NaCTeM

NaCTeM at the Translating and the Computer Conference

2012-12-13

John McNaught, deputy director of NaCTeM and Paul Thompson, research associate at NaCTeM, represented META-NET at the 34th annual Translating and the Computer Conference in London, on 29th and 30th November 2012. The conference took place in the impressive surroundings of One Birdcage Walk, regarded as one of the the finest examples of traditional architecture in Westminster, just a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace.

The purpose of NaCTeM's attendance at this conference was to promote META-NET's aims of pushing forward research into to language technology throughout Europe, and also to launch the English edition of the Language White Paper series. This series of 31 reports (each covering a different European language) reports on the state of the language (general, social, strategic and technological aspects) and the level of support through language technology. The English report was authored by Sophia Ananiadou (director of NaCTeM), John McNaught and Paul Thompson.

The promotion of META-NET was achieved in two ways:

  • As part of the conference programme, a talk was given by John McNaught to introduce META-NET and the White Paper Series.
  • A META-NET exhibition booth was strategically placed in the refreshment area of the conference venue, ensuring a large amount of interest from and interaction with conference delegates about the META-NET during coffee and lunch breaks. The booth included posters about META-NET, META-SHARE and the White Paper series, and take-home packs were available containing more detailed information about META-SHARE, and executive summaries of the English White Paper and the Strategic Research Agenda. Additionally, all delegate bags contained a META-NET flyer.

The conference was attended by an international audience of translators, language technology and machine translation professionals, as well as researchers working in these areas. The conference consisted of a number of talks concerning the latest developments in translation and machine translation. Given the recurring themes in the conference talks about increased use of technology in translation work, and the need for interoperability of technologies, the work of META-NET was considered particularly appropriate.

John McNaught at the exhibition booth

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