My current research focusses on dialogue modelling and expressive speech synthesis in the framework of natural language interaction with virtual humans.
I also study the behaviour of older people interacting with spoken dialogue systems in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh.
Previously I was located at the Educational Testing Service and before that at the School of Informatics of the University of Edinburgh. You may consult my old home page for more details.
email: kgeorgila at ict dot usc dot edu
Georgila K., Lemon O., Henderson J., and Moore J.D. Automatic Annotation of Context and Speech Acts for Dialogue Corpora. Journal of Natural Language Engineering, Cambridge University Press, 15(3):315-353, 2009.
Wolters M., Georgila K., Moore J.D., and MacPherson S.E. Being Old Doesn't Mean Acting Old: How Older Users Interact with Spoken Dialog Systems. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 2(1):1-39, 2009.
Wolters M., Georgila K., Moore J.D., Logie R.H., MacPherson S.E., and Watson M. Reducing Working Memory Load in Spoken Dialogues: Do We Have to Limit the Number of Options? Interacting with Computers, Elsevier, 21(4):276-287, 2009.
Henderson J., Lemon O., and Georgila K. Hybrid Reinforcement/Supervised Learning of Dialogue Policies from Fixed Datasets. Computational Linguistics, MIT Press, 34(4):487-511, 2008.
Georgila K., Sgarbas K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. A Speech-based Human-Computer Interaction System for Automating Directory Assistance Services. International Journal of Speech Technology, Special Issue on Speech and Human Computer Interaction, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 145-159, April 2003.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Large Vocabulary Search Space Reduction Employing Directed Acyclic Word Graphs and Phonological Rules. International Journal of Speech Technology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 355-370, November 2002.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Stochastic Language Modelling for Recognition and Generation in Dialogue Systems. TAL (Traitement automatique des langues) journal, Vol. 43(3), pp. 129-154, 2002.
Misu T., Georgila K., Leuski A., and Traum D. Reinforcement Learning of Question-Answering Dialogue Policies for Virtual Museum Guides. In SIGdial 2012, the 13th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Seoul, South Korea, 2012.
Georgila K., Black A.W., Sagae K., and Traum D. Practical Evaluation of Human and Synthesized Speech for Virtual Human Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Istanbul, Turkey, 2012.
Wang W.Y. and Georgila K. Automatic Detection of Unnatural Word-Level Segments in Unit-Selection Speech Synthesis. In Proceedings of the IEEE Automatic Speech Recognition and Understanding Workshop (ASRU), Big Island, Hawaii, USA, 2011.
Georgila K. and Traum D. Reinforcement Learning of Argumentation Dialogue Policies in Negotiation. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association (INTERSPEECH), Florence, Italy, 2011.
Georgila K. and Traum D. Learning Culture-Specific Dialogue Models from Non-Culture Specific Data. In Universal Access in HCI, HCI International, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2011.
Georgila K., Artstein R., Nazarian A., Rushforth M., Traum D., and Sycara K. An Annotation Scheme for Cross-Cultural Argumentation and Persuasion Dialogues. In SIGdial 2011, the 12th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Portland, Oregon, USA, 2011.
Campbell J., Core M., Artstein R., Armstrong L., Hartholt A., Wilson C., Georgila K., Morbini F., Haynes E., Gomboc D., Birch M., Bobrow J., Lane H.C., Gerten J., Leuski A., Traum D., Trimmer M., DiNinni R., Bosack M., Jones T., Clark R.E., and Yates K.A. Developing INOTS to Support Interpersonal Skills Practice. In Proceedings of the IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, USA, 2011.
Roque A., Georgila K., Artstein R., Sagae K., and Traum D.R. Natural Language Processing for Joint Fire Observer Training. In Proceedings of the 27th Army Science Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2010.
Georgila K., Wang N., and Gratch J. Cross-Domain Speech Disfluency Detection. In SIGdial 2010, the 11th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Tokyo, Japan, 2010.
Georgila K., Wolters M.K., and Moore J.D. Learning Dialogue Strategies from Older and Younger Simulated Users. In SIGdial 2010, the 11th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Tokyo, Japan, 2010.
Andersson S., Georgila K., Traum D., Aylett M., and Clark R.A.J. Prediction and Realisation of Conversational Characteristics by Utilising Spontaneous Speech for Unit Selection. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Speech Prosody, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2010.
Yao X., Bhutada P., Georgila K., Sagae K., Artstein R., and Traum D. Practical Evaluation of Speech Recognizers for Virtual Human Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Valletta, Malta, 2010.
Paksima T., Georgila K., and Moore J.D. Evaluating the effectiveness of information presentation in a full end-to-end dialogue system. In SIGdial 2009, the 10th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, London, UK, 2009. ****best paper nominee****
Georgila K. Using Integer Linear Programming for Detecting Speech Disfluencies. In Proceedings of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics - Human Language Technologies (NAACL-HLT), Boulder, Colorado, 2009.
Vipperla R. Wolters M., Georgila K., and Renals S. Speech Input from Older Users in Smart Environments: Challenges and Perspectives. In Universal Access in HCI, HCI International, San Diego, California, USA, 2009.
Georgila K., Wolters M., and Moore J.D. Simulating the Behaviour of Older versus Younger Users when Interacting with Spoken Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (ACL/HLT), Columbus, Ohio, USA, 2008.
Georgila K., Wolters M., Karaiskos V., Kronenthal M., Logie R., Mayo N., Moore J.D., and Watson M. A Fully Annotated Corpus for Studying the Effect of Cognitive Ageing on Users' Interactions with Spoken Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Marrakech, Morocco, 2008.
