RefNet: An interdisciplinary network focussing on reference
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Aberdeen
Department Name: Computing Science
Abstract
RefNet proposes an EPSRC research network advancing the interdisciplinary study of reference by linking communities that have so far tended to work in near isolation from each other.
Reference is the process of making sure that a user/receiver can identify an entity - for example a person, thing, place, or event. Reference can be accomplished through language, but also through for example pointing, gaze, highlighting, and combinatons of the above. Reference can be considered the "anchor" of communication, and as such it is crucial for practical applications, from robotics and gaming to embodied agents, satellite navigation, and multimodal interfaces.
RefNet will foster collaboration between researchers in Computing Science and researchers in Psycholinguistics, and between researchers and practitioners in industry and the public sector. Through the study of reference, RefNet will build a wider interdisciplinary skills base for research on communication that will be of crucial importance at a time when computing science is becoming closely interlinked with other disciplines.
Reference is the process of making sure that a user/receiver can identify an entity - for example a person, thing, place, or event. Reference can be accomplished through language, but also through for example pointing, gaze, highlighting, and combinatons of the above. Reference can be considered the "anchor" of communication, and as such it is crucial for practical applications, from robotics and gaming to embodied agents, satellite navigation, and multimodal interfaces.
RefNet will foster collaboration between researchers in Computing Science and researchers in Psycholinguistics, and between researchers and practitioners in industry and the public sector. Through the study of reference, RefNet will build a wider interdisciplinary skills base for research on communication that will be of crucial importance at a time when computing science is becoming closely interlinked with other disciplines.
Planned Impact
The main purpose of RefNet is to change the way in which research communities interact, and the way in which they are able to influence, and be influenced by, practical applications.
Reference is a key mechanism in communication, "anchoring" words to things, people, events, times, places, etc. Understanding reference is therefore an important aspect of human knowledge. RefNet will contribute significantly to this understanding, though its skill building activities (e.g. the Summer School, bursaries, lab visits), and through improved interactions between Computational Linguists and Psycholinguists. In many cases, understanding will take the form of precise quantitative models.
Reference plays a crucial role in many practical applications of computing science, such as multimodal interfaces, Geographic Information Systems, spoken dialogue, gaming, Satellite Navibation, and robotics. RefNet will help the design of these applications by offering the sophistication of computational psycholinguistics. Confidence in the potential for RefNet to succeed in this regard can be gathered from the support letters (attached) from AT&T, Nokia, and Data2Text.
Reference also plays an important role in daily life, including situations where errors can be fatal, such as emergency medicine, where protocols for spatial reference (e.g., to explain where on a mountain the victim of a mountaineering accident lies) are still error prone. A better understanding of reference and direction giving could improve such protocols. If this were to happen, lives would be saved, for example because quick and accurate direction finding is often crucial (e.g. in rural areas).
Reference is a key mechanism in communication, "anchoring" words to things, people, events, times, places, etc. Understanding reference is therefore an important aspect of human knowledge. RefNet will contribute significantly to this understanding, though its skill building activities (e.g. the Summer School, bursaries, lab visits), and through improved interactions between Computational Linguists and Psycholinguists. In many cases, understanding will take the form of precise quantitative models.
Reference plays a crucial role in many practical applications of computing science, such as multimodal interfaces, Geographic Information Systems, spoken dialogue, gaming, Satellite Navibation, and robotics. RefNet will help the design of these applications by offering the sophistication of computational psycholinguistics. Confidence in the potential for RefNet to succeed in this regard can be gathered from the support letters (attached) from AT&T, Nokia, and Data2Text.
Reference also plays an important role in daily life, including situations where errors can be fatal, such as emergency medicine, where protocols for spatial reference (e.g., to explain where on a mountain the victim of a mountaineering accident lies) are still error prone. A better understanding of reference and direction giving could improve such protocols. If this were to happen, lives would be saved, for example because quick and accurate direction finding is often crucial (e.g. in rural areas).
