MT User Presentations:  Government Users

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.