COLUMN: Letter from the editors
FREE CONTENT FEATURE
Do no evil in research
By Inbal Talgam-Cohen, Sean Follmer
Magazine: Fall 2014 | Volume 21, No. 1
The current issue focuses on natural language processing (NLP), with an emphasis on humanistic applications that lie at the intersection of computer science and linguistics. The articles within this issue touch upon artificial intelligence and machine learning—specifically machine translation (e.g. “Google Translate”), speech recognition and synthesis, knowledge modeling using language, automatic summarization, automatic error detection and correction—as well as softer topics, such as work on the digitization of ancient Sumerian using modern computational tools and dialect switching in Arabic. (If you are so inclined, try to find the three “Easter eggs” hidden on the cover!)
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The geometric origins of spectral graph theory
By Olivia Simpson
SECTION: Features
Talking to computers in natural language
Natural language understanding is as old as computing itself, but recent advances in machine learning and the rising demand of natural-language interfaces make it a promising time to once again tackle the long-standing challenge.
By Percy Liang
To err is human, to correct is divine
Technology has made language learning a more interactive and enjoyable experience, but it has never been smart enough to replace human tutors. However, the latest advances in automated grammatical error correction open up new horizons. Could software ever replace our language teachers?
By Mariano Felice, Zheng Yuan
From wax tablets to touchscreens
How we can enable users to transmit text to mobile and ubiquitous computer systems as quickly and as accurately as possible.
By Per Ola Kristensson
Ancient Sumerian online
Far from its beginnings as symbols pressed into clay tablets, Ancient Sumerian is now being digitized and shared through cutting edge semantic web technologies.
By Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller
Detecting influencers in social media discussions
Knowing who's influential can help when planning political campaigns, advertising strategies, or even combating terrorism; and now research into influence detection promises to automate such detection.
By Sara Rosenthal
Spoken dialogue systems
Wouldn't it be great if we could simply talk to our technical devices instead of relying on cumbersome displays and keyboards to convey what we want?
By Pierre Lison, Raveesh Meena
A hybrid system for code switch point detection in informal Arabic text
How to detect the switch between a standard and a dialectal form of a language in written text and why this is important for natural language processing tasks.
By Heba Elfardy, Mohamed Al-Badrashiny, Mona Diab
Miriam Plieninger on language learning with Babbel
Babbel's Director of Didactics, Miriam Plieninger, weighs in on how mobile apps are rapidly changing the way we approach language learning.
By Daniel Bauer, Billy Rathje
Profile: Geoffrey Hinton
Unlocking the language of the brain
By Adrian Scoică
