| Presenting through Performing: On the Use of Multiple Lifelike Characters in Knowledge-Based Presentation Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 1-8 | |
| Elisabeth Andre; Thomas Rist | |||
| In this paper, we investigate a new style for presenting information. We
introduce the notion of presentation teams which -- rather than addressing the
user directly -- convey information in the style of performances to be observed
by him or her. The paper presents an approach to the automated generation of
performances which has been tested in two different application scenarios, car
sales dialogues and soccer commentary. Keywords: Presentation teams, Animated characters, Conversational embodied agents,
Believable dialogues Note: 1485 KB | |||
| Virtual Personal Service Assistants: Towards Real-Time Characters with Artificial Hearts | | BIBAK | PDF | 9-12 | |
| Yasmine Arafa; Abe Mamdani | |||
| Over the last years there has been a growing consensus that new generation
interfaces turn their focus on the human element by enriching an Affective
dimension. Affective generation of autonomous agent behaviour aspires to give
computer interfaces emotional states that relate and take into account user as
well as system environment considerations. Internally, through computational
models of artificial hearts (emotion and personality), and externally through
believable multi-modal expression augmented with quasi-human characteristics.
Computational models of affect are addressing problems of how agents arrive at
a given affective state. Much of this work is targeting the entertainment
environment and generally does not address the requirements of multi-agent
systems, where behaviour is dynamically changing based on agent goals as well
as the shared data and knowledge. This paper discusses one of the requirements
for real-time realisation of Personal Service Assistant interface characters.
We describe an approach to enabling the computational perception required for the automated generation of affective behaviour in multi-agent real-time environments. This uses a current agent communication language so as they not only convey the semantic content of knowledge exchange but also they can communicate affective attitudes about the shared knowledge. Keywords: Personal service assistants, Interface agents, Affective communication,
Multi-agent systems Note: 597 KB | |||
| Extending Software through Metaphors and Metonymies | | BIBAK | PDF | 13-20 | |
| Simone D. J. Barbosa; Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza | |||
| This article is about applications that can be customized or extended
through their own user interface. This is achieved by the interface's ability
to interpret users' non-literal expressions, namely metaphorical and metonymic
ones. Such increased interpretive intelligence depends on static and dynamic
models of the domain and application, from which new figurative meanings are
abducted automatically or semi-automatically. The system performs controlled
modifications on the underlying models, based on its inferences about users'
intentions as they produce figurative utterances. Keywords: End-user programming, Metaphor, Metonymy, Abductive reasoning, Interfaces
for knowledge-based systems Note: 1065 KB | |||
| Instructible Information Agents for Web Mining | | BIBAK | PDF | 21-28 | |
| Mathias Bauer; Dietmar Dengler; Gabriele Paul | |||
| Information agents are intended to assist their users in locating relevant
information in vast collections of documents like the WWW. In many cases, e.g.,
when trying to integrate pieces of information from previously unrelated
sources, it is not sufficient to merely identify documents containing relevant
data. Instead, information agents have to identify the interesting portions of
these documents and make them available for further use. This paper deals with
the problem of training an information agent to identify and extract
interesting pieces of information from online documents. Keywords: Programming by Demonstration, Information agents, Wrapper induction Note: 1867 KB | |||
| Enhancing Information Retrieval by Automatic Acquisition of Textual Relations using Genetic Programming | | BIBAK | PDF | 29-32 | |
| Agneta Bergstrom; Patricija Jaksetic; Peter Nordin | |||
| We have explored a novel method to find textual relations in electronic
documents using genetic programming and semantic networks. This can be used for
enhancing information retrieval and simplifying user interfaces. The automatic
extraction of relations from text enables easier updating of electronic
dictionaries and may reduce interface area both for search input and hit output
on small screens such as cell phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Keywords: Genetic programming, Machine learning, Natural language processing, Semantic
networks, Information retrieval Note: 619 KB | |||
| A Learning Agent for Wireless News Access | | BIBAK | PDF | 33-36 | |
| Daniel Billsus; Michael J. Pazzani; James Chen | |||
| We describe a user interface for wireless information devices, specifically
designed to facilitate learning about users' individual interests in daily news
stories. User feedback is collected unobtrusively to form the basis for a
content-based machine learning algorithm. As a result, the described system can
adapt to users' individual interests, reduce the amount of information that
needs to be transmitted, and help users access relevant information with
minimal effort. Keywords: Wireless, Intelligent information access, News, User modeling, Machine
learning Note: 855 KB | |||
| Guiding People to Information: Providing an Interface to a Digital Library using Reference as a Basis for Indexing | | BIBAK | PDF | 37-43 | |
| Shannon Bradshaw; Andrei Scheinkman; Kristian Hammond | |||
| We describe Rosetta, a digital library system for scientific literature.
