Blizzard Challenge 2013 Workshop: Difference between revisions

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The Blizzard Challenge 2011 workshop is generously supported by Google
[[Image:IVONALogoNew.png||frame|The Blizzard Challenge 2013 Workshop evening reception is generously sponsored by IVONA http://www.ivona.com/]]


'''''Tuesday 3rd September 2013'''''
'''''Tuesday 3rd September 2013'''''
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* Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are  all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
* Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are  all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
* With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
* With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
* Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the 26th July 2012 and we will notify you of acceptance within a week. If you need an earlier notification (e.g., in order to obtain travel permission from your employer), then please contact us.
* Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the 26th July 2013 and we will notify you of acceptance within a week. If you need an earlier notification (e.g., in order to obtain travel permission from your employer), then please contact us.


== Location and date ==
== Location and date ==
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'''Venue:'''  
'''Venue:'''  


Campus Nord, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya


Room: Aula Master in Building  (edifici) A3
Campus Diagonal Nord


http://www.upc.edu/campus_nord/menu3/espais-disponibles/aula-master
C. Jordi Girona, 1-3
 
08034 Barcelona
 
Spain
 
[http://maps.upc.edu/?lang=en UPC campus maps]
 
Room: [http://www.upc.edu/campus_nord/menu3/espais-disponibles/aula-master Aula Master] in [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=41.3883+2.1124&hl=en&ll=41.388304,2.112401&spn=0.009289,0.012724&sll=41.387998,2.112401&sspn=0.009289,0.012724&t=h&doflg=ptk&z=17 Building A3]
 
Metro: Line L3 to Zona Universitària


= Programme =
= Programme =
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Each system presentation should last for a maximum of 15 minutes, plus a few minutes for questions. Presenters should bear in mind that the audience will mainly comprise speech synthesis experts; therefore presentations do not need to include extensive background material.
Each system presentation should last for a maximum of 15 minutes, plus a few minutes for questions. Presenters should bear in mind that the audience will mainly comprise speech synthesis experts; therefore presentations do not need to include extensive background material.


We will start at 9am and run until around 5pm. The programme is as follows:
We will start at 11am and run until around 8pm. The provisional programme is as follows:
 
*10.30 Registration opens


* 08.30 Registration desk opens (coffee should be available)
* 11.00 - 12.00 Welcome, introduction, summary of results
* 09.00-10.00 Welcome, introduction, summary
** Welcome from Simon King, on behalf of the organisers
** Welcome from the organisers
** Message from data provider, Lessac Technologies
** Message from Toshiba
** Message from evening reception sponsor, IVONA
** Message from Google
** Summary of English results from Simon King
** Summary of the results
** Summary of Indian languages results from Kishore Prahallad
* 10.00-11.00 System presentations
 
**   DFKI
* 12.00 - 13.15 System presentations (20 minutes each + questions)
**   ILSP
** DFKI Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz, Germany
**   NTUT
** CMU Carnegie Mellon University, USA
* 11.00-11.30 Coffee break
** MERAKA Meraka Institute, South Africa
* 11.30-12.30 System presentations
 
**   NITECH
* 13.00 - 15.00 Lunch
**   Lessac A
 
**   Lessac B
* 15.00 - 16.15 System presentations (20 minutes each + questions)
* 12.30-14.00 Lunch (catering provided on site, no charge)
** I2R Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore
*14.00-15.00 System presentations
** S4A Simple4All project consortium, various countries
**   HELSINKI
** RACAI Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Romanian Academy, Romania
**   I2R
 
**   USTC
* 16.15 Coffee break
* 15.00-15.45 Coffee break
 
* 15.45-16.15 Evaluation - Christoph Norrenbrock et al: Towards Perceptual Quality Modeling of Synthesized Audiobooks – Blizzard Challenge 2012
* 16.45 - 18.00 System presentations (20 minutes each)
* 16.15-onwards  Blizzard 2013 discussion
** MILE-TTS Dept. of Electrical Engg, Indian Institute of Science, India (presented on their behalf by the workshop organisers)
* ~17.00 Close
** LESSAC Lessac Technologies Inc, USA
* ~17.30 An informal social gathering after the workshop for drinks, sponsored by Google. Location is Ringlers Pub (1332 W. Burnside, Portland, OR 97209)
** ILSP Institute for Language & Speech Processing / Innoetics, Greece
 
* 18.00 Coffee break
 
* 18.30 - 19.15 System presentations (15 minutes each + questions)
** NITECH Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
** USTC National Engineering Laboratory of Speech and Language Information Processing, China
** SHRC Speech and Hearing Research Center, Peking University, China
 
* 19.15 - 20.00 Wrap-up and discussion
 
* ~20.30 Evening reception at [http://www.jardiabadessa.com El Jardí De L'Abadessa] with a range of small dishes and an open bar, sponsored by [http://www.ivona.com IVONA]
 
Not able to attend the workshop:
* NTUT National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan
 
No shows:
* ISOLAR Institute of Information Technology - Vietnam Academy of Technology / iSolar Company, Vietnam


= Practical information =
= Practical information =
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=== Registration procedure ===
=== Registration procedure ===


Please mail blizzard@festvox.org to register. In your email, please use this EXACT WORDING in the subject line "Registration for the Blizzard Challenge Workshop 2012". Any other wording could lead to a delayed response. Please send one email per person registering and tell us which organisation (if any) you belong to.
Registration is now closed. If you have not yet registered, but wish to attend, please contact blizzard@festvox.org to find out if there are any spare places.
 
