Kees van Deemter
Computing Science Department
University of Aberdeen


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Background

I am an academic working in Computational Linguistics, the area of Artificial Intelligence where Computer Science meets Linguistics. My main areas of expertise are Computational Semantics and Natural Language Generation. I take a lively interest in logical and philosophical issues arising in these areas.

Brief CV: (An extended version can be found here )


Current and recent teaching


Research

My work centers around the question how information can be expressed in a way that is most suitable for human readers/hearers. One type of example arises when text and speech are generated from the facts or formulas in a knowledge base. Another is the design of Embodied Conversational Agents. One of my main research interests is the generation of complex referring expressions, as when we program a computer to refer to 'your last email to University Registry', or to 'the icon at the top-left of your screen'. Another of my interests is the role of vagueness (also known as fuzziness) in communication, which is the focus of my book ``Not Exactly: in Praise of Vagueness``, to appear with Oxford University Press in January 2010. (See associated web site).

In my work, I try to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between theoretical and applied work, solving practical problems in a theoretically sound way (on a good day!) and using concrete algorithms to address theoretical problems. This often brings in in contact with neighbouring disciplines such as psycholinguistics and philosophical logic.

Projects (recent and ongoing)


Publications: I try to keep a complete listing in my extended CV . Recent papers should be downloadable in pdf from Aberdeen's departmental publications page (see under `external publications'). Here are some selected publications, organised by research topic (hence with some duplicates):

Other interests


Contact Details

Kees van Deemter
Computing Science Department
Meston Building
King's College
University of Aberdeen
AB24 3UE, Scotland, UK

Email: k.vdeemter atnospamplease abdn dot ac dot uk