Rosetta makes it easy for people to find the information for which they are
looking even when using short, imprecise queries. Rosetta indexes research
articles based on the way they have been described when cited in other
documents. The concise descriptions that occur in citations are similar to the
short queries people typically form when searching; therefore, citations make a
better basis for indexing than do the words used within a research article
itself. Using this indexing technique we are able to provide a user interface
that presents users with an automatically generated directory of the
information space surrounding a query. Our objective with this interface is to
present people with the information for which they have asked as well as the
information for which they may have intended to ask. Keywords: Information retrieval, Citation analysis, Reference directed indexing Note: 2007 KB | |||
| User Interactions with Everyday Applications as Context for Just-in-Time Information Access | | BIBAK | PDF | 44-51 | |
| Jay Budzik; Kristian J. Hammond | |||
| Our central claim is that user interactions with everyday productivity
applications (e.g., word processors, Web browsers, etc.) provide rich
contextual information that can be leveraged to support just-in-time access to
task-relevant information. We discuss the requirements for such systems, and
develop a general architecture for systems of this type. As evidence for our
claim, we present Watson, a system which gathers contextual information in the
form of the text of the document the user is manipulating in order to
proactively retrieve documents from distributed information repositories. We
close by describing the results of several experiments with Watson, which show
it consistently provides useful information to its users. Keywords: Intelligent information access, Resource discovery, Context, Information
agent Note: 1254 KB | |||
| More Than Just a Pretty Face: Affordances of Embodiment | | BIBA | PDF | 52-59 | |
| J. Cassell; T. Bickmore; H. Vilhjalmsson; H. Yan | |||
| Prior research into embodied interface agents has found that users like them
and find them engaging. In this paper, we argue that embodiment can serve an
even stronger function if system designers use actual human conversational
protocols in the design of the interface. Communicative behaviors such as
salutations and farewells, conversational turn-taking with interruptions, and
referring to objects using pointing gestures are examples of protocols that all
native speakers of a language already know how to perform and that can thus be
leveraged in an intelligent interface. We discuss how these protocols are
integrated into Rea, an embodied, multi-modal conversational interface agent
who acts as a real-estate salesperson, and we show why embodiment is required
for their successful implementation. Note: 996 KB | |||
| Data Exploration Across Temporal Contexts | | BIBAK | PDF | 60-67 | |
| Mark Derthick; Steven F. Roth | |||
| The ability to quickly explore and compare multiple scenarios is an
important component of exploratory data analysis. Yet today's interfaces cannot
represent alternative exploration paths as a branching history, forcing the
user to recognize conceptual branch points in a linear history. Further, the
interface can only show information from one state at a time, forcing the user
to use her memory to compare scenarios. Our system includes a tree-structured
visualization for navigating across time and scenarios. The visualization also
allows browsing the history and selectively undoing/redoing events within a
scenario or across scenarios. It uses the AI formalism of contexts to maintain
multiple, possibly mutually inconsistent, knowledge base states. Cross-context
formulas can be written for explicit scenario comparison, including
visualizations of scenario differences. Keywords: Undo, Exploratory data analysis, Context Note: 1449 KB | |||
| Artists Augmented by Agents | | BIBAK | PDF | 68-73 | |
| Ernest Edmonds | |||
| Computers can be very helpful to us by performing tasks on our behalf. For
example, they are very good at performing calculations, storing information and
producing visualisations of objects that do not yet exist as a made artifact.
