ITEC 810: Information Technology Project An AJAX-based interface to a controlled natural language Student: Edouard Arturo rodriguez alvarez Student ID: 41650298 Supervisor: Rolf schwitter

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Problem Each application domain uses its own terminology Formal languages are difficult to understand by non-specialists Domain experts prefer natural language in order to describe a problem Make sure that the author stays within the controlled natural language A controlled natural language is a well-defined subset of a natural language that can be translated unambiguously into a formal language

Outcome Prototype able to guide the writing process of an author Provide tailored output according to the author’s need Domain specialists do not need to learn a formal language

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Related Work ECOLE AceWiki LingoLogic Look ahead information Can be accessed by internet No extra download needed LingoLogic Menu based

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Architecture

Technologies Used Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (AJAX) Retrieve data from a server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the behavior of the existing page JavaScript Object Notation More compact that XML

Requirements Communicate with existing Prolog server No additional software needed Guide the writing process of the author Add new content words to the lexicon of the processor Allow an author to make queries

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Development system States section Inbound information section Outbound information section

Modes Text mode Query mode Add word mode Remove word mode

Outputs Paraphrase Syntax tree Discourse Representation Structure TPTP notation Model Answer

Agenda Introduction Related Work Requirements Developing the Interface Conclusion

Future work Maintain the entire lexicon on the client side during a session Use of session to identify different users

Lessons Learned In relation to the project Importance on having an initial plan I appreciated the help that your supervisor can provide In relation to the topic of the project Natural language can be very ambiguous that is why controlled natural languages are used and a good interface that provides writing support becomes a very important component. A good way to guide a user in a constraint environment is to give him the approved vocabulary and let him define new words in a systematic way

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