AMTA-2010

The Ninth Biennial Conference
of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas

Westin Tabor Center, Denver, Colorado
October 31 - November 05, 2010


PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL FOR PAPERS

MACHINE TRANSLATION IN THE PRODUCTION PIPELINE

The ninth biennial conference of the Association for Machine Translation
in the Americas (AMTA-2010) will be held at the Westin Tabor Center in
Denver Colorado, Sunday, October 31 through Friday, November 5. AMTA-2010 will take place immediately following the 51st Annual Conference of the
American Translators Association (ATA), also taking place in Denver,
October 27-30. The two conferences are planning multiple coordinated
events around joint topics of interest. These are designed to deepen MT
researchers' and developers' understanding of the needs of the commercial
translation industry and human translators, while also fostering
translators' understanding of modern MT technology and the role of
advanced translation automation in commercial translation processes.

In addition to a research track, the main AMTA-2010 conference program
will include presentation tracks for government and commercial users of MT
and a "Technology Showcase" of commercial and research-stage MT
technology. The research program will include a peer-reviewed competitive "Student Research Workshop" designed to highlight and foster the work of
the next generation of MT researchers. Tutorials will be held on Sunday,
October 31, and workshops will take place primarily on Thursday and
Friday, November 4-5.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for MT Research Papers at AMTA-2010

Contact: Hassan Sawaf (hassan (at) sawaf.de)

Machine Translation continues to be one of the most active research areas
within Natural Language Processing. MT evaluations, such as those
conducted by NIST, provide ample evidence that the field of MT continues
to grow and attract more and more researchers. Data-driven approaches
have become particularly fashionable in recent years. These approaches
have generated systems that have been the top performers in recent
comparative evaluations. Furthermore, the challenges of building
competitive MT systems have been significantly reduced with the
introduction of open source toolkits such as GIZA++ and MOSES. This
development, exciting as it is, also bears the danger of introducing
uniformity into MT research. AMTA aims to promote diversity in MT
research and actively seeks research papers across the entire range of the MT research spectrum for the AMTA-2010 research program. We solicit
submissions in English of unpublished papers describing original research
on all aspects of Machine Translation. We particularly encourage
submissions on topics related to the conference theme of MT applied within commercial translation settings.


Important dates:

- Submission deadline: Monday, May 24
- Notifications of acceptance: Monday, July 5
- Final "camera-ready" versions: Monday, August 16


Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

- Advances in data-driven MT (Statistical MT, Example-based MT, etc.)
- Advances in rule-based MT (Transfer-based MT, Interlingual MT, etc.)
- Lexicon and grammar acquisition and induction
- Hybrid approaches that integrate and unify aspects of rule-based MT and
statistical MT
- MT for resource-poor languages
- MT on resource-limited machinery (e.g. PDAs)
- Distributed architectures for large data MT
- Speech-to-speech or speech-to-text MT
- MT with OCR
- MT for communication (chats, blogs, social networks)
- Customization and adaptation of high-performance MT systems
- Deep integration of MT technology within translation and localization
pipelines
- MT Evaluation


Submission Instructions:

Papers should not be longer than 10 pages and should be in pdf format. Style files (Latex and MS Word) will be posted on the conference web-page
at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/

To allow for blind reviewing, please do not include author names and
affiliations within the paper and avoid obvious self-references.

Detailed submission instructions will be posted on the conference website
in the near future and will be included in future announcements.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MT User Presentations: Commercial Users and Translators

Contact: Mike Dillinger ( mike@translationOptimization.com )

The Commercial User track will focus on how MT can meet business needs
such as just-in-time localization of critical information, provisioning of
technical support information, or creation of preliminary translations for post-editing. Submissions should focus on the use of MT in a business
setting and how it is integrated with other technologies to support
business goals.

