Information for TAC 2011 Track Participants
TAC 2011 has three tracks:
The exact definitions of the tasks to be performed in each track are formulated and
discussed on the track mailing list. Registering to participate in a TAC
track does not automatically add you to the track's mailing
list; if you are not already on the mailing list, you must subscribe
yourself by following the instructions for that mailing
given in the track web page. If you were previously
subscribed to the mailing list, you do not have to re-subscribe; track
mailing lists are for anyone interested in the track, rather than
specifically for TAC participants, and thus carry over from year to
year. For questions about the track, send mail to the track
coordinator.
Each track has its own set of deadlines for submitting results, which will be given in the final track guidelines on the track's Web page.
Track participants must abide by the Policies and
Guidelines for Track Participants. All results submitted to TAC
are archived on the TAC web site and all evaluations are published in
the conference proceedings. Dissemination of TAC work and results
other than in the conference proceedings is welcomed, but the
conditions of participation specifically preclude any advertising
claims based on TAC results.
Data and User Agreements
Most data that are required for the TAC 2011 tracks are distributed at
no cost to track participants. However, some tracks may use
special collections that are available from other organizations for a
fee; the individual track guidelines will specify instructions for
obtaining such data.
Whenever possible, data are
distributed by NIST or the Linguistic Data Consortium via Web
download; data are mailed as physical disks only if they cannot be
made available for download. Each track home page will specify
instructions for obtaining data for that track, including the user
agreement forms required for accessing the data.
Access to TAC 2011 data is restricted to registered TAC 2011
participants who have submitted all the required User Agreement forms.
Most data that is distributed by NIST is kept in password-protected
areas of the TAC 2011 web site. Password-protected areas include the
current year's test data and evaluation results. Each
password-protected area of the web site will indicate which signed
User Agreements are required for access. Each participating team will
provide a Team ID and will receive a Team Password upon registration. Once
the required User Agreement forms have been received for that team,
NIST will activate the Team ID and Password to give access to the
corresponding password-protected web pages on the TAC 2011 web site.
Teams that have participated in past TAC cycles must register and
obtain a new password for 2011. Teams must also submit new (current)
User Agreement forms for 2011.
TAC 2011 track participants should follow the instructions given in
the User
Agreements page for submitting the "Agreement Concerning
Dissemination of TAC Results" and any additional User Agreements that
must be submitted to NIST for the particular tracks of interest. When
submitting forms, in addition to the information requested in the User Agreements
page, please include the email address of the main TAC 2011
contact person for the team, and a comment saying that the form is
from a TAC 2011 registered participant. NIST needs a signed physical
copy of the agreements before the team can be given any data.
Past Data
Much of the past data from TREC, DUC and TAC are available from NIST and
may be useful for system development for some of the TAC tracks.
Schedule
TAC 2011 Schedule |
June 10 | Deadline for registration for track participation |
July - early September | Deadlines for results submission (varies by track) |
September 25 | Deadline for workshop presentation proposals |
By late September | Release of individual evaluated results to participants |
October 12 | Notification of acceptance of presentation proposals |
October 25 | Deadline for system reports (workshop notebook version) |
November 14-15 | TAC 2011 workshop in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA |
February 25, 2012 | Deadline for system reports (final proceedings version) |