Hope you enjoyed the festivities!  Here’s some pictures to remember the event by…!

Profs. Bird, Choi and Su receiving scrolls marking the auspicious opening of the conference

ACL-AFNLP executive members and conference chairs in front of the conference banner

Prof. Steven Bird demonstrating a prosperity orange "extraction process"

Good company and conversation had by all at the opening reception

The NTU Lion Dance Troupe and ACL-IJCNLP conference goers pose!

This philatelic collector sheet is uniquely created to commemorate the ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Conference in Singapore ! You can find totally 10 pieces of personalised stamps here. The ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Conference logo is printed on the right side of a real and usable Singapore postage stamp, which has the design of an Orchid flower. The Orchid flower, specifically Vanda Miss Joaquim (卓锦万黛兰) , was identified as the National Flower of Singapore, on 15th April 1981. This flower can bloom throughout the year, and signifies Singapore’s continuous efforts towards making better progress and excellence. This special edition of philatelic collector sheet marks the significant achievement made by all contributors at ACL-IJCNLP 2009 in the research and development of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing; and anticipates this spirit to strive on!

Whether you are a philatelic collector or not, this is a very special edition of stamps that you cannot miss ! If you are interested to purchase this limited edition of ACL-IJCNLP 2009 philatelic collector sheet, please approach Ms Wang Xi at the Registration desk during the conference period. Each set will cost SGD30.00 (or USD20.00). Whilst stock lasts !

T-Shirt

Besides the limited edition philatelic collector sheet above, you would also be able to find limited edition of custom-made ACL-IJCNLP 2009 T-Shirts on sale during the conference. The t-shirts come in two different colors (yellow with red/blue with red), and different sizes. The design and sizes are shown as follows:

You would see models (i.e. conference officers/volunteers/helpers) wearing them during the conference. If you feel like owning a piece of this limited edition t-shirt, you can also approach Ms Wang Xi at the Registration desk during the conference period to purchase. Each t-shirt will cost SGD15.00 (or USD10.00), and similarly whilst stock lasts ! Don’t forget to check them out !! >_<

As a final note – if in case you require any assistance during the conference, please do not hesitate to approach any of the models (i.e. conference helpers/volunteers wearing this conference t-shirt). We have a team of experienced and enthusiastic volunteers, who are looking forward to welcoming and serving you at ACL-IJCNLP 2009 at Suntec, Singapore. Besides wearing the conference t-shirt, they should also be wearing a special badge to ease you to identify and locate them. Fyi, the conference officers, volunteers and helpers could assist in the area of registration, first aid, technical assistance, logistics, general information, conference ushering, and publicity.  Half of them are  actually student volunteers from Singapore.  If you’d like to know more about life in Singapore, you could also try to chat with them, even if you do not require their assistance!

p.s. No need to reply to this, but some of us got here late last
night; any recommendations about where to explore today?

Here’s my short answer.  Hopefully others can chime in via comments.

Shopping: Try the north part of Orchard Road (Tangs, Takashimaya).  The new ION Orchard Mall is less than a month old.
History: try the National Museum at the base of Fort Canning.
Walking: try Chinatown or Little India.  Avoid afternoon sun if possible.
Tech: Try Sim Lim Square.
Nature: Try the Southern Ridges (see blog post: http://www.colips.org/blog/acl-ijcnlp-2009/index.php/175/)

Uniquely Singapore (brought to you by the Singapore Tourism Board) has a lot of information for walking tours, etc. too.

Jason Eisner replied:

Thanks a bunch!  I’ll forward that to the other 5 ACLers on my plane.

ACL-IJCNLP: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/P/P09
EMNLP: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/D/D09
Workshops: http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W/W09

There is now a user account for all conference attendees to contribute to the blog.  Please click the log-in link on the right hand menu, using “acl-ijcnlp” as the user;”sun***” (replace the asterisks with the venue of the conference, lowercase, six letters) as the password.

