IEE COLLOQ. LONDON MAY 15TH: GROUNDING REPRESENTATIONS (MURPHY)

Paul Mc Kevitt P.McKevitt at dcs.shef.ac.uk
Sat Apr 29 11:58:35 EDT 1995



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NOTE:

Please note that there  has been a  programme  change below and  a new
speaker (Elisabeth Andr/e: DFKI, Germany and Sheffield, England) added
in.
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                      PROGRAMME AND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION


                          GROUNDING REPRESENTATIONS:
                    Integration of sensory information in
                          Natural Language Processing,
                 Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks

 
                                 IEE COLLOQUIUM 
                       IEE Computing and Control Division
             [Professional group: C4 (Artificial Intelligence)]

                              in association with:

          British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems
                                      and
             The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence
                      and Simulation of Behaviour (SSAISB)
           

                           MONDAY, MAY 15th, 1995
                           **********************

                                   at the
                               IEE Colloquium
                                Savoy Place
                              London, ENGLAND

                                   Chairs

                      NOEL SHARKEY and PAUL MC KEVITT
                       Department of Computer Science
                      University of Sheffield, England


WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Perhaps  the    most  famous  criticism   of   traditional  Artificial
Intelligence  is  that   computer programs    use   symbols that   are
arbitrarily interpretable  (see Searle, 1980 for  the Chinese Room and
Harnad, 1990 for the symbol grounding problem). We could, for example,
use   the word "apple"  to  mean anything  from a  "common fruit" to a
"pig's nose". All the computer  knows is the relationship between this
symbol the others that  we have given it.  The  question is, how is it
possible to  move  from this notion  of  meaning, as the  relationship
between  arbitrary symbols, to   a notion of  "intrinsic" meaning.  In
other words,  how do we provide  meaning by grounding computer symbols
or representations in the physical world?

The  aim of this colloquium  is to  take a broad   look at many of the
important issues in relating machine intelligence  to the world and to
make accessible  some of  the   most recent  research  in  integrating
information   from  different modalities.    For   example, why is  it
important to have symbol or  representation grounding and what is  the
role of the emerging neural network technology?

One  approach  has  been  to  link intelligence  to  the sensory world
through visual systems  or robotic  devices  such as MURPHY.   Another
approach is work on systems that  integrate information from different
modalities such as vision and language.  Yet another approach has been
to examine  how  the human  brain  relates  sensory, motor   and other
information.  It looks like we may be at long last getting a handle on
the age  old CHINESE ROOM  and SYMBOL GROUNDING  problems.  Hence this
colloquium has as its focus, "grounding representations.

The colloquium will occur over one day and will focus on three themes:
(1) Biology and  development; (2) Computational  models and (3) Symbol
grounding.

The  target audience  of this colloquium  will   include Engineers and
Scientists  in    Neural  Networks  and     Artificial   Intelligence,
Developmental Psychologists,   Cognitive  Scientists, Philosophers  of
mind, Biologists and  all  of those  interested in the  application of
Artificial Intelligence to real world problems.



PROGRAMME:

                             Monday, May 15th, 1995
                            ************************

INTRODUCTION:
 9.00   REGISTRATION + SUSTENANCE

10.00  `An introduction'
         NOEL SHARKEY
         (Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, ENGLAND)

COMPUTATIONAL MODELS:
10.30  `From visual data to multimedia presentations'
         ELISABETH ANDR/E
         (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
          Saarbr"ucken, GERMANY) &
         (Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, ENGLAND)

11.00  `Natural language and exploration of an information space'
         OLIVIERO STOCK
         (Istituto per la Ricerca Scientifica e Technologica, IRST)
         (Trento, ITALY)

11.30  `How visual salience influences natural language descriptions'
         WOLFGANG MAASS
         (Cognitive Science Programme)
         (Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, GERMANY)

12.00   DISCUSSION

12.30   LUNCH

GROUNDING SYMBOLS:
 2.00  `Grounding symbols in sensorimotor categories with neural networks'
         STEVAN HARNAD
         (Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, ENGLAND)

 2.30  `Some observations on symbol-grounding from a combined
         symbolic/connectionist viewpoint'
          JOHN BARNDEN
          (Computing Research Laboratory, New Mexico, USA) &
          (Department of Computer Science, University of Reading, ENGLAND)

 3.00  Sustenance Break

 3.30  `On grounding language with neural networks' 
         GEORG DORFFNER
         (Austrian Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Vienna, AUSTRIA)

PANEL DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS:
 4.00  `Grounding representations'
          Chairs + Invited speakers

S/IN S/IN:
 4.30  `De brief/comments'
         PAUL MC KEVITT
         (Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, ENGLAND)

 5.00  O/ICHE MHA/ITH
                           *****************************


PUBLICATION:
We intend to publish a book on this Colloquium Proceedings.


                                    ADDRESSES


IEE CONTACT:
Sarah Leong
Groups Officer
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)
Savoy Place
GB- WC2R OBL, London
England, UK, EU.

E-mail:    SLeong at iee.org.uk    (Sarah Leong)
E-mail:    mbarrett at iee.org.uk  (Martin Barrett)
E-mail:    dpenrose at iee.org.uk  (David Penrose)
WWW:       http://www.iee.org.uk
Ftp:       ftp.iee.org.uk
FaX:       +44 (0) 171-497-3633
Phone:     +44 (0) 171-240-1871  (general)
Phone:     +44 (0) 171-344-8423  (direct)


LOCATION:
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)
Savoy Place
GB- WC2R OBL, London
England, UK, EU.


ACADEMIC CONTACT:
Paul Mc Kevitt
Department of Computer Science
Regent Court
211 Portobello Street
University of Sheffield
GB- S1 4DP, Sheffield
England, UK, EU.

E-mail:    p.mckevitt at dcs.shef.ac.uk
WWW:       http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/
WWW:       http://www.shef.ac.uk/
Ftp:       ftp.dcs.shef.ac.uk
FaX:       +44 (0) 114-278-0972
Phone:     +44 (0) 114-282-5572 (Office)   
                       282-5596 (Lab.)    
          	       282-5590 (Secretary)


REGISTRATION:
Registration forms are available from SARAH LEONG at the above address
and should be  sent to the following  address: (It is NOT possible  to
register by E-mail.)

Colloquium Bookings
Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)
PO Box 96
Stevenage
GB- SG1 2SD Herts 
England, UK, EU.

Fax:                    +44 (0) 143 874 2792
Receipt Enquiries:      +44 (0) 143 876 7243
Registration enquiries: +44 (0) 171 240 1871 x.2206

PRE-REGISTRATION IS ADVISED ALTHOUGH YOU CAN REGISTER ON THE DAY OF THE
EVENT.

________________________________________________________________________

                    R E G I S T R A T I O N  COSTS
________________________________________________________________________


(ALL FIGURES INCLUDE VAT)

IEE MEMBERS                        44.00

NON-IEE MEMBERS                    74.00

IEE MEMBERS
(Retired, Unemployed, Students)     FREE

NON-IEE MEMBERS                 
(Retired, Unemployed, Students)    22.00


LUNCH TICKET                        4.70


MEMBERS:
Members of the IEEIE, The British Computer Society and the Society for
the Study of  Artificial Intelligence and  Simulation of Behaviour and
Eurel Member Associations will be admitted at Members' rates.

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