A Voice from East
Hi, evaluators,
Here is elena Paskaleva, the 'Voice from East'. Under this name I often
participated in LREC discussions. I desisted from personal identification in
order to highlight the importance of a general view on the topics concerned.
This is the outside view. The concept "outside" is strongly conditional -
the word goes about extending the scope of the discussion not only in depth
but also in width by involvement of new languages, new linguistic ideas and
presentations. My work in joint EC projects during the last five years
helped me to view the things simultaneously from inside - mainly as a
participant in European meetings and discussions like those being carried on
here in this list, and from outside - when I create Bulgarian (and sometimes
Russian) components for working European systems. This point of view -
evaluation from outside, was my main contribution to LREC and other European
meetings. In order not to heap this list whose main purpose is short
exchange of ideas, with my reflections on the theme I am sending them
separately as Attachment.
I would only like to add the following: as it is very often mentionned in
your discussion, evaluation implies competition. The word competition makes
me imagine a competition like Formula 1. If you go out of the internal
circle of this competition (Europe and USA) and think about a competition on
our territory then you should chose another type of machines - rather
Landrover than Ferrari. The competition won't be so flashy, the speeds won't
be so high but it will undoubtedly be useful. The local organizers of the
competitions (our side) should make certain efforts - to prepare some roads
and speedways. Independently on my personal chances to participate in one of
the two types of competitions I will take part in this list with pleasure
and I will share with you my impressions about the particular applications
of western LE technologies for processing of new (eastern) languages.
If you have any questions and are interested in a more detailed
investigation on the topic 'Competiton- evaluation through new
applications', please, contact me personally or through the list - I'm sure
that such an investigation will be usefull for both sides and have to be
fulfilled not in the style of the reports on Joint East-West activities -
how successful these cooperation was, how usefull was for the new candidates
for Europe family etc. Such kinds of reports as a rule are limited in the
simple enumeration of actions and applications. A new kind of reporting
them - based on the linguistic hierarchy of data and systems used, on the
measurement of the 'applicability is surely interesting for many of us.
A technical detail - I will be absent from Tuesday to Friday and should be
able to discuss the eventual comments on the topic (if there are) during the
next week.
Sincerely, Prof. Elena Paskaleva, Head of Linguistic Modeling Laboratory,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
evaluation.doc