NACLO 2012 — North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad Madison, WI site

 

(0) What is NACLO? NACLO, the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad, is a contest in which high-school students solve linguistic puzzles. In solving the problems, students learn about the diversity and consistency of language, while exercising logic skills. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is necessary. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies use dozens of languages to create engaging problems that represent cutting edge issues in their fields. The competition has attracted top students to study and work in those same fields. It is an opportunity for young people to experience a taste of natural-language processing in the 21st century. This year, Google's Madison office will be a local site. The open round of the contest will take place on Thursday, February 2, 2012. Well-performing students will be invited to a second round to be held on March 13. The top students in the second round will have a chance to participate in the 10th International Linguistics Olympiad. More information about NACLO can be found at the the official site. (1) Site Coordinator and Contact Info: Dr. Steve Lacy, Member of Technical Staff at Madison Google Office email: wslacy@google.com mobile: 608-217-3208 (I welcome calls and email from anyone with questions regarding the event and will respond as promptly as possible) (2) Location: Madison Google Office 301 S. Blount St. Suite 301 (Third floor) Madison, WI 53703 Google maps link (3) Parking Participants can find a limited number of visitor parking spaces at the Rainbow Project parking lot at 836 East Main Street. As long as there is a sign for "Rainbow Project" on a parking spot, it can be used during the competition. There are only 6 such spots. This is the only visitor parking for the Google office. Street parking is also available. IMPORTANT: NACLO participants (or anyone who is picking up or dropping off a participant) should NOT park in the small lot in front of the 301 S Blount building nor in the lot across S. Blount Street from the building. Spaces in these lots are reserved for Google employees and tenants of other nearby businesses, so you run the risk of being ticketed/towed if you park in them. Please use either street parking or the Rainbow Project parking lot mentioned above. (4) Entry to the Office and Participant Check-In Please enter the building at 301 S. Blount St through the main lobby doors (north side of the building, facing the railroad tracks). You can reach the third floor via either the stairs (to your left) or the elevator (to your right). Once on the third floor, you will see the main Google office entrance that is nearest the elevator. Look for the cool metal sign that says "Google". Go to this entrance. There are two glass doors. The first door is unlocked and opens into a small glass vestibule. The second glass door is locked. Please ring the doorbell and let whoever answers (most likely the site coordinator) know you are a NACLO participant. You will be admitted and escorted into the conference room where the competition will take place. IMPORTANT: Participants will be admitted to the office starting at 8:15 am. (5) Walk-In Registration Policy We can accommodate a maximum of 10 NACLO participants at the Google office. Walk-ins will be accepted on the day of the competition as long as there are vacancies available. If you are planning to register as a walk-in participant, it is advisable to contact the site coordinator (Steve Lacy) the day before or the morning of the competition to see if there are vacancies. Upon arriving at the Google office, walk-in participants must register via the internet to obtain a registration number. An internet connection will be available at the Google office for registration of walk-in participants. It is advisable that walk-in participants arrive as early as possible to facilitate a smooth registration process. Participants will be admitted starting at 8:15 am and seating for the competition will begin promptly at 8:40 am. Any walk-in candidate must be properly registered before seating begins at 8:40 am. This implies that 8:30 am is the latest advisable time that walk-in candidates be admitted. (6) Schedule Participant Check-In and Registration of Walk-Ins: 8:15 am -- 8:40 am Seating of Candidates: 8:40 am Reading of Rules by Site Coordinator: 8:45 am -- 9:00 am Contest Begins: 9:00 am Contest Ends: 12:00 pm IMPORTANT: - No participants will be admitted once seating begins at 8:40 am - Candidates will be admitted to the office starting at 8:15 am