Abstract: The talk will present original methodologies developed by the speaker, underpinning implemented Language Technology tools which are already having an impact on the following areas of society: e-learning, translation and interpreting and care for people with language disabilities. The first part of the presentation will introduce an original methodology and tool for generating multiple-choice tests from electronic textbooks. The application draws on a variety of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques which include term extraction, semantic computing and sentence transformation. The presentation will include an evaluation of the tool which demonstrates that generation of multiple-choice tests items with the help of this tool is almost four times faster than manual construction and the quality of the test items is not compromised. This application benefits e-learning users (both teachers and students) and is an example of how NLP can have a positive societal impact, in which the speaker passionately believes. The latest version of the system based on deep learning techniques will also be briefly introduced. The talk will go on to discuss two other original recent projects which are also related to the application of NLP beyond academia. First, a project, whose objective is to develop next-generation translation memory tools for translators and, in the near future, for interpreters, will be briefly presented. Finally, an original methodology and system will be outlined which helps users with autism to read and better understand texts. The presentation will finish with a brief outline of the latest (and forthcoming) research topics (to be) pursued by the speaker and his vision on the future NLP applications.
Speaker: Prof Dr Ruslan Mitkov has been working in Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computational Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Machine Translation, Translation Technology and related areas since the early 1980s. Whereas Prof Mitkov is best known for his seminal contributions to the areas of anaphora resolution and automatic generation of multiple-choice tests, his extensively cited research (more than 270 publications including 20 books, 35 journal articles and 40 book chapters) also covers topics such as deep learning for NLP, machine translation, translation memory and translation technology in general, bilingual term extraction, automatic identification of cognates and false friends, natural language generation, automatic summarisation, computer-aided language processing, centering, evaluation, corpus annotation, NLP-driven corpus-based study of translation universals, text simplification, NLP for people with language disorders and computational phraseology. In addition, Ruslan Mitkov is well known for his vision in research based on innovative ideas and drive towards research output which seeks to enhance the work efficiency of different professions (e.g. for teachers, translators and interpreters) or seeks to improve the quality of life (e.g. for people with language disabilities) and which has significant impact beyond academia. Mitkov is author of the monograph Anaphora resolution (Longman) and Editor of the most successful Oxford University Press Handbook – The Oxford Handbook of Computational Linguistics whose second and substantially revised edition was published in June 2022.
Recording: With a little help from NLP: My Language Technology applications with impact on society