July 2016 Newsletter
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
New Corpora
Announcements
Fall 2016 Data Scholarship Program
Applications are now being accepted through Thursday, September 15, 2016 for the Fall 2016 LDC Data Scholarship program. The LDC Data Scholarship program provides university students with access to LDC data at no-cost.
Applications are now being accepted through Thursday, September 15, 2016 for the Fall 2016 LDC Data Scholarship program. The LDC Data Scholarship program provides university students with access to LDC data at no-cost.
This program is open to students pursuing both undergraduate and graduate studies in an accredited college or university. LDC Data Scholarships are not restricted to any particular field of study; however, students must demonstrate a well-developed research agenda and a bona fide inability to pay. The selection process is highly competitive.
The application consists of two parts:
(1) Data Use Proposal. Applicants must submit a two-page proposal describing their intended use of the data. The proposal should state which data the student plans to use, how the data will benefit their research project, the proposed methodology or algorithm which will be used and how success will be measured.
Applicants should consult the Catalog for a complete list of data distributed by LDC. Due to certain restrictions, a handful of LDC corpora are restricted to members of the Consortium. Applicants are advised to select a maximum of one to two databases.
(2) Letter of Support. Applicants must submit one letter of support from their thesis adviser or department chair. The letter must be signed and printed on letterhead, describe the student and the research, evaluate the probability of success and confirm that the department or university lacks the funding to pay the full non-member fee for the data.
For further information on application materials and program rules, please visit the LDC Data Scholarship page.
2015 User Survey Results
LDC conducted its fourth user survey in December 2015. This survey built on the previous surveys conducted in 2006, 2007 and 2012 to assess user sentiment and also asked for the evaluation of key LDC-related topics including:
- Opinions on the new website and usability of the Catalog
- Use and satisfaction with the enhanced user services and e-commerce system
- LDC’s Data Management Plan capabilities
- Suggestions for future publications and preferred data delivery methods
- Use of web services for data access and processing
Overall, survey respondents were satisfied with LDC’s data, membership options, website, Catalog and enhanced user services. Participants cited the top five most useful corpora received between 2012 and 2015 as OntoNotes Release 5.0, TIMIT, TAC KBP Reference Knowledge Base, Penn Discourse Treebank V 2.0, and Multi-Channel WSJ Audio. Three fourths of respondents prefer digital delivery of data and the top three languages for current research demands were identified as English, Chinese and Spanish.
We thank everyone who participated in this survey. Responses will benefit the future of the Consortium and will help LDC to better meet the needs of our members and data licensees.