All registrations will be acknowledged. Places for the sponsors and participating teams have already been allocated. Space is limited and so all remaining places will now be allocated on a 'first come, first served' basis.
 
* If you are the presenter of a paper, or another member of a participating team, please mention that in your registration email
* If you represent one of the sponsors, please mention that too


=== Cost ===
=== Cost ===


There is no cost to attend the Blizzard Workshop this year, thanks to support from Google and ISCA.
There is no charge to attend the Blizzard Workshop, thanks to the generosity of UPC and the kind assistance of Antonio Bonafonte. Catering (coffee breaks & lunch) will be free of charge, thanks to support from [http://ssw8.talp.cat SSW8]. The evening reception is free of charge, thanks to our sponsor [http://www.ivona.com IVONA].


== Accommodation and travel ==
== Accommodation and travel ==


Same as Interspeech 2012.
Same as [http://ssw8.talp.cat SSW8]


= Published proceedings =
= Published proceedings =


[http://festvox.org/blizzard/ The papers will be published on festvox.org]
[http://festvox.org/blizzard/ The papers will be published on festvox.org]

Latest revision as of 15:58, 3 September 2013

The Blizzard Challenge 2013 Workshop evening reception is generously sponsored by IVONA http://www.ivona.com/

Tuesday 3rd September 2013

The workshop will be at UPC in Barcelona.


Call for participation

The Blizzard Challenge 2013 Workshop is the culmination of the Blizzard Challenge 2013 which is an open speech synthesis evaluation campaign using common data sets and a large listening test. The aims of the workshop are to present the results from the listening tests and for participants in the Challenge to describe their systems.

The workshop is a satellite of Interspeech 2013

Who can attend the workshop ?

The workshop is open to all and we encourage participation from anyone interested in speech synthesis.


Who can submit a paper to the workshop ?

All participants in the Challenge are expected to submit a paper describing their entry (even if they cannot attend the workshop in person). Papers will be refereed by the Programme Committee.

Programme Committee

  • Simon King, University of Edinburgh, UK
  • Alan Black, Carnegie Mellon Univerisity, USA
  • Keiichi Tokuda, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
  • Kishore Prahallad, IIITH, India

Paper submission instructions

  • Use the Interspeech 2013 authors' kit, but your paper should be up to SIX pages in length
  • Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
  • With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
  • Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the 26th July 2013 and we will notify you of acceptance within a week. If you need an earlier notification (e.g., in order to obtain travel permission from your employer), then please contact us.

Location and date

Date: Tuesday 3rd September 2013 (all day)

Venue:

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Campus Diagonal Nord

C. Jordi Girona, 1-3

08034 Barcelona

Spain

UPC campus maps

Room: Aula Master in Building A3

Metro: Line L3 to Zona Universitària

Programme

The workshop format is single-track with oral presentations from the participants in the Challenge, the organisers and invited speakers.

Each system presentation should last for a maximum of 15 minutes, plus a few minutes for questions. Presenters should bear in mind that the audience will mainly comprise speech synthesis experts; therefore presentations do not need to include extensive background material.

We will start at 11am and run until around 8pm. The provisional programme is as follows:

  • 10.30 Registration opens
  • 11.00 - 12.00 Welcome, introduction, summary of results
    • Welcome from Simon King, on behalf of the organisers
    • Message from data provider, Lessac Technologies
    • Message from evening reception sponsor, IVONA
    • Summary of English results from Simon King
    • Summary of Indian languages results from Kishore Prahallad
  • 12.00 - 13.15 System presentations (20 minutes each + questions)
    • DFKI Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz, Germany
    • CMU Carnegie Mellon University, USA
    • MERAKA Meraka Institute, South Africa
  • 13.00 - 15.00 Lunch
  • 15.00 - 16.15 System presentations (20 minutes each + questions)
    • I2R Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore
    • S4A Simple4All project consortium, various countries
    • RACAI Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Romanian Academy, Romania
  • 16.15 Coffee break
  • 16.45 - 18.00 System presentations (20 minutes each)
    • MILE-TTS Dept. of Electrical Engg, Indian Institute of Science, India (presented on their behalf by the workshop organisers)
    • LESSAC Lessac Technologies Inc, USA
    • ILSP Institute for Language & Speech Processing / Innoetics, Greece
  • 18.00 Coffee break
  • 18.30 - 19.15 System presentations (15 minutes each + questions)
    • NITECH Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
    • USTC National Engineering Laboratory of Speech and Language Information Processing, China
    • SHRC Speech and Hearing Research Center, Peking University, China
  • 19.15 - 20.00 Wrap-up and discussion

Not able to attend the workshop:

  • NTUT National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan

No shows:

  • ISOLAR Institute of Information Technology - Vietnam Academy of Technology / iSolar Company, Vietnam

Practical information

Registration

Registration procedure

Registration is now closed. If you have not yet registered, but wish to attend, please contact blizzard@festvox.org to find out if there are any spare places.

Cost

There is no charge to attend the Blizzard Workshop, thanks to the generosity of UPC and the kind assistance of Antonio Bonafonte. Catering (coffee breaks & lunch) will be free of charge, thanks to support from SSW8. The evening reception is free of charge, thanks to our sponsor IVONA.

Accommodation and travel

Same as SSW8

Published proceedings

The papers will be published on festvox.org