Dormant SIGs
Fujimi Junior High School Support Team
The goal of Fujimi Junior High School Support Team is to provide foreign students attending Fujimi Junior High School customized multilingual communication support using the Language Grid. Many foreign students at Fujimi Junior High School do not speak fluent Japanese, and they are in need of multilingual communication support. To help these students, the school offers Japanese classes to these foreign students. The Fujimi Junior High School Support Team aims to help these students with everyday communication and learning by providing multilingual communication applications tailored to their needs. As a result, the Fujimi Junior High School Support Team has developed a multilingual chat system customized to Fujimi Junior High School on the Language Grid Playground. The multilingual chat system assists communication between foreign students and teachers, foreign students and Japanese students, foreign students and foreign students, and teachers and foreign student's parents. Based on the real-world usages and findings obtained from the Fujimi Junior High School's case, the Team aims to design and build specialized tools tailored to school environment in the future. SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-3 SIG
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Language Resource Wrapping Project
Overview of our activity | How to join us | Documents
Overview of our activityThis volunteer project aims to develop wrappers that wrap language resources and language processing functions available on the Internet into web services that implement language grid standard interfaces. Currently, language resources (e.g., dictionaries and parallel texts) or language processing functions (e.g., machine translations and morphological analysis) have been developed individually. By wrapping them into web services that implement the language grid interface those services will be available on a language grid and users can combine them to create new language services suitable for their own activities. To collect know-how on wrapping, our project members are currently developing libraries and templates needed for wrapping, and also edited wrapping manuals. In the future, we will develop a wrapping-supporting environment to further assist people using the integrated set of these libraries and templates. Furthermore, we are considering a system that allows volunteers to publish their wrappers on a shared web service server. Our project is planning to release the list of the language resources and language processing functions for which we are authorized to act as the licenser's agent. We also plan to raise the profile of wrapping and accelerate our program for recruiting volunteers. We have set an immediate goal of wrapping 100 resources by the end of this fiscal year. As mentioned earlier, we are developing an environment that will allow volunteers to concentrate on wrapping thus making language resources and language processing functions into web services. We will also promote the growth of the language grid.
How to join us
We are looking for volunteers who are interested in workflows.
DocumentsThe up-to-date manual that are applicable for general wrapping activity is now available on the Language Grid Developers' Wiki. (Currently, only Japanese manual is available, but English version will be provided in the future. Stay tuned.). SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
Members
Web Service Workflow Lab.
Overview of our activity | Activities | Join us
Overview of our activityWeb Service Workflow Lab. provides workflows composed of Web services required for the Language Grid Project. Members of the laboratory are mainly researchers and graduate students who have expertise on techniques of Web services and workflows. Workflows on the Language Grid are composed of Web services, such as dictionaries and morphological analyzers provided by the Language Resource Wrapping Project, and these workflows have complicated functionalities for applications. For example, a workflow for translating technical documents is composed of translation engines, morphological analyzers and technical term dictionaries that translate technical terms. In the Language Grid Project, workflows are described in WS-BPEL. The workflows are interpreted and executed by the WS-BPEL engine embedded in the Language Grid infrastructure. We are currently applying our experience of the use of workflows to the following research issues: applying semantic Web technologies to the composition of workflows, and the discovery/reuse of patterns of Web service composition.
ActivitiesOur main activities are as follows:
Join us
We are looking for volunteers who are interested in workflows. If you'd like to join our activity, please contact contact SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
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Special Interest Group on Multilingual Collaboration Tools
This special interest group for the multilingual collaboration tool (SIG-MCT) plans to share the information it has about multilingual collaboration tools using the Language Grid. We use the Language Grid, an infrastructure technology used for handling a variety of language resources. The Language Grid also offers various language resources and language processing functions. Moreover, some projects have been developing a multilingual tool that is used through the Language Grid. We have obtained the developmental know-how for using the Language Grid. The SIG-MCT has established an electronic bulletin board system for facilitating the sharing of information. The members of the SIG-MCT take an interest in developing tools that use the Language Grid. We plan to share our information with upcoming multilingual tool developers for their benefit. Inter-cultural Collaboration Tools BBS (You need ID and password to view this BBS) SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
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Usability Lab.