Increasingly, however, a different role is being found for the computer. It is
the role of a catalyst, or a stimulant, to our own creative thinking. In such
cases the computer is not primarily performing a task for us and generating an
answer within itself, rather it is helping us to generate answers within
ourselves. The computer helps us think creatively. This role for the computer
can be illustrated in the context of computer support to creative design. In
order to design computer systems that support the creative process, it is
important to understand that process well enough to predict what might help,
rather than hinder. Given such research, we may begin to define the
characteristics of what the computer must do in order to augment creative
thinking. The paper explores a particular application of intelligent user
interfaces: the augmentation of creative thought in artists. Keywords: Intelligent user interface, Agent, Creativity, Art Note: 1183 KB | |||
| Adaptation in Automated User-Interface Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 74-81 | |
| Jacob Eisenstein; Angel Puerta | |||
| Design problems involve issues of stylistic preference and flexible
standards of success; human designers often proceed by intuition and are
unaware of following any strict rule-based procedures. These features make
design tasks especially difficult to automate. Adaptation is proposed as a
means to overcome these challenges. We describe a system that applies an
adaptive algorithm to automated user interface design within the framework of
the MOBI-D (Model-Based Interface Designer) interface development environment.
Preliminary experiments indicate that adaptation improves the performance of
the automated user interface design system. Keywords: Model-based interface development, Machine learning, Decision trees, Theory
refinement, User interface development tools, Interface models, Theory
refinement Note: 1251 KB | |||
| A Task-Based Architecture for Application-Aware Adjuncts | | BIBAK | PDF | 82-85 | |
| Robert Farrell; Peter Fairweather; Eric Breimer | |||
| Users of complex applications need advice, assistance, and feedback while
they work. We are experimenting with "adjunct" user agents that are aware of
the history of interaction surrounding the accomplishment of a task. This paper
describes an architectural framework for constructing these agents. Using this
framework, we have implemented a critiquing system that can give task-oriented
critiques to trainees while they use operating system tools and software
applications. Our approach is generic, widely applicable, and works directly
with off-the-shelf software packages. Keywords: Adjunct, Agent, Architecture, Critic, Event, Graphical user interface, Plan
recognition, Task model Note: 577 KB | |||
| Improving Human Computer Interaction in a Classroom Environment using Computer Vision | | BIBAK | PDF | 86-93 | |
| Joshua Flachsbart; David Franklin; Kristian Hammond | |||
| In this paper we discuss our use of multi-modal input to improve human
computer interaction. Specifically we look at the methods used in the
Intelligent Classroom to combine multiple input modes, and examine in
particular the visual input modes. The Classroom provides context that improves
the functioning of the visual input modes. It also determines which visual
input modes are needed when. We examine a number of visual input modes to see
how they fit into the general scheme, and look at how the Classroom controls
their operation. Keywords: Intelligent environments, Multi-modal input, Computer vision, Context-based
vision Note: 1322 KB | |||
| Adaptive Medical Information Delivery Combining User, Task and Situation Models | | BIBAK | PDF | 94-97 | |
| Luis Francisco-Revilla; Frank M. Shipman | |||
| Medical information delivery for users with different levels of expertise
will be required for the manned mission to Mars due to limited potential for
communication with Earth. The Mars Medical Assistant (MMA) uses a combination
of user, situation, and task models to create virtual hypertext structures by
piecing together medical "information components." Information components are
chosen based on the semantic content and the cognitive characteristics of the
component's media type. The medical assistant currently supports three tasks:
1) describing medical procedures, 2) aiding diagnosis, and 3) providing
information on health concerns. Conflicting suggestions from the three models
need to be resolved. Tradeoffs in the model representations and conflict
resolution strategies are being explored in the context of MMA. Keywords: Medical information systems, Adaptive hypertext, User models, Task models,
Situation models, Conflict resolution Note: 883 KB | |||
| Jabberwocky: You Don't Have to be a Rocket Scientist to Change Slides for a Hydrogen Combustion Lecture | | BIBAK | PDF | 98-105 | |
| David Franklin; Shannon Bradshaw; Kristian Hammond | |||
| In designing Jabberwocky -- a speech-based interface to Microsoft PowerPoint
-- we have tried to go beyond simple commands like "Next slide, please" and
make a tool that aids speakers as they present and even learns as they rehearse