Important dates:

- Submissions due: Monday, June 28
- Notification of acceptance: Monday, July 12
- Final "camera-ready" versions due: Monday, August 16


Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

- Integrating MT and human translation
- Post-editing experiences and data about productivity
- ROI analyses of post-editing versus translation
- Use of MT to provide localization of data-driven, dynamic, or
user-specific information
- Use of MT to reduce localization time and/or cost
- Ways in which MT can be used to increase the scope of globalization
projects
- Managing change when implementing MT systems
- Open-source and low-cost MT tools: are they realistic and is there a
market for them?


What to submit:

Ideal presentations will clearly identify a business need and describe how
MT meets those needs, with a candid assessment of its strengths and
limitations for that particular usage. Submissions should be 250-500 word summaries and may be sent directly in e-mail or as attachments in RTF
format.


How to submit:

Send submissions or questions by email to Mike Dillinger (mike@translationOptimization.com) by Monday, June 28.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MT User Presentations: Government Users and Translation Professionals

Contacts: Nick Bemish ( Nicholas.Bemish@dia.mil )
Chuck Simmons ( Charles.Simmons@wpafb.af.mil )


AMTA Government User presenters and participants will focus on the
strategic nature and use of Machine Translation in governmental
organizations. Most governmental entities are providing a benefit to
their customers, who require them to translate large volumes of
information and to make it available across multiple languages and varied
network architectures. The need for language translation technology
within governmental organizations is diverse and sometimes compartmented.
Governments are looking to advances in Machine Translation technology,
which help them deliver information not only from the native languages of various countries but also into those other languages. In
turn, the information delivered helps the governments to understand social
and political activities in context. In an age when significant volumes
of data are available in many languages, it is necessary to look to
automated alternatives, which assist the linguist and enable the human
translation process.

For this year's AMTA conference, we are asking government participants to
consider topics that address the strategic challenges of applying MT tools
and applications in their programs and processes. We are looking for
representation from all government organizations that face language
challenges, including: Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human
Services, Human Resources, Commerce, Labor, Energy, Judiciary, Business,
Trade, Transportation, and many others. Within the governmental
organizations we request the attendance of leaders or their
representatives, who can address challenging topics ranging among:

1. Acquisition strategies that include policies directed towards implementation of MT
2. Funding priorities that stress the need for metrics to ensure adequate return on investment (ROI)
3. Requirements development which include a broad audience of users
across the federal workspace
4. Computer systems and network architectures that support inclusion of
MT tools and any significant integration and security challenges
5. Research and development leading to the advancement of tools that
support less commonly used languages or minimizes gaps
6. Program management strategies and how they apply to the integration
and acceptance of MT tool usage
7. Case studies on examples of MT use and how it impacts the
organizations ability to share content
8. Strategic views and objectives pertaining to challenges with respect
to MT programs and the employment of MT tools (e.g., IT, personnel,
implementation)
9. Implementation strategies that factor into MT use as a process
supporting human translation (pre-translation/post-editing)

The sessions will be structured to provide open and constructive dialogue
among attendees with diverse technical backgrounds and areas of expertise. A secondary objective of this approach is to establish longer-term
connections among participants and foster new cooperative efforts.


Important dates:

- Submissions due: Monday, June 28
- Notification of acceptance: Monday, July 12
- Final "camera-ready" versions due: Monday, August 16


What to submit:

Ideal proposals should include information on strategic views and
objectives pertaining to MT programs; employment of MT tools and
significant challenges; as well as information on achievable gains through usage and/or metrics. Submissions should be 250-400 word summaries and
may be sent directly in e-mail or as attachments in RTF format.


How to submit:

Send submissions and questions to Government User program chairs, Nicholas Bemish at Nicholas.Bemish@dia.mil and Chuck Simmons at
Charles.Simmons@wpafb.af.mil by Monday, June 28.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student Research Workshop

Contact: Stephan Vogel ( stephan.vogel@cs.cmu.edu )

AMTA-2010 will feature a Student Research Workshop, which will be embedded
as an integral part of the research program at the conference. Students
at all levels of study (undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate) are
invited to submit papers describing their research work. To qualify, the
main author of the paper must be a student or a post-doc. Both completed
work as well as work in progress is eligible for submission. Submissions
will be competitively reviewed by a committee consisting of both advanced
MT students and senior researchers, in a process similar to the reviewing
of submissions to the main AMTA-2010 research program. We hope to provide travel and participation financial support to the students selected for
presentations. Details will be posted on the conference website when available.


