - HCI Seminar
Skilling Auditorium, SITN Channel E1
The Wheel of Life, a Transformational Theater Piece
Larry Friedlander, Stanford English
Abstract below
3:15 - Philosophy Colloquium
Encina Hall, Room 423
The Cunning of Trust
Philip Petit, Australian National University
3:30 - Linguistics Colloquium
Building 460, Room 146
Title to be announced
Geoffrey K. Pullum, UC Santa Cruz Linguistics []
MONDAY, 30 OCTOBER
2:00 - Semantics Workshop
Cordura Hall, Room 100
What is a Possible Structural Argument?
Dieter Wunderlich, Duesseldorf
Abstract below
____________
The CSLI Calendar appears on Wednesday of each week throughout the academic
year. Announcements, abstracts, and other information to appear in the
Calendar can be submitted by e-mail to <incalendar@csli.stanford.edu>.
Further information about CSLI and past issues of the CSLI Calendar
are available on the Internet at URL <http://www-csli.stanford.edu/csli/>.
The Calendar is also posted each week to the <csli.bboard> newsgroup.
____________
PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTATION SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 18 October
3:15 p.m., Ventura Hall, Room 17
Formal Symbol Manipulation (Part 1)
Brian Cantwell Smith
Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
[bcsmith@parc.xerox.com]
The readings for today's seminar are John Haugeland's "Semantic Engines"
(Introduction to _Mind Design_); Newell & Simon: "Computer Science as
Empirical Inquiry"; and Volume I Chapter 4 of _The Middle Distance_. A course
description can be found at [http://shr.stanford.edu/ BCSmith/phil395a.html].
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 19 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Practical Content
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI International
[john@csli.stanford.edu,israel@ai.sri.com]
This third meeting of the Quarter will be a session on Practical Content. As
background, see Israel, Perry, and Tutiya, "Executions, Motivations and
Accomplishments," _Philosophical Review_ October 1993: 515--540. Also
relevant: Israel, Perry, and Tutiya, "Actions and Movements" _Proceedings of
IJCAI-'91_ (Mountain View: Morgan Kaufmann, August, 1991). Readings are also
available at [http://www-csli.stanford.edu/users/john/phil.html].
____________
CSLI COGLUNCH
on Thursday, 19 October
12:00 noon, Cordura Hall, Room 100
Consciousness in Psychology
Ernest Hilgard
Stanford Psychology
Consciousness is a troublesome concept for psychology. Obviously we are
aware, we direct our attention to this thing or that, we have feelings, we
experience the world. But it is not at all clear how to understand such facts
"scientifically." This talk will focus on the difficulty of the issues
involved in studying these otherwise obvious facts.
____________
SEMINAR ON COMPUTATIONAL LEARNING AND ADAPTATION
on Thursday, 19 October
4:00 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
Incremental Formation of Probabilistic Concept Hierarchies
Pat Langley
Stanford Robotics Laboratory
[langley@cs.stanford.edu]
A sizeable literature has developed around Fisher's (1987) Cobweb, an
incremental clustering algorithm that generates hierarchies of probabilistic
concept descriptions from unsupervised training data. In this talk I review
Cobweb's representation of knowledge, its organization of memory, its
performance element, and its approach to learning. After this, I report some
experimental studies of the system's learning behavior in both natural and
synthetic domains, then consider some extensions to Cobweb that let it deal
with numeric attributes, handle noisy domains, reduce the influence of
training order, and respond to concept drift. Finally, I briefly examine some
related work on the induction of probabilistic knowledge, including for
learning Bayesian networks.
This talk describes work done jointly with John Allen, Doug Fisher, John
Gennari, Wayne Iba, Kathleen McKusick, and Kevin Thompson.
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 19 October
4:15 p.m., Building 60, Room 61-F
An Introduction to Systems Thinking
Maggie Johnson
Stanford Computer Science and Symbolic Systems
[johnson@cs.stanford.edu]
It is no longer possible to ignore the complexity of the systems that we are a
part of, nor can we deny the need to improve our ability to function in them.