their presentations. Jabberwocky looks at the contents of the slides,
extracting key words and phrases and associating them with their places in the
presentation. By listening for these phrases (and synonymous phrases derived
using syntactic rules) Jabberwocky is able to follow along with the
presentation, switching slides at the appropriate moments. In this paper, we
discuss the implementation of this system -- a component of our Intelligent
Classroom project -- and look at how we are using it. Keywords: Speech-based user interfaces, Approximate natural language understanding,
Intelligent environments Note: 965 KB | |||
| Mining Navigation History for Recommendation | | BIBAK | PDF | 106-112 | |
| Xiaobin Fu; Jay Budzik; Kristian J. Hammond | |||
| Although a user's navigation history contains a lot of hidden information
about the relationship between web pages and between users, this information is
usually not exploited. The information hidden in the history can be an
invaluable source of knowledge in assisting a user to better surf the Web. We
presented a system which actively monitors and tracks a user's navigation. Once
a user's navigation history is captured, we apply data mining techniques to
discover the hidden knowledge contained in the history. The knowledge is then
used to suggest potentially interesting web pages to users. Keywords: Data mining, Collaborative information recommendation, Intelligent user
interface Note: 961 KB | |||
| CACTUS: Automated Tutorial Course Generation for Software Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 113-120 | |
| Federico Garcia | |||
| Novice users often face many difficulties in mastering current highly
interactive systems. In this paper we describe CACTUS, an interactive system
used to develop tutorial courses for software applications. CACTUS tutorial
courses provide more adequate and more dynamical explanations than currently
existing teaching components, since they are task-oriented and provide
just-in-time context-dependent explanations. These tutors are also able to
follow-up the user activity and act according to what they perform. CACTUS is
an environment that uses the model-based design technology. In particular,
CACTUS uses declarative hierarchical task-models to derive guidance
instructions. Additionally, CACTUS releases tutorial course designers from part
of the intensive workload of developing tutor programs as these guidance
components are currently developed. This system helps to generate application
tutorial courses based on a metaphor that represents the contents of the
courses as if they were textbooks, so that learning an application is
assimilated to reading a book on certain subject and performing some
activities. Keywords: Tutorial course generation, User-task models, Programming by Demonstration,
PDB Note: 1740 KB | |||
| ALife-WebGuide: An Intelligent User Interface for Web Site Navigation | | BIBAK | PDF | 121-124 | |
| Paolo Gaudiano; Klaus Kater | |||
| This article describes Artificial Life, Inc's WebGuide, an intelligent
software bot that helps users navigate a Web site using natural language. The
article describes the technology behind ALife-WebGuide, discusses some of the
issues involved in commercialization of this type of user interface, and
summarizes possible enhancements for future versions of this product. Keywords: Web site interface, Web navigation, Intelligent navigation, Software bots,
Natural language Note: 1226 KB | |||
| R2D2 in a Softball: The Portable Satellite Assistant | | BIBAK | PDF | 125-128 | |
| Yuri Gawdiak; Jeff Bradshaw; Brian Williams; Hans Thomas | |||
| The Portable Satellite Assistant (PSA) is a softball-sized flying robot
designed to operate autonomously onboard manned and unmanned spacecraft in
pressurized micro-gravity environments. In this paper we provide an overview of
some of the design challenges we face in making the PSA practical, effective,
and usable for future space missions. In particular we highlight the need for
an agent architecture supporting adjustable autonomy and a generic model of
teamwork. Keywords: Agents, Teamwork, Adjustable autonomy, Robotics Note: 1216 KB | |||
| Learning Users' Interests by Unobtrusively Observing their Normal Behavior | | BIBAK | PDF | 129-132 | |
| Jeremy Goecks; Jude Shavlik | |||
| For intelligent interfaces attempting to learn a users' interests, the cost
of obtaining labeled training instances is prohibitive because the user must
directly label each training instance, and few users are willing to do so. We
present an approach that circumvents the need for human-labeled pages. Instead,
we learn "surrogate" tasks where the desired output is easily measured, such as
the number of hyperlinks clicked on a page or the amount of scrolling
performed. Our assumption is that these outputs will highly correlate with the
user's interests. In other words, by unobtrusively "observing" the user's
behavior we are able to learn functions of value. For example, an intelligent
browser could silently observe the user's browsing behavior during the day,
then use these training examples to learn such functions and gather, during the
middle of the night, pages that are likely to be of interest to the user.
