We are delighted to report that Rory Duthie has been awarded Best Student Paper Prize at the 6th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 2016) in Potsdam. Rory has just started the second year of his PhD under the supervision of Katarzyna Budzynska, and was awarded the prize for his paper, Mining Ethos in Political Debate.
In a great bit of profile-raising for the research areas of computational models of argument and argument mining, the British popular science magazine, New Scientist, has a feature on the topic in its current issue. The article includes some description of our work with IBM and with the BBC Moral Maze data. In addition, the feature is further highlighted by a leader article.
Dispute Mediation Workshop
9-10 March 2015, Queen Mother Building, School of Computing Dundee.
ARG-tech will be hosting a 2-day workshop on practical applications and uses of technology in mediation practice. The main aim of the workshop is to bring together academics and practicing mediators to identify key challenges and avenues to solutions, in order to build a roadmap for worldwide research and development in this crucial area.
We’re changing! To mark the fact that the group is growing and to reflect the focus for which we are known, we are forming a new Centre for Argument Technology. You will be able to find us online at arg-tech.org, but all the old contact details will continue to work.
The new Centre is organising a host of exciting events over the coming months, including a workshop on Argument Mining, a graduate Summer School on Argumentation and (with the University of Aberdeen), COMMA 2014. More details will follow shortly.
Many congratulations to Phil Quinlan, who this morning successfully defended his PhD thesis. he was examined by Dr. Benjamin Jefferys (UCL), Prof. Shaun Treweek (Aberdeen) and Prof. Simon Herrington (Dundee). Phil is currently working with the University of Dundee at Ninewells Hospital.
We’ve been attracting quite a lot of media attention lately:
A first glimpse of how AIF is supporting interchange on the Argument Web
Prototype development on infrastructure and basic tools has reached the point where we can get a first glimpse of how the Argument Web will support a wide range of argument-related practice online. The video shows how different argument analysis tools can interact with each other, and how tools for analysis can work in harmony with tools for argument authoring and debate.
All the software is currently available, and going through some final testing before release. Later on in January, we will open access to the AIF database, and the first set of import/export filters. Then in February, we will release a public beta of the first practical Argument Web tool: FireBack, a Firefox plugin for argublogging. Tools for debate, analysis and automated computation will then follow later in the Spring.
(Download the video here).
Floris today successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled Evidence for a Good Story: A Hybrid Theory of Arguments, Stories and Criminal Evidence in Groningen, the Netherlands. His thesis work was supervised by Henry Prakken, Bart Verheij and Peter van Koppen.