Understanding complex, dynamic systems requires different skills than most
people have. The primary skill one needs is systems thinking. This is a
conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and a set of tools that have been
developed over the past 50 years, to make high-level, wide-perspective
patterns clearer, and to help us see how to change them effectively.
In this seminar, we will cover the basics of systems thinking including an
introduction to continuous modeling and computer simulation. We will also
show why systems thinking is becoming one of the most important skills a
student (or anyone) can develop.
MAGGIE JOHNSON is a lecturer in the Computer Science and Symbolic Systems
departments here at Stanford. She teaches the CS109 sequence (Introduction to
Computer Science), CS143 (Compilers) and CS105a (Introduction to Computing).
Her research interests are system dynamics and computer modeling, computer
music, and software engineering. (Visit her web page at
http://www-cs-staff.stanford.edu/~johnson/)
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 20 October
12:30 p.m., Skilling Auditorium
Hypermedia Applications in BETA
Kristen Nygaard, Joergen Lindskov Knudsen,
Elmer Sandvad, and Kaj Groenbaek
University of Oslo, University of Aarhus
[kristen@ifi.uio.no]
World Wide Web is often considered the leading edge in hypermedia. But the
WWW concept with embedded jump addresses comes short in several areas: it
requires special data formats; it is not well-suited for dynamic linking while
you're reading; it does not support collaboration well since linking requires
write access to pages. In contrast a so-called anchor-based approach in line
with the popular Dexter Hypertext Reference Model is better suited to handle
such issues by keeping links separate from the document contents.
The DEVISE group at University of Aarhus has developed an anchor-based
hypermedia service, called DEVISE Hypermedia (DHM), which supports: 1) dynamic
linking in text graphics, sound, pictures, video, etc.; 2) open link service
for the users' favorite applications; 3) cooperation on shared information.
The service is implemented by means of an open object-oriented application
framework with generic classes for links and other standard components in
hypermedia. The framework implements and augments the concepts of the Dexter
Hypertext Reference Model. It applies an object-oriented database (OODB) to
store the hypermedia objects separate from the contents of the base documents
being interlinked.
DHM has been developed in a participatory design process and it is currently
in pilot use in a large engineering company supervising bridge construction.
The company has evaluated the system over a 3 month period and it is now being
used by the Quality Manager to investigate efficient ways to organize the
maintenance documentation for the bridge.
The talk will introduce the notion of anchor-based hypermedia and discuss its
advantages/disadvantages compared to the WWW. Then the DEVISE Hypermedia
framework is introduced with focus on providing open linking services to
users' favorite applications. A demo of the use of DHM to make a hypermedia
enhancement of applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Bentley's
Microstation CAD system is given.
For more information on BETA, see <http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~beta/>
KRISTEN NYGAARD is Professor of Informatics at the University of Oslo.
Together with Ole Johan Dahl, he developed SIMULA, the first object-oriented
language. Nygaard was instrumental in creating the Scandinavian research and
applications community in participatory design in the late sixties, and has
continued work on object-oriented analysis, design and programming, including
participation in the design of the languages Delta and Beta.
KAJ GRONBAK is an Associate Professor at the Computer Science Department,
Aarhus University, Denmark. His research interests include: Development and
use of hypermedia and object-oriented database technology; tools and
techniques for cooperative (participatory) design; system development with
object oriented tools and techniques; user interface design and prototyping;
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW);
[[Biographies for other speakers not currently available]]
____________
PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 20 October
3:15 p.m., Encina Hall, Room 423
The Meaning of "Life" in Aristotle
Chris Shields
U Colorado Philosophy
____________
LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 20 October
3:30 p.m., Building 460, Room 146
Evidence for Constraints on Phonological Contrasts
Edward Flemming
Stanford Linguistics
[flemming@csli.stanford.edu]
Arguments will be presented that the selection of phonological contrasts is
subject to three functional goals (cf. proposals by Zipf, Martinet, and
Lindblom):
i. Maximize the number of contrasts
ii. Maximize the distinctiveness of contrasts
iii. Minimize articulatory effort
The evidence is drawn from analyses of inventory structure, enhancement,
neutralization and contrast preservation phenomena. Constraints on the number
and distinctiveness of contrasts are comparative in the sense that they place
conditions on relationships between independent contrasting forms. Thus their
adoption implies that phonological well-formedness must be evaluated with
respect to a set of words, rather than individual words.
