workshop announcement

[gordon@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil]

                          CALL FOR PAPERS
        Informal Workshop on ``Biases in Inductive Learning"
        To be held after the 1992 Machine Learning Conference
            Saturday, July 4, 1992   Aberdeen, Scotland


     All aspects of an inductive learning system can bias the learn-
ing  process.   Researchers  to  date have studied various biases in
inductive learning such as algorithms,  representations,  background
knowledge,  and  instance orders.  The focus of this workshop is not
to examine these biases in isolation.  Instead, this  workshop  will
examine how these biases influence each other and how they influence
learning performance.  For example,  how  can  active  selection  of
instances  in concept learning influence PAC convergence?  How might
a domain theory affect an inductive learning  algorithm?   How  does
the choice of representational bias in a learner influence its algo-
rithmic bias and vice versa?

     The purpose of  this  workshop  is  to  draw  researchers  from
diverse  areas to discuss the issue of biases in inductive learning.
The workshop topic is a unifying theme for  researchers  working  in
the  areas of reformulation, constructive induction, inverse resolu-
tion,  PAC  learning,  EBL-SBL  learning,  and  other  areas.   This
workshop  does  not  encourage papers describing system comparisons.
Instead, the workshop encourages papers on the following topics:

 -  Empirical and analytical studies comparing different  biases  in
    inductive learning and their quantitative and qualitative influ-
    ence on each other or on learning performance

 -  Studies of methods for  dynamically  adjusting  biases,  with  a
    focus  on the impact of these adjustments on other biases and on
    learning performance

 -  Analyses of why certain biases are more suitable for  particular
    applications of inductive learning

 -  Issues that arise when integrating new biases into  an  existing
    inductive learning system

 -  Theory of inductive bias

Please send 4 hard copies of a  paper  (10-15  double-spaced  pages,
12-point font) or (if you wish to attend, but not present a paper) a
description of your current research to:

            Diana Gordon
            Naval Research Laboratory, Code 5510
            4555 Overlook Ave.  S.W.
            Washington, D.C.  20375-5000   USA

Email submissions to gordon at aic.nrl.navy.mil  are  also  acceptable,
but  they  must  be  in  PostScript.   FAX  submissions  will not be
accepted.  If you have any questions about the workshop, please send
email  to  Diana  Gordon at gordon at aic.nrl.navy.mil or call 202-767-
2686.

Important Dates:

   March 12 - Papers and research descriptions due
   May 1 - Acceptance notification
   June 1 - Final version of papers due

Program Committee:

   Diana Gordon, Naval Research Laboratory
   Dennis Kibler, University of California at Irvine
   Larry Rendell, University of Illinois
   Jude Shavlik, University of Wisconsin
   William Spears, Naval Research Laboratory
   Devika Subramanian, Cornell University
   Paul Vitanyi, CWI and University of Amsterdam