Affiliations: [a] Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Pisa, largo B. Pontecorvo, Pisa, Italy | [b] Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, Broerstraat, Groningen, The Netherlands | [c] Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Torino, corso Svizzera, Torino, Italy | [d] Computational Lexicology & Terminology Lab (CLTL), VU Amsterdam, De Boelelaan, HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | [e] Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale “Antonio Zampolli” - CNR, Via G. Moruzzi, Pisa, Italy | [f] FBK - University of Trento, Via Sommariva, Trento, Italy
Abstract: Shared task evaluation campaigns represent a well established form of competitive evaluation, an important opportunity to propose and tackle new challenges for a specific research area and a way to foster the development of benchmarks, tools and resources. The advantages of this approach are evident in any experimental field, including the area of Natural Language Processing. An outlook on state–of–the–art language technologies for Italian can be obtained by reflecting on the results of the recently held workshop “Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian”, EVALITA 2014. The motivations underlying individual shared tasks, the level of knowledge and development achieved within each of them, the impact on applications, society and economy at large as well as directions for future research will be discussed from this perspective.