Important dates:

- Submission deadline: Monday, May 24
- Notifications of acceptance: Monday, July 5
- Final "camera-ready" versions: Monday, August 16


Topics:

All topics related to MT research are welcome. See the list of topics for
the MT Research Program above for a listing of sample topics of interest.


What to submit:

Papers should not be longer than 10 pages, formatted using the provided
style for research papers, and in pdf format. Style files (Latex and MS
Word) will be posted on the conference web-page at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/

To allow for blind reviewing, please do not include author names and affiliations within the paper and avoid obvious self-references.

Detailed submission instructions will be posted on the conference website
in the near future and will be included in future announcements.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for Proposals for Workshops, Tutorials and Panels at AMTA-2010

Contact: George Foster ( george.foster@nrc.gc.ca )

AMTA 2010 is seeking proposals for workshops, tutorials and plenary panels
on all topics related to MT. We particularly encourage proposals on
topics related to the conference theme of MT applied within commercial
translation settings.

Tutorials will be held on Sunday, October 31, immediately preceding the
main conference. Workshops will be held on Thursday and Friday, November
4-5, immediately following the main conference. Selected panels will be
an integral part of the main conference.


Aims:

Tutorials at AMTA conferences are a forum for experts in MT and MT-related areas to deliver concentrated training on a topic of interest in half-day
(or occasionally full-day) teaching sessions. Tutorials provide
background that helps conference participants (especially newcomers to the field) understand the conference program, and/or enrich their
understanding of particular technical, applied, and business matters
surrounding research, development and use of MT and translation
technology.

AMTA workshops are intended to provide the opportunity for MT-related
communities of interest to spend focused time together advancing the state
of thinking or the state of practice in their area of interest or
endeavor.

Panel sessions within the main conference program provide an opportunity
for a select number of experts to provide their perspective and hold a
discussion on a concrete topic of interest or developing issue within the
field of MT.

Due to AMTA 2010's collocation with the ATA meeting, we are particularly
interested in proposals related to commercialization of MT and/or its use
by professional translators. However, any themes connected to MT
research, development, deployment, use, and evaluation are welcome.


What to submit:

Proposals for workshops, tutorials and panel sessions should be submitted
by June 30, 2010 to George Foster (george.foster@nrc.gc.ca). They should
include the proposed format (workshop, tutorial or panel), a title, a
one-page description of the proposed content, technical requirements and
the expected number of participants. In the case of a workshop, the
proposal should also include dates for important milestones (call for
papers, recruitment of speakers, etc.), and whether this is an ongoing or
new workshop. Workshop and Tutorial proposals must also include a signed
copy of the AMTA Workshop or Tutorial Policy and Leader Agreement Form. The appropriate forms will be posted on the conference web-page at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for AMTA-2010 Sponsorships

Help support the AMTA Mission while demonstrating your leadership in the
future of MT!

Sponsorship of AMTA-2010 is a tax-deductible donation. AMTA is a 501-(c)-3 non-profit educational association.

