Introduction

One of the most delightful features of a small symposium is that it allows for protracted discussions in which many people participate. Ample time for discussion was built into the symposium schedule throughout, but we allocated a special two-hour slot to challenge ourselves to identify the most significant problems capable of being solved in a five- to ten-year period. That they be solvable in that time frame challenges us beyond what we can see, but not beyond what we can reasonably extrapolate. That their solution be significant takes the discussion beyond questions of purely academic interest.

Furthermore, at the suggestion of one of the government representatives, we asked what applications should drive research (much as the application of natural language interfaces to database drove research in the 1970s and 1980s).

All attendees, including representatives of various governmental agencies, participated in this discussion.

To keep our thoughts large, we construed natural language processing (NLP) as broadly as possible, freely including such areas as lexicography and spoken language processing.

To direct the discussion without focusing it too tightly, we set forth the following questions:

1. What are the most critical areas for the next seven (plus or minus two) years of natural language processing? (“Critical” is taken to mean that which will produce the greatest impact in the technology.)

2. What resources are needed (such as people, training, and corpora) to accomplish the goals involved in that work?

3. What organization is needed (e.g., coordinated efforts, international participation) to accomplish those goals?

4. What application areas and markets should open up in response to progress toward those goals?