CNL 2009

Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages, obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types: those that improve readability for human readers, and those that enable reliable automatic semantic analysis of the language. [...] The second type of languages has a formal logical basis, i.e. they have a formal syntax and semantics, and can be mapped to an existing formal language, such as first-order logic. Thus, those languages can be used as knowledge representation languages, and writing of those languages is supported by fully automatic consistency and redundancy checks, query answering, etc. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_natural_language)

Various controlled natural languages of the second type have been developed by a number of organisations, and have been used in many different application domains, most recently within the semantic web.

This workshop is dedicated to discussing the similarities and differences of existing controlled natural languages of the second type, possible improvements to these languages, relations to other knowledge representation languages, tool support, existing and future applications, and further topics of interest.

Topics
CNL 2009 will address the following aspects of controlled natural languages (CNLs):


 * design of CNLs
 * parsing of CNLs
 * CNLs for knowledge representation
 * CNLs for specifications
 * CNLs and the semantic web
 * CNLs as user interface
 * CNLs for interaction and communication
 * tool support for CNLs
 * reasoning in CNLs
 * comparisons of CNLs
 * applications of CNLs
 * business rules
 * user studies
 * theoretical results
 * etc.

The workshop will be informal with lots of time for presentations and discussions in the fashion of the seminars organised at Dagstuhl in Germany (www.dagstuhl.de/programm/dagstuhl-seminare). To ensure the informal atmosphere the number of participants will be limited.

Submission Details
We invite researchers to submit extended abstracts of exactly 4 pages (inclusive references). These extended abstracts will be intensively reviewed by several members of the programme committee. Authors of accepted extended abstracts will be invited to present their research at the workshop. Revised versions of the accepted abstracts will be published before the workshop as a technical report of the Department of Informatics of the University of Zurich. During the workshop authors will have one full hour to present their work and to have it discussed by the participants. All authors are then invited to submit a full paper of up to 20 pages (inclusive references) that takes the discussions during the workshop into account. Full papers will again be reviewed by the programme committee. Revised versions of the full papers will be published by Springer in their LNCS/LNAI series.

Extended abstracts and full papers should use the Springer LNCS format. Extended abstracts must be submitted electronically in PDF format. For paper submissions we use EasyChair (http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cnl2009).

Venue
The workshop will take place on the Italian island Marettimo at the Marettimo Residence (www.marettimoresidence.com/inglese/home.php) that consists of a set of two-storey houses within a beautiful garden. On top of the garden of the residence there is a large lecture hall with wireless internet.

Marettimo is the outermost of the Egadian Islands to the west of Sicily, and is easily reached from the airports of Palermo and Trapani. Marettimo offers the simple and relaxed life of southern Italy, unspoilt landscape, stupendous views, hiking, swimming, diving, boat trips, and excursions on donkeys. There are several restaurants and bars, and some shops. What the island does not offer: traffic - there are practically no roads - fancy shops and restaurants, night life, and sandy beaches.

Accommodation
The Marettimo Residence (www.marettimoresidence.com/inglese/home.php) offers one- and two-bedroom apartments with fully equipped kitchens. A number of apartments for the participants of CNL 2009 will be reserved until early 2009 at a price 10% below the regular price. Participants should get into direct contact with the Marettimo Residence to organise their accommodation. Alternative accommodations on Marettimo can be found via the internet.

Conference Dinner
A conference dinner will be arranged during the workshop, and will be paid individually by the participants.

Important Dates
Deadline for submissions of extended abstracts: 14 November 2008

Notification of acceptance of extended abstracts: 9 January 2009

Participants contact Marettimo Residence concerning accommodation: end of January 2009

Revised versions of extended abstracts: 13 March 2009

Workshop: 8-10 June 2009

Deadline of submission of full papers: 4 August 2009

Feedback on full papers: 2 October 2009

Revised versions of full papers: 6 November 2009

Program Committee

 * has PC member::Piero Bonatti (University of Naples, Italy)
 * has PC member::Johan Bos (University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy)
 * has PC member::Peter E. Clark (Boeing, Seattle, USA)
 * has PC member::Hamish Cunningham (University of Sheffield, UK)
 * has PC member::Enrico Franconi (University of Bolzano, Italy)
 * has PC member::Norbert E. Fuchs (University of Zurich, Switzerland) (chair)
 * has PC member::Glen Hart (Ordnance Survey, Southampton, UK)
 * has PC member::Jerry R. Hobbs (USC/ISI, USA)
 * has PC member::Kaarel Kaljurand (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
 * has PC member::Peter Koepke (University of Bonn, Germany)
 * has PC member::Tobias Kuhn (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
 * has PC member::Ian Pratt-Hartmann (University of Manchester, UK)
 * has PC member::Stephen Pulman (University of Oxford, UK)
 * has PC member::Mike Rosner (University of Malta, Malta)
 * has PC member::Rolf Schwitter (Macquarie University, Australia)
 * has PC member::John Sowa (VivoMind, USA)
 * has PC member::Silvie Spreeuwenberg (LibRT, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
 * has PC member::Uta Schwertel (imc, Germany)
 * has PC member::Yorick Wilks (University of Sheffield, UK)

Organisation
Norbert E. Fuchs (University of Zurich, Switzerland)

fuchs@ifi.uzh.ch