The Language Grid Usability Lab conducts usability evaluations of various software tools used on the Language Grid. In particular, we evaluate how accurately available language services translate from one language to another and the usefulness of various software tools.
SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
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Past Members
Pangaea Support Team
Pangaea support team combines language resources or linguistic services of Language Grid and existing tools, including bulletin board systems and chat systems, to support the multilingual communication that takes place under NPO Pangaea. The goal of this project is to invigorate community activity. Today, numerous communities participate in international activities. The key to the success of these activities is for people all over the world to be able to communicate verbally or to exchange information. However, communication problems often occur because the official language of the community is not the first language of the participants. NPO Pangaea's mission is to be the peace engineering laboratory for the creation of the universal playground, where children across the world can develop personal bonds transcending the boundaries of language, time, and space.
Pangaea has bases all over the world. Thus, language barriers exist between them, and communication between the staff of each base is difficult, as is organizing and holding web cam events. Our team combines language resources or linguistic services of Language Grid and existing tools, including bulletin board systems and chat systems, to support the multilingual communication that takes place under NPO Pangaea. We use multilingual chat tool AnnoChat, which combines a multilingual translation and chat system and a multilingual input tool, Langrid Input. These tools enable staff to communicate with each other and carry out office work using their first language. The tools actually in use and the way they are used are described next. AnnoChat -multilingual chat tool using Language Grid-AnnoChat is a chat tool translating the input message multilingually and displaying the translated multilingual messages. Users can use this tool to chat using their first language. The tool translates by using language resources of the Language Grid.  When a user inputs a message in the AnnoChat System, a workflow deployed on the Language Grid is invoked. The workflow then invokes a web service to replace community words and one to translate messages. The AnnoChat server receives the results of the workflow and displays these messages. Usage of multilingual chat system in Pangaea
Involving communication between staff in faraway bases
Pangaea has bases all over the world, and many local staff and volunteers work at these facilities. Thus, the people at each base need to communicate with each other a lot. However, many of the people at the bases can talk only in their first language. Thus, communication is often slow and awkward. Using the multilingual chat system enables staff to communicate in their first language and reduce the stress involved in such communication. Communication in face-to-face meetings
Staff meetings for web cam events are usually held in English because the staff members have different first languages. Because many local staff are poor at English conversation, the meetings often have communication shortcomings, or the staff feel a significant amount of stress. For these meetings, we display AnnoChat by a projector to enable smoother communication. A speaker uses English, and people who are good at English input the content into AnnoChat. Other staff can then read this content displayed in AnnoChat in their first language and understand what the speaker has said. Moreover, local staff can input their questions or opinions in their first language. Usage of community dictionaryThis story involved a staff member reporting Pangaea activity. The staff member inputted "what menu...?" to ask what Pangaea activity menu (play) they used. Another volunteer staff member misinterpreted the word 'menu', and she replied "fish and ...". Langrid Input -A translation tool for inputting multilingual text-Langrid Input is a Language Grid tool that provides support when inputting text by using multilingual translation. For example, when a staff member who is poor at writing English must prepare an e-mail message in English, he can obtain a text translated into English by only inputting a message to this tool in his first language. He can then check that the translation is correct by reading the message of "Back Treanslation". Thus, he can write e-mail more smoothly. Because this tool can include a community dictionary, even technical terms can be translated correctly. Voice of staff members
Web cam activity between Seoul and Mie, Japan held in March 2007 (Movie) : MIZY Center SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-3 SIG
Members
Kansai University Kubota and Kurokami Lab. Support Team
