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<H1><A NAME="SECTION00020000000000000000">Executive summary</A></H1>
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LE EAGLES (LE3-4244) builds on work started in LRE EAGLES (LRE 61-100)
on defining guidelines and publicly defined specifications for
language-enhanced systems and resources, for the benefit of both
consumers and producers of language technology. It serves to consolidate
initial work and more importantly to carry forward new work in several key
areas dealing with language resources (spoken and written) and evaluation
of NLP systems. It runs for 20 months from January, 1997.
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The results take the form of a set of handbooks providing guidelines on
good practice and de facto standards, which are being widely disseminated
using traditional and new (World Wide Web) means.
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The project is to be seen within the framework of a cyclic approach to de
facto standardisation
(recommendation, feedback, consolidation, dissemination and application, further recommendation, etc.). It
brings together numerous actors from industry and academia, many of whom have committed free
manpower to the attainment of the project goals.
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Its results will help
ensure greater integration of language technology applications, reuse of components, lower development costs and greater market penetration.
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Many organisations and experts are contributing to the project (some 200 experts took part in
EAGLES LRE 61-100). In addition to the consortium partners, several other
industrial companies are taking part in the EAGLES working
groups, together with various research institutions.
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Irrespective of their contractual role, all participants are committed to providing feedback throughout the
project, from the scientific as well as industrial user communities.
Industrial system developers and other
public or private R&D laboratories from outside the consortium are also
be involved in validating results and providing feedback.
Meeting industrial needs and
expectations, in particular, is one of the key criteria in the design of the final EAGLES products.
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Numerous users of language resources (systems developers) are involved. End-users of language
technology are heavily involved especially in development of standards for evaluation.
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Benefits for the information user include
greater control of information creation, management, transfer, modification and retrieval via language
technology; greater availability of robust, flexible, integrated language technology applications; and easier comparative evaluation of LE products.
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Expected benefits for the European industries include
shorter time-to-market, lower development costs, removal of the language resource bottleneck, greater
flexibility at LE component level, greater opportunity to build integrated and integratable LE
packages.
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In general, EAGLES is enhancing progress towards the overcoming of
language barriers, enabling greater competitiveness in the world marketplace by
European industry, and furthermore encouraging a spreading take-up of
language technology for a wide variety of purposes and occupations.
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