Previous work has focused on learning a user profile by passively observing the
hyperlinks clicked on and those passed over. We extend this approach by
measuring user mouse and scrolling activity in addition to user browsing
activity. We present empirical results that demonstrate our agent can
accurately predict some easily measured aspects of one's use of his or her
browser. Keywords: Intelligent web agents, Learning user preferences, Learning by observation,
Adaptive information retrieval Note: 545 KB | |||
| Using Annotated Video as an Information Retrieval Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 133-140 | |
| Andrew S. Gordon | |||
| The ability to deliver appropriate information to learners at the most
appropriate time is an essential component of good instruction. In the best
learning environments, this information is received in the context of the
performance of the skills that are being acquired. This paper explores a
technological approach to situated information retrieval by linking materials
to segments of a video recording a skill performance. An interface is described
where users navigate through a video performance and are presented with
information relevant to the current video location. An approach to
algorithmically generating interfaces of this type is then presented. The
system takes as input annotations that describe a video recording of a
performance, translates these annotations into subject terms used to catalog
information resources, and then retrieves materials from online database
servers using the 239.50 information retrieval protocol. As an example
application, the system was used to generate online teacher professional
development materials by linking annotated video of classroom teaching with
resources cataloged in the ERIC database. Keywords: Computer learning environments, Information retrieval, Digital libraries,
Multimedia interfaces Note: 1061 KB | |||
| VITE: A Visual Interface Supporting the Direct Manipulation of Structured Data using Two-Way Mappings | | BIBAK | PDF | 141-148 | |
| Hao-wei Hsieh; Frank M. Shipman | |||
| Information processed by computers is frequently stored and organized for
the computer's, rather than for the user's, convenience. For example,
information stored in a database is normalized and indexed so computers can
efficiently access, process, and retrieve it. However, it is not natural for
people to manipulate such formal/prescriptive representations. Instead, people
frequently sort items by rough notions of association or categorization. One
natural organizational process has been found to center around manipulations of
objects in spatial arrangements. Examples of this range from the organization
of documents and other items on a regular office desktop to the use of 3"x5"
cards to organize a conference program. Using visual cues and spatial
proximity, people change the categorizations of and relationships between
objects. Without the help of indices or perfect memory people can still
interpret, locate, and manipulate the information represented by the items and
the higher-level visual structures they form. The VITE system presented here is
an intuitive interface for people to manipulate information in their own way
and at their own pace. VITE provides for configurable visualizations of
structured data sets so users can design their own "perspectives" and a direct
manipulation interface allowing editing of and manipulation on the structured
data. Keywords: Information visualization, Visual languages, Structured data manipulation,
Multiple perspectives, Direct manipulation, Visual parsing, Spatial pattern
recognition Note: 2035 KB | |||
| Creating an Empirical Basis for Adaptation Decisions | | BIBAK | PDF | 149-156 | |
| Anthony Jameson; Barbara Groszmann-Hutter; Leonie March; Ralf Rummer | |||
| How can an adaptive intelligent interface decide what particular action to
perform in a given situation, as a function of perceived properties of the user
and the situation? Ideally, such decisions should be made on the basis of an
empirically derived causal model. In this paper we show how such a model can be
constructed given an appropriately limited system and domain: On the basis of
data from a controlled experiment, an influence diagram for making adaptation
decisions is learned automatically. We then discuss why this method will often
be infeasible in practice, and how parts of the method can nonetheless be used
to create a more solid basis for adaptation decisions. Keywords: Adaptive systems, Experiments, Decision theory, Influence diagrams, Bayesian
networks Note: 1385 KB | |||
| Mapping Communicative Goals into Conceptual Tasks to Generate Graphics in Discourse | | BIBAK | PDF | 157-164 | |
| Stephan Kerpedjiev; Steven F. Roth | |||
| We address the problem of realizing communicative plans in graphics. Our
approach calls for mapping communicative goals to conceptual tasks and then
using task-based graphic design for selecting graphical techniques. In this
paper, we present the mapping rules in several dimensions: data aggregation and
selection, task synthesis, and task aggregation. Those rules have been
incorporated in AutoBrief, a research system for multimedia explanation. Keywords: Data graphic design, Communicative plans, Conceptual tasks Note: 1014 KB | |||
| User Studies of an Interdependency-Based Interface for Acquiring Problem-Solving Knowledge | | BIBA | PDF | 165-168 | |
| Jihie Kim; Yolanda Gil | |||
| This paper describes a series of experiments with a range of users to
evaluate an intelligent interface for acquiring problem-solving knowledge to
describe how to accomplish a task. The tool derives the interdependencies
between different pieces of knowledge in the system and uses them to guide the
user in completing the acquisition task. The paper describes results obtained
when the tool was tested with a wide range of users, including end users. The
studies show that our acquisition interface saves users an average of 32% of
the time it takes to add new knowledge, and highlight some interesting
differences across user groups. The paper also describes what are the areas
that need to be addressed in future research in order to make these tools
usable by end users. Note: 1201 KB | |||
| SUITOR: An Attentive Information System | | BIBAK | PDF | 169-176 | |
| Paul P. Maglio; Rob Barrett; Christopher S. Campbell; Ted Selker | |||
| Attentive systems pay attention to what users do so that they can attend to
what users need. Such systems track user behavior, model user interests, and
anticipate user desires and actions. Because the general class of attentive
systems is broad -- ranging from human butlers to web sites that profile users
-- we have focused specifically on attentive information systems, which observe
user actions with information resources, model user information states, and
suggest information that might be helpful to users. In particular, we describe
an implemented system, Simple User Interest Tracker (Suitor), that tracks
computer users through multiple channels -- gaze, web browsing, application
focus -- to determine their interests and to satisfy their information needs.
