Ubiquity: Designing a Multilingual Natural Language Interface

1. ubiquity: designing a multilingual natural language interface mitcho Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine 2009 SIGIR Workshop on Information Access in a Multilingual World Boston, July 23rd, 2009

2. ubiquity: designing a multilingual natural language interface • focus on multilingual delivery and interfaces • reconsidering the text-based interface • localizing ubiquity

4. USER INFORMATION INTERFACE

5. USER INFORMATION English Deutsch Español Français INTERFACE Português Русский Italiano Polski Türkçe

6. USER INFORMATION INTERFACE

7. USER INFORMATION English Deutsch Español Français INTERFACE Português Русский Italiano Polski Türkçe

8. USER INFORMATION English Deutsch Español Français INTERFACE Português Русский Italiano Polski Türkçe this ta lk

9. EQUIPOTENT MULTILINGUAL INTERFACES • not just translating content or localizing interfaces • ensuring equal access to information • ensuring equal generativity and potential of the platform

12. “We create communities of people involved in making the Internet experience better for all of us... The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.” —Mozilla Manifesto

14. Afrikaans English (US) Gaeilge Português (Europeu) Shqip Esperanto Italiano ਪ"ਜਾਬੀ ‫ﻋﺮﺑﻲ‬ Eesti keel română অসমীয়া suomi Русский Kannada Euskara Français српски Беларуская Frysk සිංහල Kurdî বাংলা (ভারত) Galego slovenčina Latviešu Български ქართული slovensko lietuvių kalba català Deutsch Español (de Argentina) Македонски ( ) Ελληνικά Español (de España) मराठी ગ"જરાતી Svenska ( ) Norsk bokmål Telugu Hrvatski ‫עברית‬ Norsk nynorsk ไทย Čeština !ह#दी (भारत) occitan (lengadocian) Українська Dansk Magyar ‫ﻓﺎﺭﺳﯽ‬ Tiếng Việt Nederlands íslenska Polski Cymraeg English (British) Bahasa Indonesia Português (do Brasil)

16. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM

17. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM The web is offering more and more functionality and API’s...

18. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM The web is offering more and more functionality and API’s... ...but how do you use them?

19. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM The web is offering more and more functionality and API’s... ...but how do you use them? • Following the GUI paradigm...

20. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM The web is offering more and more functionality and API’s... ...but how do you use them? • Following the GUI paradigm... • add more buttons?

21. BUILDING A SCALABLE INTERFACE PARADIGM The web is offering more and more functionality and API’s... ...but how do you use them? • Following the GUI paradigm... • add more buttons? • add more menus?

22. CC-BY-SA: flickr.com/photos/daveduarte/2678853923/

23. ACM interactions 2008

24. CC-BY: flickr.com/photos/striatic/1629254/

28. Aza Raskin on text-based interfaces “...maybe this confusion isn’t the fault of command-line interfaces in general; maybe it’s just the command lines we’re used to. If commands were memorable, and their syntax forgiving, perhaps we wouldn’t be so scared to reconsider these interface paradigms.” CC-BY-SA: ﬂickr.com/photos/ seanosh/3307290530/

29. Aza Raskin on text-based interfaces “...maybe this confusion isn’t the fault of command-line interfaces in general; maybe it’s just the command lines we’re used to. If commands were memorable, and their syntax forgiving, perhaps we wouldn’t be so scared to reconsider these interface paradigms.” CC-BY-SA: ﬂickr.com/photos/ seanosh/3307290530/

30. a natural language interface

31. ubiquity ubiquity.mozilla.com

32. [demo 1] inserting a map into email (video not included in PDF)

33. without ubiquity

37. [demo 1] inserting a map into email: one step with ubiquity (video not included in PDF)

38. [demo 2] translating and emailing web content (video not included in PDF)

44. [demo 2] translating and emailing web content: fast and straightforward with ubiquity (video not included in PDF)

45. goal: how?

46. goal: accomplish more on the web how?

47. goal: accomplish more on the web how? connect the web with language

49. verbs* *JavaScript

51. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • The goal: “natural syntax” • Users must expect that not all natural inputs are understandable. • But the parser must not add restrictions which go against the user’s natural syntax.

52. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • The goal: “natural syntax” • Users must expect that not all natural inputs are understandable. • But the parser must not add restrictions which go against the user’s natural syntax.

53. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • EX: The following must behave equivalently: (Japanese, a scrambling language) • Tarō-ni ball-o nager=o Tarō-dat ball-acc throw=imper •

54. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • EX: The following must behave equivalently: (Japanese) • ... nager=o (imperative) • ... nager=u (infinitive) • ... nage=te (linking form)

55. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • Putting theoretical linguistic research and insights into practice • Writing individual language parsers is difficult and time-intensive • A Principles and Parameters model • One universal parser with minimal language settings

59. parser (animation not included in PDF)

62. parser (animation not included in PDF) N N V

63. parser (animation not included in PDF) N N V goal object

64. parser (animation not included in PDF) N N V goal object V ( goal, object )

65. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Argument identification via semantic role CmdUtils.CreateCommand({   names: ["email", "mail"],    arguments: [     {role: "object", nountype: noun_arb_text},     {role: "goal", nountype: noun_type_contact}   ], ...

66. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Argument identification via semantic role CmdUtils.CreateCommand({   names: ["email", "mail"],    arguments: [     {role: "object", nountype: noun_arb_text},     {role: "goal", nountype: noun_type_contact}   ], ...

67. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Argument identification via semantic role

68. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Argument identification via semantic role

69. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Argument identification via semantic role role English Japanese object ø o goal to ni, e location at, on de

73. [demo 3] ubiquity in Japanese: “hello to Spanish” (video not included in PDF)

74. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • Support for various linguistic structures • Equal support for verb-initial and -final languages • Smart argument-first suggestions

75. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY Minimal language descriptions branching: 'left', usespaces: false, joindelimiter: '', anaphora: ["これ", "それ", "あれ"], roles: [   {role: 'object', delimiter: 'を'},   {role: 'goal', delimiter: 'に'},   {role: 'source', delimiter: 'から'},   {role: 'position', delimiter: 'で'},   {role: 'position', delimiter: 'に'},   {role: 'instrument', delimiter: 'で'},   {role: 'alias', delimiter: 'として'}, ]

76. LOCALIZING UBIQUITY • An equipotent multilingual platform par excellence • Equivalent underlying parse structures • Commands via semantic role: write once, use in any language • Easy to add new languages

79. ubiquity 0.5 with Parser 2

80. ubiquity 0.5 with Parser 2 Català Italiano Dansk Language settings: English Português Español Svenska Français

81. ubiquity 0.5 with Parser 2

82. ubiquity 0.5 with Parser 2 Català Dansk English Português

83. ubiquity: designing a multilingual natural language interface • Conclusion • broad and equal access to information requires equipotent multilingual interfaces • ubiquity: an equipotent platform par excellence • challenging internationalization possible through application of linguistic research

86. Thank you! Questions? mitcho Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine by-nc-sa mitcho.com @mitchoyoshitaka

Ubiquity: Designing a Multilingual Natural Language Interface

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