CMNA 5

Call for Papers

Submissions are invited to the 5th International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument, to be held as part of the IJCAI 2005 workshop programme.

AI has witnessed a growth in uses of research in the philosophical theory of argumentation, in informal logic, and in dialectics throughout many of its subdisciplines. Recent successes include agent system negotiation protocols that demonstrate higher levels of sophistication and robustness; argumentation-based models of evidential relations and legal processes that are more expressive; models of language generation that use rhetorical structures to produce effective arguments; groupwork tools that use argument to structure interaction and debate; computer-based learning tools that exploit monological and dialogical argument structures in designing pedagogic environments; decision support systems that build upon argumentation theoretic models of deliberation to better integrate with human reasoning; and models of knowledge engineering structured around core concepts of argument to simplify knowledge elicitation and representation problems. Similarly, argumentation theory has benefitted from applied AI work on new tools for teaching and research in argumentation and critical thinking, and from AI problems and issues that have offered a proving ground and evaluation framework for theories of argumentation. The CMNA series is acting to support this community.

Areas of Interest

The workshop focuses on the issue of modelling "natural" argumentation. The need for more "naturalness" has been raised in several occasions, and several interpretations have been given to the attribute. Especially when the human is involved in the loop, arguments which are, for instance, expressed in natural language are definitely more appropriate. But the use of human languages is not the only way to make the reasoning process closer to its addressees. Some researchers have, for instance, acknowledged that the development of the argument itself can take advantages of human reasoning abilities and, among other things, the ability to infer implicit steps of the argument. Naturalness may involve the use of means which are more immediate than language to illustrate a point, such as graphics or multimedia. Naturalness can also relate to the preference for one particular style of reasoning as opposed to another to structure complex arguments. Or to the use of more sophisticated rhetorical devices, interacting at various layers of abstraction. Or the exploitation of "extra-rational" characteristics of the audience, taking into account emotions and affective factors. In particular, contributions will be solicited addressing, but not limited to, the following areas of interest:

• The characteristics of "natural" arguments: ontological aspects and cognitive issues.
• The use of models from informal logic and argumentation theory, and in particular, approaches to specific schools of thought developed in informal logic and argumentation.
• Rhetoric and affect: the role of emotions, personalities, etc. in models of argumentation.
• The roles of licentiousness and deceit and the ethical implications of implemented systems demonstrating such features.
• The linguistic characteristics of natural argumentation, including discourse markers, sentence format, referring expressions, and style. Persuasive discourse processing (discourse goals and structure, speaker/hearer models, content selection, etc.). Language dependence and multilingual approaches. Empirical work based on corpora looking at these topics would be especially welcomed.
• Non-monotonic, defeasible and uncertain argumentation.
• Natural argumentation and media: visual arguments, multi-modal arguments, spoken arguments.
• Models of argumentation in multi-agent systems inspired by or based upon theories of human argument.
• Empirically driven models of argument in AI and Law.
• Evaluative arguments and their application in AI systems (such as decision support and advice giving).
• Issues of domain specificity, and in particular, the independence of argumentation techniques from the domain of application.
• Applications of computer supported collaborative argumentation, in realistic domains in which argument plays a key role, including pedagogy, e-democracy and public debate.
• Applications of argumentation based systems, including, for example, the pedagogical, health-related, political, and promotional.
• Methods to better convey the structure of complex argument, including representation and summarisation.
• Tools for interacting with structures of argument, including visualisation tools and interfaces supporting natural, stylised or formal dialogue.
• The building of computational resources such as online corpora related to argumentation.
• early results from applications and implementations of the ideas from earlier CMNA workshops.

Submission instructions

The workshop encourages submissions in three categories:

• Long papers, either reporting on completed work or offering a polemic discussion on a burning issue (up to 6000 words)
• Short papers describing work in progress (up to 3000 words)
• Demonstration of implemented systems: submissions should be accompanied by written reports (up to 3000 words). Authors should contact the organisers to ensure suitable equipment is available.

Extended versions of selected papers accepted to CMNA 1, CMNA 2 and CMNA 3 are to appear in a special issue of the International Journal of Intelligent Systems. Similar avenues will be explored for CMNA 4 and CMNA 5.

Programme Committee