RefNet: An interdisciplinary network focussing on reference

The main purpose of RefNet is to change the way in which research communities interact, and the way in which they are able to influence, and be influenced by, practical applications.

Reference is a key mechanism in communication, "anchoring" words to things, people, events, times, places, etc. Understanding reference is therefore an important aspect of human knowledge. RefNet will contribute significantly to this understanding, though its skill building activities (e.g. the Summer School, bursaries, lab visits), and through improved interactions between Computational Linguists and Psycholinguists. In many cases, understanding will take the form of precise quantitative models.

Reference plays a crucial role in many practical applications of computing science, such as multimodal interfaces, Geographic Information Systems, spoken dialogue, gaming, Satellite Navibation, and robotics. RefNet will help the design of these applications by offering the sophistication of computational psycholinguistics. Confidence in the potential for RefNet to succeed in this regard can be gathered from the support letters (attached) from AT&T, Nokia, and Data2Text.

Reference also plays an important role in daily life, including situations where errors can be fatal, such as emergency medicine, where protocols for spatial reference (e.g., to explain where on a mountain the victim of a mountaineering accident lies) are still error prone. A better understanding of reference and direction giving could improve such protocols. If this were to happen, lives would be saved, for example because quick and accurate direction finding is often crucial (e.g. in rural areas).