The Structure Of Multimodal Dialogue Ii

Most dialogues are multimodal. When people talk, they use not only their voices, but also facial expressions and other gestures, and perhaps even touch. When computers communicate with people, they use pictures and perhaps sounds, together with textual language, and when people communicate with computers, they are likely to use mouse “gestures” almost as much as words. How are such multimodal dialogues constructed? This is the main question addressed in this selection of papers of the second “Venaco Workshop”, sponsored by the NATO Research Study Group RSG-10 on Automatic Speech Processing, and by the European Speech Communication Association (ESCA).

Most dialogues are multimodal. When people talk, they use not only their voices, but also facial expressions and other gestures, and perhaps even touch. When computers communicate with people, they use pictures and perhaps sounds, together with textual language, and when people communicate with computers, they are likely to use mouse gestures almost as much as words. How are such multimodal dialogues constructed? This is the main question addressed in this selection of papers of the second Venaco Workshop, sponsored by the NATO Research Study Group RSG-10 on Automatic Speech Processing, and by the European Speech Communication Association (ESCA).

Dialogue systems are a very appealing technology with an extraordinary future. Spoken, Multilingual and Multimodal Dialogues Systems: Development and Assessment addresses the great demand for information about the development of advanced dialogue systems combining speech with other modalities under a multilingual framework. It aims to give a systematic overview of dialogue systems and recent advances in the practical application of spoken dialogue systems. Spoken Dialogue Systems are computer-based systems developed to provide information and carry out simple tasks using speech as the interaction mode. Examples include travel information and reservation, weather forecast information, directory information and product order. Multimodal Dialogue Systems aim to overcome the limitations of spoken dialogue systems which use speech as the only communication means, while Multilingual Systems allow interaction with users that speak different languages. Presents a clear snapshot of the structure of a standard dialogue system, by addressing its key components in the context of multilingual and multimodal interaction and the assessment of spoken, multilingual and multimodal systems In addition to the fundamentals of the technologies employed, the development and evaluation of these systems are described Highlights recent advances in the practical application of spoken dialogue systems This comprehensive overview is a must for graduate students and academics in the fields of speech recognition, speech synthesis, speech processing, language, and human–computer interaction technolgy. It will also prove to be a valuable resource to system developers working in these areas.

The main topic of this volume is natural multimodal interaction. The book is unique in that it brings together a great many contributions regarding aspects of natural and multimodal interaction written by many of the important actors in the field. Topics addressed include talking heads, conversational agents, tutoring systems, multimodal communication, machine learning, architectures for multimodal dialogue systems, systems evaluation, and data annotation.

Globalization, the concept used to account for the multitude of linkages, interconnections and interdependences that currently transcend territorial and sociocultural boundaries in the world, has been in the centre of continual controversy over its meaning, scope, intensity and social significance for post-modern societies. However, whether considered from the narrow angle of current socio-economic developments, or from the broad perspective of evolutionary processes straddling all spheres of life, globalization is generally acknowledged to refer to a complex set of processes of modernization, technologization, liberalization and integration operationalized through language and in a language shared by all those involved. For a number of geo-historical, socio-political, economic and technological reasons the language that has firmly established itself as the language of international communication is English. As a result, Global English takes a primary place in discussions of the effect of globalization on world societies and culture. The volume Globalization in English Studies addresses the issue of how globalization impacts upon culture, literature, language communication and language learning and use policies, which are taken to constitute the multiplex disciplinary space of English Studies. Written by authors with different language, cultural and theoretical backgrounds, this collection of eleven chapters throws light on how “global” and “local” entities are subtly intertwined, refashioned and rescaled in different geo-political and sociocultural contexts. The book is divided into four parts: The first part, Globalization in Culture, dwells upon the effects of globalization in particular cultural domains and the institutional attempts in some countries at reducing its negative consequences for local practices. The second part, Globalization in Literature, examines the impact of global integration processes on social life. In particular, it focuses on new developments as the “hybridization” and “technologization” of societies that tend to wipe out borders traditionally taken as reference points in building identity and a sense of belonging. The third part, Globalization in Language Communication, focuses on intercultural communication and the opportunities different multi-modal settings offer for the the realisation of intertextuality and interdiscursivity. Of particular interest is how local people select, appropriate , and creatively utilize cultural entities designed for global consumption to make them appear as their “own”. The last part, Global English and English Language Teaching/ Learning Policy, approaches the issue from a pedagogical perspective and examines the changes that globalization has caused for learners, learning environments and ways of speaking. Ranging over a variety of domains subsumed within English Studies, this collection of studies can serve as a good base for the cross-disciplinary synergy of ideas and fruitful debate among scholars and practitioners with a vested interest in Global English.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Conference on Cooperative Multimodal Communication, CMC'98, held in Tilburg, The Netherlands, in January 1998. The 13 revised full papers presented together with an introductory survey by the volume editors have passed through two rounds of reviewing, selection, and revision. The book offers topical sections on multimodal generation, multimodal cooperation, multimodal interpretation, and multimedia platforms and test environments.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Machine Learning for Multimodal Interaction, MLMI 2008, held in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in September 2008. The 12 revised full papers and 15 revised poster papers presented together with 5 papers of a special session on user requirements and evaluation of multimodal meeting browsers/assistants were carefully reviewed and selected from 47 submissions. The papers cover a wide range of topics related to human-human communication modeling and processing, as well as to human-computer interaction, using several communication modalities. Special focus is given to the analysis of non-verbal communication cues and social signal processing, the analysis of communicative content, audio-visual scene analysis, speech processing, interactive systems and applications.