People |
ORCID iD |
| Kees Van Deemter (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Gatt A
(2014)
Models and empirical data for the production of referring expressions
in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
Gatt A
(2016)
Reference Production as Search: The Impact of Domain Size on the Production of Distinguishing Descriptions
in Cognitive Science
Kees Van Deemter
(2016)
Computational Models of Referring: a Study in Cognitive Science
Kutlak R
(2016)
Production of Referring Expressions for an Unknown Audience: A Computational Model of Communal Common Ground.
in Frontiers in psychology
Paraboni I
(2013)
Reference and the facilitation of search in spatial domains
in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
Van Deemter K
(2016)
Editorial: Models of Reference.
in Frontiers in psychology
| Description | We have learned a lot about how computer scientists and experimental psychologists can work together effectively to construct detailed and empirically well-founded models of human behaviour. We have also learned that reference is studied from an even greater diversity of scientific angles than we were aware. Neuro-scientific research in this area was a novelty for me. |
| Exploitation Route | Many areas of research on reference cry out for further experimentation (in order to inform algorithms). The new algorithms could be applied in computational applications in all the areas mentioned below. Also, it is time to investigate how the lessons learned in the study of reference carry over (or compare with) other areas. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Retail,Transport,Other |
| Description | Researchers attending RefNet events, such as the RefNet Summer School in Edinburgh for instance, have gone on to apply what they have learned. Examples are Dr Rodrigo de Oliveira, who now works for Arria NLG, and Stephanie Inglis, who now works for MIME Technologies. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Title | A Living Bibliography |
| Description | An extensive list of publications relevant to the study of reference, from all areas of Cognitive Science. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This work is being used in many areas now, including the automatic generation of captions to photographs. |
| URL | http://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/k.vdeemter/pages/RefNet/publications.html |
| Description | Flora van Langendock's participation in the 2013 Cognitive Science conference in Berlin |
| Organisation | Radboud University Nijmegen |
| Department | Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The RefNet project has facilitated and funded Flora's participation in the Cognitive Science conference, and the RefNet workshop associated with it, at a cost of 500 EUR. In accordance with the RefNet project plan, RefNet advertised the availability of funding for extended lab visit focussing on the study of reference. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Flora presented a research paper at the conference. |
| Impact | Vanlangendonck, F., Willems, R. M., Menenti, L., & Hagoort, P. (2013). The role of common ground in audience design: Beyond an all or nothing story. Poster presented at the Workshop on the Production of Referring Expressions: Bridging the Gap between computational and empirical Approaches to Reference the (PRE-CogSci 2013), Berlin, Germany. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Research stay of Timothy Meo (Rutgers) with Vivien Mast (Bremen) for exploration in perceptual and dialogic grounding of reference |
| Organisation | Rutgers University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The RefNet project has facilitated and funded this collaboration at a cost of 1630 Euros. In accordance with the RefNet project plan, RefNet advertised the availability of funding for extended lab visit focussing on the study of reference. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Two pieces of software, one for computer vision and one for dialogue, were joined together. The aim was to work towards improved collaborative models of referring. |
| Impact | Integration of software. Plans for future research collaboration at a much larger scale. The work links computer vision with natural language dialogue and, to this extent, it is multidisciplinary. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Research stay of Timothy Meo (Rutgers) with Vivien Mast (Bremen) for exploration in perceptual and dialogic grounding of reference |
| Organisation | University of Bremen |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The RefNet project has facilitated and funded this collaboration at a cost of 1630 Euros. In accordance with the RefNet project plan, RefNet advertised the availability of funding for extended lab visit focussing on the study of reference. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Two pieces of software, one for computer vision and one for dialogue, were joined together. The aim was to work towards improved collaborative models of referring. |
| Impact | Integration of software. Plans for future research collaboration at a much larger scale. The work links computer vision with natural language dialogue and, to this extent, it is multidisciplinary. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Tatiana Iacovleva's research visit to Sheffield |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This extended research visit was funded by RefNet following the approval of a proposal submitted by Iacovleva. |
