[1] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> (33)
Subject: ACM MM97 and ASSETS98
[2] From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu> (23)
Subject: Coling-ACL '98 Call for Papers
[3] From: Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu> (87)
Subject: Call for Papers - please distribute!!
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 14:52:08 -0500 (EST)
From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu>
Subject: ACM MM97 and ASSETS98
>> From: "Ephraim P. Glinert" <glinert@cs.rpi.edu>
Dear Colleagues: Please take a moment to read this short message, in which
I'd like to draw your attention to two upcoming important conferences you
won't want to miss.
o ACM MULTIMEDIA'97 will take place November 9-13 in Seattle. The 40
technical papers in the truly outstanding program cover all aspects
of multimedia technology and systems, so no matter what your specialty
you'll surely find much of interest here! Two great keynote talks by
Brad Myers of CMU and Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland,
and a reception at the Seattle Space Needle, will be highlights of the
conference. And yes, YOU -CAN- AFFORD TO COME, even at this late date,
because we've arranged incredibly cheap coast-to-coast zone fares with
USAir which -DO NOT- require a Saturday night stay or way-in-advance
purchase. For full details, check out the superb conference web site:
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me personally
as General Co-Chair.
o ASSETS'98, the 3rd ACM/SIGCAPH Conference on Assistive Technologies,
will take place April 15-17, 1998 at the Marina del Rey Hotel in Los
Angeles (back-to-back with CHI'98). This is the premier international
forum where researchers and developers from academia and industry
meet to exchange ideas and report on new developments relating to
computer-based systems to help people. The conference scope spans
disabilities and special needs of ALL types; there are no parallel
sessions, in order to encourage total group participation throughout
the meeting (even meals are taken together). THERE IS STILL TIME TO
SUBMIT a paper or to volunteer to participate in other ways - the
deadline is November 14, 1997. For complete details, please see the
conference web site:
http://www.acm.org/sigcaph/assets
Or contact one of the lead organizers:
General Chair: Arthur I. Karshmer (e-mail: arthur@cs.nmsu.edu)
Program Chair: Meera M. Blattner (e-mail: blattner@llnl.gov)
I hope to see you at one or both of these great events. Thank you! -Ephraim
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:57:13 -0500 (EST)
From: "David L. Gants" <dgants@parallel.park.uga.edu>
Subject: Coling-ACL '98 Call for Papers
>> From: Priscilla Rasmussen <rasmusse@cs.rutgers.edu>
COLING-ACL'98
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS
17th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING'98)
and
36th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL'98)
Universite de Montreal
Montreal (Quebec), Canada
August 10-14, 1998
Deadlines:
* for submissions: January 30, 1998
* for submissions in the student sessions: March 7, 1998
* proposals for pre-conference tutorials: December 31, 1997
* proposals for post-conference workshops: December 31, 1997
For details, see:
http://coling-acl98.iro.umontreal.ca
or send an e-mail request to:
coling-acl98@iro.umontreal.ca
or send a hardcopy request to:
COLING-ACL'98
Dr. Pierre Isabelle
RALI, DIRO, Universite de Montreal
CP 6128, Succ. Centre-ville
Montreal (Quebec), Canada H3C 3J7
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 16:06:19 GMT
From: Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu>
Subject: Call for Papers - please distribute!!
- IDENTITY, FORMATION, DIGNITY -
The Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
upon Jewish and Christian Understandings of Personhood
April 30 - May 2, 1998
The Boston Theological Institute (BTI)
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Center for Faith and Science Exchange (FASE)
Sir John Templeton Foundation
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive science are
challenging our basic understanding of personhood, as formed
in part from ancient Greek, Jewish, and Christian sources of
revelation and wisdom. The mechanistic and functionalist
assumptions which guide AI and cognitive science research
already influence current perceptions of humankind.
Scientific progress in understanding human intelligence and its
emotional and bodily basis, and engineering advances in building
intelligent machines enforce penetrating questions about the
nature of human identity and its relationship to religious faith
and its assumptions. Our thinking about personhood shapes
patterns of education and character formation as well as the way
in which human dignity is conceived and practiced - or violated -
in contemporary society.
We seek to draw AI and cognitive science into dialogue with
theology on these issues. The doctrine of trinity and that of the
two natures of Christ helped to frame conceptions of personhood
and dignity: the trinity draws us to a notion of dynamic unity
transcending rationality; that of the two persons of Christ
emphasizes the importance of embodiment for a relationship with
the divine. Most religions would agree that humankind exists in a
sphere which includes the body and emotional reactions in the
context of nature, human community, and a sacred narrative. For
the last decade, AI and cognitive science have been struggling
with the questions of the importance of embodiment, emotions, and
cultural settings for intelligent systems. These research results
can inform theological reasoning about the meaning of personhood;
AI and cognitive science, on the other hand, can learn from the
Jewish concept of humans being created in the image of God.
We want to establish a dialogue of mutual enrichment in which
scholars in both fields build relationships to become able to
rely on the expertise and experience of the other.
For this purpose we would like to invite papers for a public
conference in Spring at MIT. Please send papers by March 1, 1998
either electronically to Dr. Anne Foerst <annef@ai.mit.edu> or
via posted mail or fax to The Boston Theological Institute,
"Identity, Formation and Dignity", 210 Herrick RD, Newton
Center, MA 02159, fax (617) 527-1073.
Possible topics are:
-- philosophical aspects of the concept of the identity of the
person;
-- formation of personhood in a biological system;
-- implications of mechanistic or idealistic assumptions for
human dignity;
-- the development of current historical and cultural concepts of
the person;
-- theories of character formation in light of mechanistic or
idealistic assumptions about humankind;
-- functional explanations for religion;
-- biological, sociological, or mechanistic explanations for
rejection of science and/or religion;
-- analysis of assumptions in science and/or religion from a
philosophy of science perspective;
-- differences in the Jewish and Christian perception of the
person;
-- differences between scientific and theological understandings
of personhood and dignity;
-- body-mind and body-mind-soul relations;
-- perspectives on human nature from medical, psychological,
psycho-analytical perspectives;
-- different understandings of intelligence within AI and/or the
cognitive sciences;
-- techniques for dialogue between AI, the cognitive sciences and
theology;
-- epistemological explanations of the origins of the
difficulties emerging in a dialogue between theology and AI;
-- patterns of interactions which emerge for participants in this
dialogue.
-- Dr.theol. Anne Foerst Postdoctoral FellowMassachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory 545 Technology SQ, NE 43 - 812 Cambridge, MA 02139 +1 / 617 / 253-7891
Harvard Divinity School Center for the Studies of Values in Public Life 56 Francis Ave Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/annef/
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