SIGARAB

ACL Special Interest Group

on Arabic Natural Language Processing

https://www.sigarab.org/

 Established January 20, 2022 

SIGARAB Mission

Arabic Natural Language Processing (Arabic NLP) is challenging:  Arabic has a complex and rich morphology, a high degree of ambiguity, as well as many dialects that vary quite widely. Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the national language of over 400 million people from 23 states, and the liturgical language of 1.8 billion Muslims around the world.  The opportunities that are made possible by working on Arabic NLP cannot be underestimated in their consequence on the Arab world, the Mediterranean region, and the rest of the world.

SIGARAB is the Special Interest Group of the Association for Computational Linguistics for researchers concerned with all aspects of Arabic NLP. 

The activities of SIGARAB include: 





Join SIGARAB

SIGARAB Officers & Advisory Committee

Elected Officers

President

Secretary

Treasurer


Appointed Representatives

Scholar Page Resource Manager 

Online Asset Resource Manager 

Public Relations and Communications Manager

Advisory Committee 


Leadership History

Founding Secretary (Jan 2022-Jan 2023), Elected (Jan 2023-Jan 2025) 

Founding Treasurer (Jan 2022-Jan 2023), Elected (Jan 2023-Jan 2025) 


Constitution

of the ACL Special Interest Group

on Arabic Natural Language Processing

(SIGARAB)



I. Statement of Purpose


Arabic Natural Language Processing (Arabic NLP) is challenging:  Arabic has a complex and rich morphology, a high degree of ambiguity, as well as many dialects that vary quite widely. Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the national language of over 400 million people from 23 states, and the liturgical language of 1.8 billion Muslims around the world.  The opportunities that are made possible by working on Arabic NLP cannot be underestimated in their consequence on the Arab world, the Mediterranean region, and the rest of the world.


The purpose of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) Special Interest Group on Arabic NLP (SIGARAB) shall be:


SIGARAB will operate within the framework of the ACL's general guidelines for SIGs.


II. Membership & Dues


Joining Membership is open to anyone who professes an interest in Arabic NLP. It does not require ACL membership. The membership can be obtained either through provided electronic means or by filling a membership form in conjunction with a SIG meeting.


Termination Membership will be terminated on request, or automatically if no reply is received within 2 months of a yearly membership renewal request. Termination requests are to be communicated by email to the SIGARAB Secretary. Automatically terminated memberships will be reinstated on request.


Dues SIGARAB does not charge dues to its members.


III. Elected Officers

The elected officers of the SIG shall consist of a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer. These shall be members in good standing of the ACL. The term of all elected officers of the SIG shall be 2 years or shorter if the elected officers organize the elections earlier.


President The duties of the President shall be:


Secretary The duties of the Secretary shall be:


Treasurer The duties of the Treasurer shall be:


IV. Other Representatives


The President designates a Liaison Representative and a Resource Manager.


The SIGARAB will be supported by an Advisory Committee of leading researchers of Arabic NLP from across the world. The committee members will consist of the Advisory Committee of the Workshop of Arabic NLP who represent a wide variety of regions, dialects, and research interest.


Liaison Representative The duties of the Liaison Representative shall be:


Resource Manager The duties of the Resource Manager shall be:


Advisory Committee The duties of the Advisory Committee shall be:


V. Election of Officers


Voters All elected officers of SIGARAB shall be elected by a vote of the current SIGARAB members. 


Election Timeline The timeline of the elections is based on the expiration of the current terms of the officers (time n).


Election Committee The election process shall be managed by a three-member Election Committee formed by the SIG Secretary and two volunteer members from the Advisory Committee. Members of the Election Committee cannot run for elected positions in the elections they manage. If the SIG Secretary is running for election, a third volunteer from the Advisory Committee will take the place of the SIG Secretary.


Nominations All SIG members will be given notice to submit nominations for SIG officers at the time nominations open and 2 weeks before their closing. Candidates must be nominated by two members, and must accept the nomination. Candidates must be current members in good standing in SIGARAB and in good standing in ACL.  Candidates need to provide a CV and short biography to be shared with all the voting member on a the SIGARB website.


Voting All SIG members will be given notice to vote on SIG officers at the time voting opens and 2 weeks before its closing.  Votes will be entered by electronic means. Votes arriving by the notified closing date will be counted. The Election Committee will use Single Transferable Vote (aka Multi-winner Ranked-choice Voting) for determining the winners.


Announcing the Results The results shall be notified to the active members within 2 weeks immediately after the closing of the votes. The previous officers will remain active for 2 months into the next term to ease the transition. 


Unexpected Vacancy If a vacancy occurs among the officers of the SIG, the remaining two elected officers will each nominate a replacement officer from among the Advisory Committee members to serve out up to the remainder of the previous office holder's term.  The Advisory Committee will vote on the nominees to identify the replacement officer.