| Collaborator Contribution | In Sheffield, Iacovleva worked with Daniele Matthews on the development of models of individual variations in language production. Insights were gained in the role of previous language exposure and other factors.This work is important because recent research on computational models of language production are moving away from generalities towards the modelling of individual differences in behaviour. RefNet funded this visit to the tune of 1,500 pound. |
| Impact | This visit appears to have been the start of a longer collaboration between Iacovleva and Sheffield, involving a new bid for a Newton Fellowship, among other things. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Production of Referring Expressions: bridging the gap between cognitive and computational approaches to reference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event, which took place on 31 July 2013 in Berlin, built on two earlier workshops on reference to link computational work on reference with work on the same topic by other cognitive scientists. With about 50-60 participants and many interesting presentations, the workshop was a success. Fo further information, see http://pre2013.uvt.nl/index.html. The general quality of the papers presented was high. Two developments were of particular interest: 1. Contributions that apply Bayesian methods to reference production for the first time 2. In-depth discussions concerning the appropriateness of the experiments that were done. New experiments are being planned to address problems that were raised by Herb Clark, a prominent psycholinguist. The new experiments will investigate in greater detail than before what it is that subjects are trying t |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://pre2013.uvt.nl/index.html |
| Description | RefNet Round Table event in Aberdeen |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The core of this event was a symposium to which 13 invited key researchers, from all over the world, and from both computer science and the social sciences, came to Aberdeen to discuss the emergence of predictive models of comprehension and production, and the increasing use of neuro-scientific methods. These two topics have great relevance for reference (which is the main focus of the project). They were chosen as the themes of the Round Table event because they have much wider significance across the cognitive sciences, and because they are topical. Additionally, we accepted a number of posters (following an open call) detailing recent research that sheds light on these themes; these posters were visible throughout the event and discussed during a special session. The event concluded with a 2.5-hour discussion about future cross-disciplinary research projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.matt.qa/refnet/ |
| Description | RefNet Workshop on Psychological and Computational Models of Reference Comprehension and Production |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This RefNet Workshop, which took place 31 Aug 2014 in Edinburgh, has brought together current developments in the study of production and comprehension of referring expressions in different scientific disciplines such as psychology, computer science and linguistics. See http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/InteractionLab/refnet/index.html. After the workshop, interest in RefNet has grown considerably. THis is especially clear from the requests for funding for lab visits that we have received in recent weeks. The workshop ws also notable for linking algorithmic and experimental work with neuro-cognitive studies, a novelty in our area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/InteractionLab/refnet/index.html |
| Description | Summer School Psychological and Computational Models of Language Production |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Aim of the RefNet Summer School (Edinburgh, 25-30 Aug 2014): The modelling of human language production requires an increasingly varied range of skills & techniques, hailing from different scientific disciplines, including psychology, computing science, linguistics, and others. Examples of these skills are eye-tracking, algorithmic models, bayesian reasoning, and mixed-effects modelling. The summer school is an attempt to introduce and discuss these techniques, focussing on the production of referring expressions as an example. The summer school focusses on the linguistic phenomenon of reference production because it is one of the best examples of the convergence of the above-mentioned disciplines. The Summer school contained 5 courses (Algorithms; Eye-tracking; Statistical techniques; Linguistic theory of reference; the acquisition of reference), which will be delivered sequentially to allow each participant to take part in every course. 5 invited speakers have agreed to give evening lectures. One month after the start of registration, more than 70 people have applied to take part in the summer school; 55 were admitted. Further information: http://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/k.vdeemter/pages/RefNet/events.html. The most important impact of this activity was that 55 young researchers were able to learn about the latest theories and techniques relevant for their work; these include algorithmic modelling, eye-tracking, mixed effect models, and so on. They were also given ample opportunity to learn directly from each other and from the 15 lecturers involved in the summer school. And yes, plans were made for "future related activity" (the most appropriate of the options offered by the menu below). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://homepages.abdn.ac.uk/k.vdeemter/pages/RefNet/events.html |