Once logged in, you can post your comments (via “posts”) on the upper left.   Please make sure to sign you own post and provide a link to your website if you wish.  Posts will be reviewed on a (sub-) daily basis to ensure timely information gets posted.  Commercial posts, advertisements, job openings related to ACL-IJCNLP are more than welcomed, but may be edited for content and delivery.

(Also see Mary Ellen Foster’s comments on this post below).

There have been very recent changes to how Wireless@SG registration works.  As reported in the conference handbook and earlier on the website, international phone numbers used to be accepted for registration — this is no longer the case.

Registration confirmation and password are sent via SMS; local Singapore mobile phone numbers are required at the moment. We advise you to purchase a prepaid SIM card upon arrival to Singapore. The prepaid SIM cards for all 3 mobile operators are sold in a number of shops including convenience stores like 7-Eleven. Passport is required to purchase a SIM card.  See the earlier post about hand phones for more information on obtaining a SIM card.

Southern Ridge Treetop walk (courtesy Bernardoh@flickr)

In a few previous posts, we already highlighted a few of the nature spots in Singapore. In May 2008 (quite recent) the Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore’s urban planning division; self acknowledged sim city folks ) opened up a series of parks stretching from right outside the Vivocity shopping mall and stretching all the way West to NUS. The park, called the Southern Ridge, features two architecturally distinct bridges and a very nice treetop canopy walk that’s entirely free of charge. This a great budget way to spend two hours to get your fitness walk and commune with nature in our urban city. Perhaps start late

Alexandra Arch (courtesy chooyutshing@flickr)

afternoon near the Alexandra Arch bridge and end your walk at Vivocity. You’ll be treated to nice views of the city and harbor and a nice sunset, and end up in Singapore’s (current) largest mall, with plenty of eating options to satisfy your cravings.

Yee Fan had commented:

Practically each time when the SG gahmen wants to promote something, a website is created. The southern ridge is no exception: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/southernridges.html

Even when you do manage to find one (hint: big shopping malls in Suntec City or in large hotels), sometimes they are just phones that take electronic prepaid cards.  How do you then make the call to look up your friends in Singapore?

Always on the phone? (Courtesy jeremyfoo@flickr)

A good option is to bring your mobile phone with you.  Singapore runs standard GSM service through several mobile providers.  If you have a (dual, tri, quad-band) GSM phone it should work with Singapore’s providers as long as you get a new SIM card.  This would be my recommended option — to purchase a short-term prepaid, refillable SIM card.

Getting a prepaid SIM card in Singapore is generally quite easy, activation is instant, and calling rates are quite attractive.

The prepaid SIM cards in Singapore come in various denominations ranging from S$10 to S$50. There are 3 mobile phone service providers that offer prepaid phone service in Singapore – SingTel, MobileOne (M1) and Starhub.

Prepaid SIM cards in Singapore for any of the three phone companies can be purchased at the following locations:

• Retail outlets of Singtel, Starhub, and M1.  There are outlets for these stores in Suntec City.
• 7-eleven stores and Cheers Convenience Stores.  These are everywhere, including the Changi airport.  If you have to have your phone connection right away, this is it.
• Singapore Post

Since 2006, the Singapore government has made prepaid SIM registration a mandatory requirement. This means the card must be registered under the name of the person who will be using it, in this case you. As a result, you will be required to produce your passport when you buy the prepaid mobile card (that means you should not forget to bring out your passport when you want go buy it). Once registered, the card is ready for use immediately.

Prepaid SIM Card balance in Singapore is normally valid for 6 months which means any unused balance will expire after 6 months, if not refilled (topped-up) by buying additional credit.  10 dollars may seem a lot of money but I personally find the peace of mind in having local rate calling at your convenience.  The prepaid cards all features slightly different long distance rates to your family and friends back home, but don’t vary too much.

So those linguists out there will wonder about the origins of the word ‘handphone’, more popularly used here than ‘mobile’ or ‘cell’.  Well that’s easy: ‘手机’ the Chinese translation is literally ‘hand machine’.  How’s that for pop etymology?