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SUMMARY:“I want to tell you a joke. Are you ready?” – Implementing a
 utomated pun generation for children with complex communication needs. - A
 nnalu Waller\, School of Computing\, University of Dundee
DTSTART:20070502T131500Z
DTEND:20070502T141500Z
UID:TALK6897@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Timothy G. Griffin
DESCRIPTION:The STANDUP project has developed interactive software which a
 llows children with complex communication needs (CCN) to generate novel pu
 nning riddles. Typically developing children enjoy jokes and riddles\, off
 ering an opportunity to practise language\, conversation and social intera
 ction skills during childhood. CCN restricts the opportunities to play wit
 h language\, and this in turn restricts the development of linguistic\, co
 mmunicative and social skills. Children with CCN do access pre-stored humo
 ur using existing AAC devices. However\, independent access to novel langu
 age is difficult. The STANDUP project was initiated to address this proble
 m by designing an interactive software program to allow child to generate 
 and tell novel puns. The project has involved the design and implementatio
 n of a pun generator which creates puns using joke templates and computati
 onal resources which have information about concepts\, words\, their relat
 ionships to each other and additional details such as rhyming information.
  The interface provides appropriate functionality for users with physical 
 and language impairments\, allowing users to initiate the generation of pu
 ns using different levels of complexity. For example\, requesting ‘any j
 oke’ will generate an arbitrary joke constrained by user settings such a
 s vocabulary and joke complexity. At the simplest level\, this will result
  in a joke such as: “What do you call a spicy missile?” … “A hot s
 hot.” At a more complex level\, the user may choose to generate a joke b
 y choosing a topic word. This seminar will discuss the role of humour in t
 he development of language skills and introduce the audience to the techni
 ques employed to involve therapists\, teachers and adults who use aided co
 mmunication in the design of a software language playground for children w
 ith CCN. Results from a ten-week intervention programme with nine children
  with CCN will also be presented.\n\nBiography\nDr. Annalu Waller is a reh
 abilitation engineer who has worked in the field of Augmentative and Alter
 nate Communication (AAC) since 1985. She established the first AAC assessm
 ent and training centre in South Africa in 1987. Her doctoral research hig
 hlighted the need to provide access to conversational narrative in AAC sys
 tems. She has published widely in the areas of story telling and the desig
 n of effective AAC devices. Dr Waller is a lecturer in the School of Compu
 ting at Dundee University.\n
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 1\, Computer Laboratory
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