All sponsorship levels receive:
- Logo with hyperlink to sponsor website on website: http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/
- Logo and name in conference program
- Acknowledgement at Conference Opening
- One piece of collateral included in Conference Bag

Please contact Sponsorship Chair Laurie Gerber (lgerber@amtaweb.org) for a sponsorship prospectus. Help us provide continuous internet service for
participants! Support a workshop! Snag the hottest brand real estate at
the conference - the badgeholder! Several new sponsor-able items are
available this time, including your logo on the hotel room keys!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------




AMTA-2010

The Ninth Biennial Conference
of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas

Westin Tabor Center, Denver, Colorado
October 31 - November 05, 2010


PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL FOR PAPERS

MACHINE TRANSLATION IN THE PRODUCTION PIPELINE

The ninth biennial conference of the Association for Machine Translation in
the Americas (AMTA-2010) will be held at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver
Colorado, Sunday, October 31 through Friday, November 5. AMTA-2010 will take
place immediately following the 51st Annual Conference of the American
Translators Association (ATA), also taking place in Denver, October 27-30.
The two conferences are planning multiple coordinated events around joint
topics of interest. These are designed to deepen MT researchers' and
developers' understanding of the needs of the commercial translation industry
and human translators, while also fostering translators' understanding of
modern MT technology and the role of advanced translation automation in
commercial translation processes.

In addition to a research track, the main AMTA-2010 conference program will
include presentation tracks for government and commercial users of MT and a
"Technology Showcase" of commercial and research-stage MT technology. The
research program will include a peer-reviewed competitive "Student Research
Workshop" designed to highlight and foster the work of the next generation of
MT researchers. Tutorials will be held on Sunday, October 31, and workshops
will take place primarily on Thursday and Friday, November 4-5.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for MT Research Papers at AMTA-2010

Contact: Hassan Sawaf (hassan (at) sawaf.de)

Machine Translation continues to be one of the most active research areas
within Natural Language Processing. MT evaluations, such as those conducted
by NIST, provide ample evidence that the field of MT continues to grow and
attract more and more researchers. Data-driven approaches have become
particularly fashionable in recent years. These approaches have generated
systems that have been the top performers in recent comparative evaluations.
Furthermore, the challenges of building competitive MT systems have been
significantly reduced with the introduction of open source toolkits such as
GIZA++ and MOSES. This development, exciting as it is, also bears the danger
of introducing uniformity into MT research. AMTA aims to promote diversity in
MT research and actively seeks research papers across the entire range of the
MT research spectrum for the AMTA-2010 research program. We solicit
submissions in English of unpublished papers describing original research on
all aspects of Machine Translation. We particularly encourage submissions on
topics related to the conference theme of MT applied within commercial
translation settings.


Important dates:

- Submission deadline: Monday, May 24
- Notifications of acceptance: Monday, July 5
- Final "camera-ready" versions: Monday, August 16


Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

- Advances in data-driven MT (Statistical MT, Example-based MT, etc.)
- Advances in rule-based MT (Transfer-based MT, Interlingual MT, etc.)
- Lexicon and grammar acquisition and induction
- Hybrid approaches that integrate and unify aspects of rule-based MT and
statistical MT
- MT for resource-poor languages
- MT on resource-limited machinery (e.g. PDAs)
- Distributed architectures for large data MT
- Speech-to-speech or speech-to-text MT
- MT with OCR
- MT for communication (chats, blogs, social networks)
- Customization and adaptation of high-performance MT systems
- Deep integration of MT technology within translation and localization
pipelines
- MT Evaluation


Submission Instructions:

Papers should not be longer than 10 pages and should be in pdf format. Style
files (Latex and MS Word) will be posted on the conference web-page at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/

To allow for blind reviewing, please do not include author names and
affiliations within the paper and avoid obvious self-references.

Detailed submission instructions will be posted on the conference website in
the near future and will be included in future announcements.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MT User Presentations: Commercial Users and Translators

Contact: Mike Dillinger ( mike@translationOptimization.com )

The Commercial User track will focus on how MT can meet business needs such as
just-in-time localization of critical information, provisioning of technical
support information, or creation of preliminary translations for post-editing.
Submissions should focus on the use of MT in a business setting and how it is
integrated with other technologies to support business goals.


