2012Q3 Reports: SIGHUM

SIGHUM, the ACL Special Interest Group on Language Technologies for the Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities, was very recently approved as a new SIG by the ACL Executive Committee.

SIGHUM is intended to provide a forum for CL researchers who are developing language technology for data from the socio-economic sciences or the humanities (SSH). It will also function as a contact point for SSH stakeholders.

Specifically the aims of SIGHUM include:

• promoting the exchange and propagation of research results with respect to language resources and technologies for SSH;
• providing means and venues for exchanging news of recent research developments and other matters of interest in CL applications for SSH;
• promoting collaboration between SSH researchers and ACL members with a special interest in SSH;
• promoting interest in language technologies and CL applications in SSH;
• sponsoring meetings and workshops in CL research for SSH that appear to be timely and worthwhile, operating within the framework of the ACL's general guidelines for SIGs.

The LaTeCH workshop series, which has been running for six editions, would be the logical yearly workshop the SIG would endorse, and for which it would take up the steering task of inviting program chairs. LaTeCH was last held at EACL 2012 and the SIGHUM proposal was discussed on this occasion.

The proposers of SIGHUM are currently working on setting up a website and mailing list, recruiting members, and then holding elections for the board. Information on how to become a member will be sent out via the ACL and other mailing lists.