____________
SSP FILM SERIES
on Tuesday, 24 October
7:00 p.m., Cubberley Hall, Room 128
The Human Language (Part 3): The Human Language
Evolves - "With and Without Words" (1995)
and
In Praise of Language (1989)
"With and Without Words" (55 minutes) is the third installment of "The Human
Language," a three-part PBS series produced by Gene Searchinger and featuring
several Stanford and Bay Area language scholars as well as other prominent
researchers (e.g. Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, and Lila Gleitman).
"In Praise of Language" (23 minutes) looks at the Nso people of Northwest
Cameroon in West Africa and the development of their written language. The
language of the Nso people is called Lam Nso and is spoken by about 100,000
people.
The Symbolic Systems Film Series showcases videos and films of general
cognitive science interest. Attendance at the films can substitute for
attendance at the Symbolic Systems Forum for students enrolled in SSP 10 for
one unit. All are welcome at these events. The showing of the videos is
followed by a discussion, and researchers who are knowledgeable about the
film's topic are urged join us in evaluating how well the program represents
the field.
____________
PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTATION SEMINAR
on Wednesday, 25 October
3:15 p.m., Ventura Hall, Room 17
Formal Symbol Manipulation (Part 2)
Brian Cantwell Smith
Xerox PARC and Stanford Philosophy
[bcsmith@parc.xerox.com]
The reading for today's seminar is Volume I Chapter 4 of _The Middle
Distance_. A course description can be found at [http://shr.stanford.edu/
BCSmith/phil395a.html]
____________
STASS SEMINAR
on Thursday, 26 October
10:00 a.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
The Reflexive/Incremental Approach to Information, Cognition,
Language, and Action: Cognitive Content
John Perry and David Israel
Stanford Philosophy and SRI
[john@csli.stanford.edu,israel@ai.sri.com]
As background, see Perry and Israel, "Fodor and Psychological Explanations."
In _Meaning in Mind_, edited by Barry Loewer and Georges Rey, 165--80 (Oxford:
Basil Blackwell, 1991). Also relevant: Perry, "Self-Notions." _Logos_ 1990:
17--31. Papers are available at [http://www-csli/users/john/phil.html].
____________
CSLI COGLUNCH
on Thursday, 26 October
12:00 noon, Cordura Hall, Room 100
Making Robots Conscious of their Mental States
John McCarthy
Stanford Computer Science
[jmc@cs.stanford.edu]
In AI, consciousness of self consists in a program having certain kinds of
facts about its own mental processes and state of mind.
We discuss what consciousness of its own mental structures a robot will need
in order to operate in the common sense world and accomplish the tasks humans
will give it. It's quite a lot.
Many features of human consciousness will be wanted, some will not, and some
abilities not possessed by humans will be found feasible and useful.
We give preliminary fragments of a logical language a robot can use to
represent information about its own state of mind.
A robot will often have to conclude that it cannot decide a question on the
basis of the information in memory and therefore must seek information
externally. Goedel's idea of relative consistency is used to formalize
non-knowledge.
Programs with the level of consciousness discussed in this article do not yet
exist.
Thinking about consciousness with a view to designing it provides a new
approach to some of the problems of consciousness studied by philosophers.
The advantage is that it focusses on the aspects of consciousness important
for intelligent behavior.
A description and schedule for the CogLunch series on consciousness can be
found at [http://www-csli.stanford.edu/csli/9495reps/coglunch.html].
