Xref: utzoo ont.events:1280 uw.talks:2 uw.cs.grad:2 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!thunder!water!wlrush From: wlrush@water.waterloo.edu (Wenchantress Wench Wendall) Newsgroups: ont.events,uw.talks,uw.cs.grad Subject: MASTER'S ESSAY PRESENTATION Keywords: Mr. David Hsu, graduate student, Message-ID: <2585@water.waterloo.edu> Date: 10 Aug 89 17:41:53 GMT Distribution: ont Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 43 Dept. of Computer Science, will speak on `` A Processing Model for Redirection Clues in Discourse.'' DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO SEMINAR ACTIVITIES MASTER'S ESSAY PRESENTATION -Thursday, August 17, 1989 Mr. David Hsu, graduate student, Dept. of Computer Science, will speak on ``A Processing Model for Redirection Clues in Discourse.'' TIME: 11:00 a.m. ROOM: DC 3540 ABSTRACT This essay examines the processing of interruptions in discourse based on the model proposed by Grosz and Sidner. Three types of interruptions with redirection clue words or phrases are proposed in the Grosz and Sidner model - flashbacks, digressions and semantic returns. We develop an interruption processing model (IPM) and present an implementation, which takes as input discourse that includes interruptions and produces as output an interpretation of the structure of that discourse. The design of algorithms for the processing model is guided by the high-level mechanisms suggested by Grosz and Sidner. The algorithms present low-level descriptions of the updates required for the representation of the discourse, as stored in the intentional structure and attentional state. Several examples are provided to illustrate the structures of discourse at any given instance. The examples also help to explain the behavior of clues in discourse. The processing model also forms part of the realization of the computational argument analysis system by R. Cohen. Together with the implementation of connective clues by T. Smedley, they establish the clue interpreter in the system. Together with the implementation of Evidence Oracle by M. Young, they constitute the processing model for the system.