Lemon O., Georgila K., and Henderson J. Evaluating Effectiveness and Portability of Reinforcement Learned Dialogue Strategies with Real Users: The TALK TownInfo Evaluation. In Proceedings of the IEEE/ACL Workshop on Spoken Language Technology, Aruba, 2006.
Georgila K., Henderson J., and Lemon O. User Simulation for Spoken Dialogue Systems: Learning and Evaluation. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (INTERSPEECH - ICSLP), Pittsburgh, USA, 2006.
Georgila K. and Lemon O. Programming by Voice: enhancing adaptivity and robustness of spoken dialogue systems. In Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue (SEMDIAL: BRANDIAL), Potsdam, Germany, 2006.
Lemon O., Georgila K., Henderson J., and Stuttle M. An ISU dialogue system exhibiting reinforcement learning of dialogue policies: generic slot-filling in the TALK in-car system. In Proceedings of the 11th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL), Trento, Italy, 2006.
Georgila K., Henderson J., and Lemon O. Learning User Simulations for Information State Update Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (INTERSPEECH - EUROSPEECH), Lisbon, Portugal, 2005.
Schatzmann J., Georgila K., and Young S. Quantitative Evaluation of User Simulation Techniques for Spoken Dialogue Systems. In SIGdial 2005, the 6th Annual SIGdial meeting on Discourse and Dialogue, Lisbon, Portugal, September 2-3, 2005.
Georgila K., Lemon O., and Henderson J. Automatic annotation of COMMUNICATOR dialogue data for learning dialogue strategies and user simulations. In Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue (SEMDIAL: DIALOR), Nancy, France, 2005.
Henderson J., Lemon O., and Georgila K. Hybrid reinforcement/supervised learning for dialogue policies from COMMUNICATOR data. In Proceedings of the IJCAI workshop on Knowledge and Reasoning in Practical Dialogue Systems, Edinburgh, UK, 2005.
Henderson J., Lemon O., and Georgila K. Hybrid Reinforcement/Supervised Learning of Dialogue Policies. Poster in the 2nd Joint Workshop on Multimodal Interaction and Related Machine Learning Algorithms, Edinburgh, UK, 2005.
Georgila K. and Lemon O. Adaptive Multimodal Dialogue Management Based on the Information State Update approach. In Online Proceedings of W3C Workshop on Multimodal Interaction, Sophia-Antipolis, France, 2004.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. A graphical tool for handling rule grammars in Java Speech Grammar Format. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26-28, 2004.
Georgila K., Sgarbas K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. A Layered, Transducer-Based Language Model for Speech Recognition. In Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Speech and Computers, pp. 93-98, Moscow, Russia, Oct. 27-29, 2003.
Potamitis I., Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Towards a User-friendly Automated Control of Home Appliances Based on Speech Recognition and Microphone Arrays. In Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Speech and Computers, pp. 226-230, Moscow, Russia, Oct. 27-29, 2003.
Potamitis I., Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. An Integrated System for Smart-Home Control of Appliances Based on Remote Speech Interaction. In Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (EUROSPEECH), pp. 2197-2200, Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 1-4, 2003.
Potamitis I., Georgila K., Zervas P., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. An Electronic Assistant for Automatic Control of Home-Appliances Using Natural Speech and Distant Microphones. In Proceedings of IASTED International Conference on Signal Processing, Pattern Recognition and Applications, pp. 191-195, Rhodes, Greece, June 30-July 02, 2003.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Efficient Stochastic Finite-State Networks for Language Modelling in Spoken Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (EUROSPEECH), Vol. 1, pp. 247- 250, Aalborg, Denmark, Sept. 3-7, 2001.
Georgila K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Refining the N-best Hypotheses List in Large Vocabulary Recognition by Applying Lexical Rules. In Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Speech and Computers, pp. 97- 102, Moscow, Russia, Oct. 29-31, 2001.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Variable History Stochastic Networks for Language Modelling in Dialogue Systems. In Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Speech and Computers, pp. 182-187, Moscow, Russia, Oct. 29-31, 2001.
Georgila K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Improved Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition Using Lexical Rules. In Proceedings of Advances in Human-Computer Interaction (PC-HCI) Conference, pp. 191-196, Patras, Greece, Dec. 7-9, 2001.
Louloudis D., Georgila K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Efficient Strategy and Language Modeling in Human-Machine Dialogues. In Proceedings of the 5th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI), Vol. XIII, pp. 229- 234, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 22-25, 2001.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Building Stochastic Language Model Networks Based on Simultaneous Word/Phrase Clustering. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP), Vol. 1, pp. 122-125, Beijing, China, Oct. 16-20, 2000.
Georgila K., Sgarbas K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. Fast Very Large Vocabulary Recognition Based on Compact DAWG-structured Language Models. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP), Vol. 2, pp. 987-990, Beijing, China, Oct. 16-20, 2000.
Georgila K., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. A Graphical Parametric Language- Independent Tool for the Annotation of Speech Corpora. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Vol. 3, pp. 1537- 1542, Athens, Greece, May 31-June 2, 2000.
Georgila K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. An Integrated Dialogue System for the Automation of Call Centre Services. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP), Vol. 2, pp. 45-48, Sydney, Australia, 1998.
Georgila K., Tsopanoglou A., Fakotakis N., and Kokkinakis G. A Dialogue System for Telephone-based Services Integrating Spoken and Written Language. In Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Workshop on Interactive Voice Technology for Telecommunications Applications (IVTTA), pp. 55-59, Turin, Italy, 1998.
Fakotakis N., Georgila K., and Tsopanoglou A. A Continuous HMM, Text Independent Speaker Recognition System Based on Vowel Spotting. In Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (EUROSPEECH), Vol. 5, pp. 2347- 2350, Rhodes, Greece, Sept. 22-25, 1997.