____________
SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
on Thursday, 26 October
4:15 p.m., Building 60, Room 61-F
Harnessing Automated Inference to Enhance the Computer-Human Interface
Eric Horvitz
Microsoft Research
[http://www.research.microsoft.com/research/dtg/horvitz/]
I will first provide a brief overview of Microsoft Research with a focus on
projects of the Decision Theory Group. Then, I will present work on the use
of decision-theoretic reasoning techniques to enhance user interfaces. After
providing some background on the use of probability and utility in intelligent
reasoning systems, I will describe the Vista project, an effort I directed
before coming to Microsoft Research. Vista is centered on building an
intelligent interface to assist NASA Mission Control flight engineers with
managing the complexity of information about Space Shuttle propulsion systems
in time-critical contexts. The Vista system went online at the Mission
Control Center last year and is now used to support flight. Moving from
special-purpose applications to personal computing, I will provide an overview
of related efforts to develop flexible and responsive interfaces for users of
personal computers.
ERIC HORVITZ is a Senior Researcher in the Decision Theory Group at Microsoft
Research and an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington.
He received his PhD and MD at Stanford University. In his doctoral work, he
explored decision-theoretic methods for computing rational decisions under
constraints in computational resources. His current work centers on the use
of decision-theoretic principles in the construction and operation of
automated reasoning systems. His interests include the use of probability and
utility to solve problems in time-critical decision making, operating systems,
user interfaces, information retrieval, and medicine.
____________
SEMINAR ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
on Friday, 27 October
12:30 p.m., Skilling Auditorium
The Wheel of Life, a Transformational Theater Piece
Larry Friedlander
Stanford English
[friedland.l@applelink.apple.com]
____________
PHILOSOPHY COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 27 October
3:15 p.m., Encina Hall, Room 423
The Cunning of Trust
Philip Petit
Australian National University
____________
LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM
on Friday, 27 October
3:30 p.m., Building 460, Room 146
Title to be announced
Geoffrey K. Pullum
UC Santa Cruz Linguistics
[pullum@cats.ucsc.edu]
____________
SEMANTICS SEMINAR
on Monday, 30 October
2:00 p.m., Cordura Hall, Room 100
What is a Possible Structural Argument?
Dieter Wunderlich
Duesseldorf
[dieter@csli.stanford.edu]
Lexical Decomposition Grammar (LDG) tries to account for argument structure on
the basis of semantic decomposition, by which the meaning of a verb may be
decomposed into several more primitive predicates. A distinction is made
between the level of Semantic Form (SF) on which the logical-categorial
structure is minimally specified and the level of Conceptual Interpretation on
which all kinds of inferences may be added.
SF is regarded as a binarily branched structure in terms of logical types.
Conjunction is therefore asymmetric in SF, and, by convention, A & B is
structured as [A [& B]], with A being called the head predicate. The arguments
of A thus rank over those of B. In general, SF determines the ranking of
arguments, but in certain cases some segments of the argument hierarchy may be
reversed by lexical marking (which might be motivated by additional conceptual
reasons).
The crucial idea for argument linking (adopted from Kiparsky) is that the
argument positions are encoded by purely structural features, and that the
same set of features characterizes the structural cases. As a consequence,
the medial argument of an unmarked 3-place verb like German geben 'give' is
linked to Dative and the lowest one to Accusative, while it is only for marked
verbs such as unterziehen 'subject to' that the lowest argument is linked to
Dative and the medial one to Accusative.
The question now is why in certain cases the medial argument is blocked from
being projected into syntax. Compare the resultative extension in (3) and the
locative alternation in (4) with the regular Dative verbs in (1) and (2).
(1) Sie entnahm der Dose einen Keks.
'She took a cookie out of the box'
(2) Sie stahl dem Koch ein Ei.
'She stole an egg from the cook'
(3) Sie trank die Flasche leer (*dem Bier/*von Bier).
'She drank the bottle empty (*from beer)'
(4) Sie bespruehte die Wand (*der Farbe/mit Farbe).
'She sprayed the wall (with paint)
Note that there is no obvious semantic reason why the liquid she is drinking
in (3) and the substance she is spraying in (4) cannot be expressed by a
structural case.
