WebMath: Non-member submission from [Bruce Virga <brucev@dessci.com>]

[June Lester]

>
>Hi,
>
>If you are interested in MathML, or involved in research or education, you
>may find this workshop of interest. The full press release is pasted below,
>or you can read it on our site.
>
>http://www.dessci.com/en/company/press/releases/default.htm
>
>Please let me know if you have any questions.
>
>Sincerely,
>Bruce Virga
>_____________________________________
>
>For Immediate Release
>
>Design Science Awarded NSF Grant for Enhancing Searching for Mathematics
>
>Spring 2004 Workshop Scheduled to Develop Requirements
>
>LONG BEACH, California - December 1, 2003 - Design Science today announced
>it will lead a project aimed at enhancing search technology for science,
>technical and medical (STM) documents. The kick-off event will be a
>workshop scheduled for April 2004, bringing together researchers and
>managers of STM document collections from academia and industry. The
>workshop and project are funded in part by a National Science Foundation
>(NSF) grant awarded to Design Science through the National Science Digital
>Library (NSDL) program.
>
>The ultimate goal of the project is to facilitate searching for
>mathematical formulas and notations in scientific literature, the same way
>one can now do full-text keyword searches. "With better searching,
>researchers in one area have a much better chance of discovering
>connections with other seemingly unrelated fields. For example, one can
>imagine a heart researcher might find the same equations describing cardiac
>electrical signals turning up in the work of astronomers studying solar
>flares where the problems have already been solved. Without math-aware
>searching, finding such unexpected connections is largely a matter of
>chance. Yet, the history of science shows again and again that unexpected
>connections often lead to major breakthroughs," said Dr. Robert Miner,
>Director of New Product Development at Design Science.
>
>The goal of the workshop is to identify a framework for developing and
>deploying enhanced searching of STM literature. The emphasis will be on
>coming up with practical solutions for the near and medium term that are
>compatible with business constraints of major stakeholders. "There is some
>sense in the industry that there is a window of opportunity to re-examine
>best practices for making STM material more searchable," said Miner. "As
>content providers make the shift to XML-based workflows, there is a natural
>interest in leveraging investments in XML-based content to add value for
>customers. Improved searching is a hot topic in this regard." The workshop
>will be held April 26-27, 2004, and will be hosted by the Institute for
>Mathematics and its Advancement (IMA) at the University of Minnesota.
>Registration for the workshop is limited, but some openings are still
>available.
>
>Math searching is currently hampered by the lack of a standard,
>machine-accessible format for equations. But that is changing as MathML, an
>XML language for representing mathematics developed by the World Wide Web
>Consortium (W3C), emerges as an industry standard. Because MathML is
>highly-structured, and information rich, it has great potential for
>improving searching, as well as other information-intensive applications
>such as the ability to speak math to visually impaired readers. "While the
>first generation of web technology focused on text searching, the second
>generation will bring the world equivalent facilities for working with
>other kinds of data. Because math is the language of science and
>technology, MathML is a key part of that effort," according to Paul R.
>Topping, Design Science's President. Design Science is an industry leader
>in MathML technology, with extensive MathML expertise, several MathML-based
>product-lines and significant market penetration into education and
>research. So developing new ways of adding value to MathML-aware content is
>a natural direction for Design Science.
>
>About Design Science, Inc. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Long Beach,
>California, Design Science develops software used by educators, scientists
>and publishing professionals, including MathType, Equation Editor in
>Microsoft Office, WebEQ, MathFlow, MathPlayer and TeXaide, to communicate
>on the web and in print. For more information please visit
>http://www.dessci.com.
>
>###
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>Bruce Virga                      email: brucev at dessci.com
>VP, Sales & Marketing            phone: 562-433-0685
>                                   http://www.dessci.com
>Design Science, Inc.
>"How Science Communicates"
>MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
>----------------------------------------------------------------

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