By observing behavior and modeling users, Suitor finds and displays potentially
relevant information that is both timely and non-disruptive to the users'
ongoing activities. Keywords: Attentive systems, Intelligent agents, Peripheral information, Multimodal
input, User modeling, Interest tracking Note: 1184 KB | |||
| A Reporting Tool using "Programming by Example" for Format Designation | | BIBAK | PDF | 177-180 | |
| Tetsuya Masuishi; Nobuo Takahashi | |||
| This paper describes a report tool in which report formats are designated by
"Programming by Example"-like operations. Users specify a sample layout of an
example row of relational table data on a sheet, and select an iteration
pattern of the sample layout. The tool extracts a set of general formatting
rules from the sample layout. The rules consist of absolute positions of
non-iterative data, relative positions of iterative data, the iteration
pattern, and the increment of the iteration. The tool interprets the rules and
generates new reports of the format for different table data. Keywords: Reporting tool, Relational database, Programming by Example, PBE, User
interface Note: 515 KB | |||
| Intelligent User Interfaces for Correspondence Domains: Moving IUIs Off the Desktop | | BIBA | PDF | 181-186 | |
| Christopher A. Miller | |||
| The Intelligent User Interfaces (IUIs) conference has grown to become the
premier venue for presenting research on the applications of artificial
intelligence to human interface design and operation. There is, however, a
serious limitation to the IUI conference as it has existed to date. The vast
majority of the work which has been presented and discussed at the previous IUI
conferences has concerned what might be called "desktop" applications. That is,
things an average person would do sitting at a desktop PC connected to the Web
-- applications which involve web browsing, library search, document
preparation, etc.
Such applications are fascinating and challenging, but they represent only a portion of the full body of work going on under the general heading of intelligent user interfaces. There is a long history of 'off the desktop' IUIs -- far longer, in fact, than that of 'desktop' IUIs -- and much ongoing research in this field which bears interesting similarities and differences to the type of work typically reported at IUI. The purpose of this panel will be to introduce IUI participants to this alternate body of research and to, hopefully, begin the process of expanding the focus of the IUI conference so that it fully reflects the range of research being done in IUIs. Note: 702 KB | |||
| The Emotion Machine: From Pain to Suffering | | BIBA | PDF | 187-193 | |
| Marvin Minsky | |||
| This is part of a section on Pain extracted from my forthcoming book, "The
Emotion Machine," which addresses a wider range of psychological subjects than
did my earlier book, "The Society of Mind" To do this it introduces several
"large-scale models of the mind." One of these is a broad-brush way to imagine
the brain as supporting a "cloud of resources" which interact in various ways
to produce various mental phenomena. Here "resource" means any process,
function, or structure that can be used by other resources in the course of a
mental activity. (To be sure, that statement is circular. But minds themselves
are recursive, too, and that is what makes them so powerful.) Note: 805 KB | |||
| Requirements Elicitation for an Intelligent Software Test Environment for the Physically Challenged | | BIBAK | PDF | 194-197 | |
| Warren Moseley | |||
| This paper is about the elicitation of the requirements for an intelligent
interface for a software test development environment that will accommodate the
physically challenged (PC). This research explores the use of eye-tracking
mechanisms and digital manipulative user interfaces that are especially
enhanced for the PC. In addition these devices provide assistance for the
knowledge elicitation phase for an Intelligent User Interface to such an
environment. It was never a stated objective of PCTA (Physically Challenged
Test Assistant) to include any intelligent augmentation of the environment. It
was challenge enough to get a paraplegic to operate the software test
environment. However, in the process of evaluating the data collected in the
evaluation of the user interface it was discovered that empirical data existed
to predict some of the impasses that occur in the software development and more
uniquely in the software testing process. Keywords: Knowledge acquisition, Knowledge elicitation, Scenario-based engineering,
