The Georgetown Human Language Technology (GU-HLT) Group is an interdisciplinary association that brings together students who are interested in pursuing a career in HLT as user experience (UX) researchers, conversation designers (CxD), product managers, and business developers. We aim to provide a forum for students from the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences to explore career opportunities and build a professional portfolio for careers in the tech sector.

2. Who should join the group and why should they join it?

Students of any major who are interested in UX research or conversational user interfaces (and the process of building them) are welcome to join. Students majoring in Linguistics, English, Anthropology, Psychology, among other majors in the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences, are encouraged to join and explore the many possibilities that are now emerging in the HLT space. Companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and many more, are looking for talent that can help take technologies such as Voice Assistants (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri), to the next level of capabilities. No knowledge of coding is needed to join, nor will it be required to remain in the group, but coders are also welcome and will be integral to the team.

Students will be able to develop their understanding of the process of how to conduct user research, how to develop a conversational assistant, and what they want their role in the process to be. They will be able to build a portfolio of relevant projects and research so as to apply to future career or academic endeavors. They will also have the opportunity to build up a network with students and industry professionals in their field of interest.

3. What kind of activities will the group engage in?

There will be two types of activities:

Hands-on skill development

The goal in this track of activities is to help students develop the soft as well as the hard, hands-on skill set that will prepare them to start producing from day one if they join the workforce. One way to accomplish this is to create teams, build products, and deliver them to the market. What the HLT group provides is the opportunity for students to collaborate with others with similar interests on either a UX or CxD project. The project groups gather 3-4 students from various academic backgrounds, with the following as an example:

UX Researcher (In charge of on the ground UX research and data gathering; Anthropology, Linguistics)
UX/ CxD Designer (In charge of designing the UX experience; Linguistics, English, etc.)
Developer (In charge of development, deployment, and maintenance of the Alexa skill or Google action; Computer Science-- with some technical background in at least one programming language)
Product Manager (Making sure that a clear vision is articulated, that the product is moving along, that no one is blocked, and that things are moving on schedule. They are the one who will write and maintain the PR-FAQ and the one who is ultimately responsible whether the initiative was a success or a failure)

Research, writing, presenting

Medium blog posts, with the goal of producing articles regularly, exploring relevant ideas & explaining projects (Check out our Medium page here)
Data analysis, with the aim of producing posters and papers at relevant conferences (e.g. CUI, CSCW, etc.)
Inviting guests to speak on pertinent topics that will help the members develop concrete practical skills and knowledge on how to deploy a successful voice assistant.

4. How frequently will this group meet?

Small project groups will meet once a week, or once every other week depending on the pace of work they set for themselves. There will also be occasional meetings with the larger group for feedback sessions between project groups, or speaker series hosted through the MLC program.

5. How is the group organizationally structured?

The group will have members of different expertise (e.g. product management, UX designers, UX researchers, and developers). Students with different areas of expertise will form teams to work collaboratively on projects, as described in 3-(1). Students may also choose to work together to develop projects that are specific to their area of interest (e.g. in Medium posts, UX/ CxD competitions, or conference presentations).

6. If this group succeeds in its mission, it’s because….

The group was able to initiate and complete several projects that gave students insight into the UX/ CxD product development process. The students were able to develop their portfolios for careers in UX/ CxD.

7. If this group fails in its mission, it’s because….

The group was not able to have each member demonstrate their practical skills in projects, and was not able to help students develop their portfolios to prepare for future career development.

8. Are there other groups in Georgetown University that could be partners? If so, which ones and in what way would they partner with this GU-HLT group?

Yes. The MLC program has been a great source of support providing the HLT group the opportunity to host speaker events on CxD and UX research. The GUCL & Interaction Analysis Lab are also possible partners. GUCL can be helpful with the execution of projects and the Interaction Analysis Lab with providing feedback on conversation design projects. GU-HLT can also invite guests with a linguistics background to talk about applications/industry knowledge in Human Language Technologies. GU-HLT can share lectures across departments.

9. Aside from the Linguistics department, what other departments would be a source of students who would be interested?

Additional groups include the MA in Communication, Culture, & Technology Program, the Department of Computer Science and departments in the MSB (McDonough School of Business).

10. Is there an Advisory Board, and if so, why does it exist and who are its initial members?

Yes, the GU-HLT group has an Advisory Board. The board’s role is to help guide the strategy of GU-HLT as well as help the group with resources and connections from their respective networks that the members can leverage.

The Advisory Board is constantly expanding with the name list below:

Faculty advisor:

Dr. Alexandra Johnston, Director of MLC at Georgetown

Industry advisors:

Ahmed Bouzid, CEO of Witlingo
Carolyn Reed, Lead Voice Researcher at Comcast

10. How do I join the group?

If you’re interested in joining, please contact Jessica Cusi at jdc286@georgetown!