Natural Language Generation of Textual Reports:

  A Case Study with Scuba Dive Logs

Abstract

Natural Language Generation (NLG) is concerned with developing techniques for producing texts in English or other human languages from non-linguistic input. Applied NLG is difficult because (A) the subtasks involved in NLG are poorly understood (B) we often are required to produce texts for an application where there are no existing corpus of human written texts and (C) users/end-users have subjective linguistic preferences

In this talk, we describe the issues involved in applied NLG such as knowledge acquisition and evaluation with the help of example NLG systems from completed and ongoing projects including a new research project where we are working on generating English review reports of
Scuba dive logs. In many of these example NLG systems, we produce textual summaries of numerical data. The main objective of these 'data to text' systems is to communicate 'important' information TEXTUALLY to the end users. We understand that Visualization community aims to achieve a similar objective GRAPHICALLY. We want to explore if these two research communities can interact more and share more than just the objective!

Presenting spatial information

using non-visual methods:

audio-tactile interactives and

cell phone way-finding systems.

Abstract

Steven Landau will present current research being carried out at Touch
Graphics, Inc. The talk will cover four overlapping areas of inquiry,
including:

1. Audio-tactile interactive devices.
2. Non-visual presentation of spatial information 3. Haptic interface
design 4. Computer telephony for way-finding and content delivery in
exhibit spaces.

Mr. Landau will demonstrate several new applications for the Talking
Tactile Tablet, a low-cost computer peripheral device that permits blind
or visually impaired users to run sophisticated graphical applications
by pressing on tactile graphic drawing sheets mounted to a
touch-sensitive tablet. He will also discuss general considerations for
creating haptic interfaces and the potential use of cell phones as
assistive devices in controlling environmental events.

Biography

Steven Landau, Director of Research for Touch Graphics, Inc., received
an undergraduate degree in Art from Oberlin College and a Master of
Architecture from Harvard University. He spent 12 years as a
professional architect before forming Touch Graphics, Inc., a for-profit
company carrying our Federally-financed R&D on new products for the
blindness and visually impaired market. He was recently named a Tech
Awards Laureate for his work on the Talking Tactile Tablet.