Important dates:

- Submissions due: Monday, June 28
- Notification of acceptance: Monday, July 12
- Final "camera-ready" versions due: Monday, August 16


Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

- Integrating MT and human translation
- Post-editing experiences and data about productivity
- ROI analyses of post-editing versus translation
- Use of MT to provide localization of data-driven, dynamic, or user-specific
information
- Use of MT to reduce localization time and/or cost
- Ways in which MT can be used to increase the scope of globalization projects
- Managing change when implementing MT systems
- Open-source and low-cost MT tools: are they realistic and is there a market
for them?


What to submit:

Ideal presentations will clearly identify a business need and describe how MT
meets those needs, with a candid assessment of its strengths and limitations
for that particular usage. Submissions should be 250-500 word summaries and
may be sent directly in e-mail or as attachments in RTF format.


How to submit:

Send submissions or questions by email to Mike Dillinger
(mike@translationOptimization.com) by Monday, June 28.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MT User Presentations: Government Users and Translation Professionals

Contacts: Nick Bemish ( Nicholas.Bemish@dia.mil )
Chuck Simmons ( Charles.Simmons@wpafb.af.mil )


AMTA Government User presenters and participants will focus on the strategic
nature and use of Machine Translation in governmental organizations. Most
governmental entities are providing a benefit to their customers, who require
them to translate large volumes of information and to make it available across
multiple languages and varied network architectures. The need for language
translation technology within governmental organizations is diverse and
sometimes compartmented. Governments are looking to advances in Machine
Translation technology, which help them deliver information not only from the
native languages of various countries but also into those other languages. In
turn, the information delivered helps the governments to understand social and
political activities in context. In an age when significant volumes of data
are available in many languages, it is necessary to look to automated
alternatives, which assist the linguist and enable the human translation
process.

For this year's AMTA conference, we are asking government participants to
consider topics that address the strategic challenges of applying MT tools and
applications in their programs and processes. We are looking for
representation from all government organizations that face language
challenges, including: Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services,
Human Resources, Commerce, Labor, Energy, Judiciary, Business, Trade,
Transportation, and many others. Within the governmental organizations we
request the attendance of leaders or their representatives, who can address
challenging topics ranging among:

1. Acquisition strategies that include policies directed towards
implementation of MT
2. Funding priorities that stress the need for metrics to ensure adequate
return on investment (ROI)
3. Requirements development which include a broad audience of users across
the federal workspace
4. Computer systems and network architectures that support inclusion of MT
tools and any significant integration and security challenges
5. Research and development leading to the advancement of tools that support
less commonly used languages or minimizes gaps
6. Program management strategies and how they apply to the integration and
acceptance of MT tool usage
7. Case studies on examples of MT use and how it impacts the organizations
ability to share content
8. Strategic views and objectives pertaining to challenges with respect to MT
programs and the employment of MT tools (e.g., IT, personnel,
implementation)
9. Implementation strategies that factor into MT use as a process supporting
human translation (pre-translation/post-editing)

The sessions will be structured to provide open and constructive dialogue
among attendees with diverse technical backgrounds and areas of expertise.
A secondary objective of this approach is to establish longer-term
connections among participants and foster new cooperative efforts.


Important dates:

- Submissions due: Monday, June 28
- Notification of acceptance: Monday, July 12
- Final "camera-ready" versions due: Monday, August 16


What to submit:

Ideal proposals should include information on strategic views and objectives
pertaining to MT programs; employment of MT tools and significant challenges;
as well as information on achievable gains through usage and/or metrics.
Submissions should be 250-400 word summaries and may be sent directly in
e-mail or as attachments in RTF format.


How to submit:

Send submissions and questions to Government User program chairs, Nicholas
Bemish at Nicholas.Bemish@dia.mil and Chuck Simmons at
Charles.Simmons@wpafb.af.mil by Monday, June 28.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student Research Workshop

Contact: Stephan Vogel ( stephan.vogel@cs.cmu.edu )

AMTA-2010 will feature a Student Research Workshop, which will be embedded as
an integral part of the research program at the conference. Students at all
levels of study (undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate) are invited to
submit papers describing their research work. To qualify, the main author of
the paper must be a student or a post-doc. Both completed work as well as
work in progress is eligible for submission. Submissions will be competitively
reviewed by a committee consisting of both advanced MT students and senior
researchers, in a process similar to the reviewing of submissions to the main
AMTA-2010 research program. We hope to provide travel and participation
financial support to the students selected for presentations. Details will be
posted on the conference website when available.