I will present a purely structural account by proposing the following
Restriction on Structural Arguments:
(R) An argument is structural only if it is either the lowest
argument or (each of its occurrences) L-commands the
lowest argument (with L for 'Lexical').
The working of (R) is shown by the minimal semantic representations for (1) to
(4) given in (5) to (8).
(5) TAKE(x,z) & BECOME NOT CONTAIN(y,z)
(6) TAKE(x,z) & BECOME NOT POSS(y,z)
Both x and y L-command the lowest argument, that is z.
(7) DRINK(x,y) & BECOME P(z)
y does not L-command z.
(8) SPRAY(x,y) & BECOME LOC(y, AT z)
The first occurrence of y does not L-command z.
A corollary of (R) is that for every non-last member of an SF-conjunction no
argument except the highest one can be expressed as a structural argument in
syntax.
Furthermore, this account rules out all more elaborated representations such
as that in (9) for the resultative extension.
(9) CAUSE( DRINK(x,y), BECOME EMPTY(z))
The causal interpretation is ensured by means of a general Coherence
Principle rather than being part of the lexical entry.
____________
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
CSLI OPEN HOUSE
on Thursday, 2 November
3:00 p.m.--5:30 p.m., Cordura Hall
Featuring demonstrations from CSLI's Interface Laboratory projects:
* Applied Speech Technologies
* Archimedes Project
* Cooperative Computing
* Education Program for Gifted Youth
* English Resource Grammar
* Hyperproof
* Internet Just-in-Time Learning
* Project on People, Computers, and Design
* Social Responses to Communication Technology
____________
1995 IAP TUTORIALS
Monday through Wednesday, 6--8 November
Cordura Hall, Stanford Campus
KNOWLEDGE MILLENNIUM: NETWORKED LEARNING AND
COMMUNICATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
[http://www-csli.stanford.edu/csli/tutorials.html]
Three days of tutorials on the Internet, Social Responses to Communication
Technology, and Speech Recognition. Open to registered participants only.
MONDAY, 6 NOVEMBER:
The Internet: Agents, Just-in-Time Learning, and Distance Education
The first day's tutorial covers a range of topics centered on the design
and development of effective internet technologies:
* Internet Agents -- software tools for finding and accessing
information on the internet;
* Distance Learning -- delivery of traditional lectures and educational
material over the internet; new ways of participating in interactive
study groups; organizing training material so that it can be
found "on demand";
* Professional Support Systems -- providing doctors with diagnostic
information over the internet; professional teamwork on the internet.
Speakers: Yoav Shoham, Marko Balabanovic, J. Marty Tenenbaum, Terry
Winograd, William M. Detmar, Larry Leifer, George White
TUESDAY, 7 NOVEMBER:
Social Responses to Communication Technology
The second day's tutorial is on "Social Responses to Communication
Technology." This theory states that individuals' interactions with
computers, television, and other communication technologies are fundamentally
social and natural. That is, all people expect computers, televisions, and
other technologies to obey a wide range of social rules, and all people use
these rules in responding to these media. Similarly, all individuals respond
to pictures on the screen as if the objects they represent were actually
present. We will discuss a series of over 25 experiments that demonstrate
that the real and mediated world are essentially the same. We will discuss
how our research on the following concepts inform the design of interfaces,
multimedia, television, and all other media: politeness, praise and criticism,
interpersonal distance, personality, agents, emotion, arousal, gender
stereotyping, size and shape, motion, use of voice, fidelity, and synchrony.
Speakers: Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves
WEDNESDAY, 8 NOVEMBER:
Automatic Speech Recognition
The third day covers theoretical and practical aspects of Automatic Speech
Recognition. After nearly 30 years of gradual progress, ASR is now showing up
everywhere, over the phone, on PCs, and soon on the internet. The history,
theory, current practice, and future of the ASR field is treated in this
tutorial by several acknowledged authorities in the area who have both
industrial and academic experience.
Speakers: Bill Meisel, Elizabeth Macken, Neil Scott, George White, Brian Scott
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
By phone: call 415-723-1224
By e-mail: contact mking@csli.stanford.edu
____________