Course meeting: Wednesday 2:15-3:45pm, SfS Hörsaal 0.02

Course website: http://www.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de/~adriane/teaching/ws2010/icl/

Instructor: Adriane Boyd

• Office: SfS 1.29
• Mailbox: In the hallway outside SfS 1.22
• Email: adriane AT sfs DOT uni-tuebingen DOT de
• Phone: 07071-297 3964 (email is generally the best way to get in touch)
• Office hours: Thursday 2-3pm, or by appointment

Please check the course website regularly and do not hesistate to let me know if you have any questions!

Course description:

This course provides a non-technical introduction to the field of computational linguistics and its history. We will cover major application areas of computational linguistics including machine translation, information retrieval, information extraction, and computational lexicography. We will also discuss the tools and resources needed for natural language processing and generation.

Course requirements:

Reading

There will be weekly reading assignments. Please do the assigned reading before the class meeting for which it was assigned. I will assume that you have read the material when we discuss it in class.

1. Out-of-class activities

   At the end of each class, I will assign a short activity related to the current topic that will be used as a starting point for discussion in the next meeting. For example, I might ask you to try out an online NLP tool and bring a few examples of its output to class. These activities should take at most 20-30 minutes each week.

   The better prepared you are, the better our discussion will be!

2. Exams

   There will be two written exams: the midterm will take place on December 8, 2010 and the final exam will be on February 2, 2010. The midterm will cover material in the first half of the course; the final will be cumulative, but with more weight on the material in the second half of the course.

Grading

Grades will be based on the midterm exam (50%) and the final exam (50%).

Class Attendance Policy

Regular attendance is a requirement for a passing grade in this class. If you arrive late repeatedly or miss more than two course meetings without a proper excuse (e.g., a doctor's note), you will not be able to receive a passing grade for the class. If you can't make it to class, please email me before class to let me know!

Alternate arrangements for exams, if needed, must be made well in advance!

Class Etiquette

I expect you to respect your fellow classmates, to respect me, and to respect yourself.

• Participate in class! Share experiences, ask questions, express your opinions. Don't hesitate to ask me questions or ask for clarification or more information. If you'd rather discuss something outside of class, send me email or see me during office hours.
• Be considerate of your classmates! Please do not read or work on outside materials or pack up early. Please turn all cell phones and similar devices off or set them to vibrate. If, for some reason, you must leave early or you are expecting an important call, please let me know before class.

Schedule

The latest version of the schedule with links to the current readings will always be available from the course website.

Disclaimer: This syllabus is subject to change. All important changes will be announced in class and made in writing (email, website).