Important dates:

- Submission deadline: Monday, May 24
- Notifications of acceptance: Monday, July 5
- Final "camera-ready" versions: Monday, August 16


Topics:

All topics related to MT research are welcome. See the list of topics for the
MT Research Program above for a listing of sample topics of interest.


What to submit:

Papers should not be longer than 10 pages, formatted using the provided style
for research papers, and in pdf format. Style files (Latex and MS Word) will
be posted on the conference web-page at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/

To allow for blind reviewing, please do not include author names and
affiliations within the paper and avoid obvious self-references.

Detailed submission instructions will be posted on the conference website in
the near future and will be included in future announcements.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for Proposals for Workshops, Tutorials and Panels at AMTA-2010

Contact: George Foster ( george.foster@nrc.gc.ca )

AMTA 2010 is seeking proposals for workshops, tutorials and plenary panels on
all topics related to MT. We particularly encourage proposals on topics
related to the conference theme of MT applied within commercial translation
settings.

Tutorials will be held on Sunday, October 31, immediately preceding the main
conference. Workshops will be held on Thursday and Friday, November 4-5,
immediately following the main conference. Selected panels will be an
integral part of the main conference.


Aims:

Tutorials at AMTA conferences are a forum for experts in MT and MT-related
areas to deliver concentrated training on a topic of interest in half-day (or
occasionally full-day) teaching sessions. Tutorials provide background that
helps conference participants (especially newcomers to the field) understand
the conference program, and/or enrich their understanding of particular
technical, applied, and business matters surrounding research, development and
use of MT and translation technology.

AMTA workshops are intended to provide the opportunity for MT-related
communities of interest to spend focused time together advancing the state of
thinking or the state of practice in their area of interest or endeavor.

Panel sessions within the main conference program provide an opportunity for a
select number of experts to provide their perspective and hold a discussion on
a concrete topic of interest or developing issue within the field of MT.

Due to AMTA 2010's collocation with the ATA meeting, we are particularly
interested in proposals related to commercialization of MT and/or its use by
professional translators. However, any themes connected to MT research,
development, deployment, use, and evaluation are welcome.


What to submit:

Proposals for workshops, tutorials and panel sessions should be submitted by
June 30, 2010 to George Foster (george.foster@nrc.gc.ca). They should include
the proposed format (workshop, tutorial or panel), a title, a one-page
description of the proposed content, technical requirements and the expected
number of participants. In the case of a workshop, the proposal should also
include dates for important milestones (call for papers, recruitment of
speakers, etc.), and whether this is an ongoing or new workshop. Workshop and
Tutorial proposals must also include a signed copy of the AMTA Workshop or
Tutorial Policy and Leader Agreement Form. The appropriate forms will be
posted on the conference web-page at:

http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for AMTA-2010 Sponsorships

Help support the AMTA Mission while demonstrating your leadership in the
future of MT!

Sponsorship of AMTA-2010 is a tax-deductible donation. AMTA is a 501-(c)-3
non-profit educational association.

All sponsorship levels receive:
- Logo with hyperlink to sponsor website on website:
http://amta2010.amtaweb.org/
- Logo and name in conference program
- Acknowledgement at Conference Opening
- One piece of collateral included in Conference Bag

Please contact Sponsorship Chair Laurie Gerber (lgerber@amtaweb.org) for a
sponsorship prospectus. Help us provide continuous internet service for
participants! Support a workshop! Snag the hottest brand real estate at the
conference - the badgeholder! Several new sponsor-able items are available
this time, including your logo on the hotel room keys!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------