SIGGEN (Ehud Reiter)
====================

         Report on SIGGEN 99-00

After an open discussion, a document describing SIGGEN's participation
in future NLG events was produced.  There are three categories of events
* INLG (International NLG) Conferences: SIGGEN will solict bids and ask
   that they meet certain criteria (such as open attendance and formal
   publication).  However, it will leave the choice between bids to a
   committee of previous INLG PCs, and will not be involved in INLG finances.
* SIGGEN NLG workshops: SIGGEN will offer support in name to NLG workshops
   that meet certain criteria
* Other events: may be listed on the SIGGEN Web site at the discretion
   of the SIGGEN webmaster
There were two SIGGEN-supported events in 2000: The First International
Natural Language Generation Conference (INLG-00) in Israel (the bids for
this were done under the old rules, as they pre-date the new policy);
and Impacts in Language Generation: NLG Between Technology and Applications, 
in Germany.  SIGGEN is now formally soliciting bids for INLG-02, under
the new policy.

SIGGEN also organised a contest and a vote for a logo.  This was won
by Ted Caldwell (from CoGenTex, Inc).  The new logo is on the SIGGEN
website and can be used by SIGGEN approved conferences and workshops.

The SIGGEN web site continued to expand, and now includes detailed
sections on NLG resources (books, conferences, systems and software,
people, papers).  The SIGGEN mailing list is now moderated, to ensure
that only appropriate messages are sent to it.  The mailing list now
has 232 subscribers; these subscribers constitute the official SIGGEN
membership for purposes of electing officers and other voting matters.

The future of SIGGEN was discussed at the INLG-00 business meeting.
It was decided that instead of having one election for the complete
board every 4-6 years, it was better to have an election every two
years for the student member plus two (out of four) of the other
members.  This election will be organised after INLG-02 has been
arranged.