Today, numerous communities participate in international activities. The key to the success of these activities is that people all over the world can communicate in words or exchange information. However, there are often communication problems because the official language of the community is not the first language of the participants. Kubota and Kurokami laboratory, Graduate School of Informatics, Kansai University, researches curricula that adopt information and communication technology (ICT). Curricula often face language problems when exchange studies are done involving people who speak different languages. Moreover, communicating through pictures is often needed in exchange studies, but there are very few tools available that support exchanges of pictures. Some tools have been developed for promoting smoother communication through pictures, but these are not very effective in overcoming the language barrier. We support exchange studies between foreign countries using a collaboration tool called "Multilingual NOTA." Multilingual NOTA is based on the existing collaboration tool "NOTA" in combination with language resources or linguistic services of the Language Grid. NOTA allows participants to easily upload files and draw pictures. We hope that Multilingual NOTA will enable participants in these activities to use their first languages and pictures while communicating more actively with speakers of other languages. SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-3 SIG
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Past Members
Special Interest Group on Grid Business
The Language Grid has been under development at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Kyoto University started its operation for non-profit use in December 2007. Thirty user groups joined it at the launch, and the Grid became so active that the number of groups increased to fifty in six months. However, the current operation is limited to non-profit use and cannot be applied to R&D at companies or to business purposes. In this SIG, our goal is to find the technical and organizational issues and their solutions in the promotion of business use of the Language Grid. Grid Business Wiki (You need an ID and a password to access this wiki.) SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-3 SIG
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Past Members
Special Interest Group on Language Service Ontology
This special interest group facilitates discussions among the researchers who are interested in "language service ontology." A "language service" is a Web service whose functionalities are related to natural language. There could be a wide range of language services, from a specialized one, such as linguistic analysis (e.g. morpho-syntactic analysis), to a more general service that could benefit users in accessing dictionaries and/or translating messages into other languages. The "language service ontology" will serve as a common ground for describing technical elements of a language service in the context of open and distributed language infrastructures. These elements include static language resources, such as lexicons, corpora, algorithmic Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources, as well as abstract linguistic objects, such as linguistic expression, meaning, and annotation. The ontology-based description of language services ensures interoperability among services, thereby enabling each service to be incorporated into a composite language service. Users might be able to choose any service provided on an infrastructure, such as the Language Grid, to make a composite service tailored to their needs. The ontology will also serve as guidelines for users creating their own language resources. For example, a number of nonprofit organizations operating in multilingual communities have recently been creating their own language resources. Such resources, however, tend to be used only within a community because of the lack of interoperability. The ontology will help users to create language resources much more easily and to use them more effectively in combination with other resources provided on the Internet. The goal of developing a comprehensive language service ontology, on which all concerned can agree, calls for thorough discussions among experts from the relevant fields and the establishment of international standards. This special interest group will serve as a vital body for facilitating such discussions among researchers specializing in the related fields, such as NLP, Semantic Web, and AI planning. We will also support relevant research that is based on international research collaborations. From 2006 through 2007 (in Japanese fiscal year), we have been supported by "R&D promotion scheme funding international joint research" promoted by NICT, Japan. With this research grant, we have jointly worked on this subject with colleagues at DFKI (Germany) and CNR-ILC (Italy). For more detail of our work, consult the following white paper article. Also major publications can be found from: Anyone who are interested in this subject, please drop us a line at the contact e-mail address shown at the bottom. SIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
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Special Interest Group on Graphical Communication
Graphical expressions such as pictograms and avatars are used in various online intercultural communication applications to supplement or reinforce intercultural communication. While graphical expressions carry certain semantics at first sight, cultural differences in interpretation are observed in some cases. The following are the major research topics of this special interest group:
Related Research PapersSIG (Special Interest Group)Type-2 SIG
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wrapping.langrid.org.
A multilingual chat tool is a very interest in g program. It solves our language-barrier problems. I would get stressed talking with you if it did not exist. It also has pictograms. It is very attractive and makes communication clear.
The multilingual chat tool is just great and also fun. Personally, I enjoy it as I can have beneficial and amusing conversations with Yumi.