Software architecture, Design patterns, Physically challenged, Eye tracking,
Digital manipulatives, Object oriented architecture, Americans with
disabilities act (ADA) of 1990, Intelligent process automation Note: 868 KB | |||
| A Calendar with Common Sense | | BIBAK | PDF | 198-201 | |
| Erik T. Mueller | |||
| Digital devices today have little understanding of their real-world context,
and as a result they often make stupid mistakes. To improve this situation we
are developing a database of world knowledge called ThoughtTreasure at the same
time that we develop intelligent applications. In this paper we present one
such application, SensiCal, a calendar with a degree of common sense. We
discuss the pieces of common sense important in calendar management and present
methods for extracting relevant information from calendar items. Keywords: Common sense, Calendaring, PIM Note: 497 KB | |||
| Representation of Electronic Mail Filtering Profiles: A User Study | | BIBAK | PDF | 202-206 | |
| Michael J. Pazzani | |||
| Electronic mail offers the promise of rapid communication of essential
information. However, electronic mail is also used to send unwanted messages. A
variety of approaches can learn a profile of a user's interests for filtering
mail. Here, we report on a usability study that investigates what types of
profiles people would be willing to use to filter mail. Keywords: Mail filtering, User studies Note: 502 KB | |||
| NaturalJava: A Natural Language Interface for Programming in Java | | BIBAK | PDF | 207-211 | |
| David Price; Ellen Riloff; Joseph Zachary; Brandon Harvey | |||
| NaturalJava is a prototype for an intelligent natural-language-based user
interface for creating, modifying, and examining Java programs. The interface
exploits three subsystems. The Sundance natural language processing system
accepts English sentences as input and uses information extraction techniques
to generate case frames representing program construction and editing
directives. A knowledge-based case flame interpreter, PRISM, uses a decision
tree to infer program modification operations from the case frames. A Java
abstract syntax tree manager, TreeFace, provides the interface that PRISM uses
to build and navigate the tree representation of an evolving Java program. In
this paper, we describe the technical details of each component, explain the
capabilities of the user interface, and present examples of NaturalJava in use. Keywords: Intelligent user interfaces, Information extraction, Natural language
processing, Computer program editors, Programming environments Note: 565 KB | |||
| A Perceptual Assistant to do Sound Equalization | | BIBAK | PDF | 212-218 | |
| Dale Reed | |||
| This paper describes an intelligent interface to assist in the expert
perceptual task of sound equalization. This is commonly done by a sound
engineer in a recording studio, live concert setting, or in setting up audio
systems. The system uses inductive learning to acquire expert skill using
nearest neighbor pattern recognition. This skill is then used in a sound
equalization expert system, which learns to proficiently adjust the timbres
(tonal qualities) of brightness, darkness, and smoothness in a
context-dependent fashion. The computer is used as a tool to sense, process,
and act in helping the user perform a perceptual task. Adjusting timbres of
sound is complicated by the fact that there are non-linear relationships
between equalization adjustments and perceived sound quality changes. The
developed system shows that the nearest-neighbor context-dependent equalization
is rated 68% higher than the set linear average equalization and that it is
preferred 81% of the time. Keywords: Intelligent interfaces, Expert systems, Learning, Perceptual tools, Audio
equalization Note: 1641 KB | |||
| Margin Notes: Building a Contextually Aware Associative Memory | | BIBAK | PDF | 219-224 | |
| Bradley J. Rhodes | |||
| Both the Human Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval fields have
developed techniques to allow a searcher to find the information they seek
quickly. However, these techniques are designed to augment one's direct-recall
memory, where the searcher is actively trying to find information. Associative
memory, in contrast, happens automatically and continuously, triggering
memories that relate to the observed world. This paper presents design
techniques and heuristics for building "remembrance agents," applications that
watch a user's context and proactively suggest information that may be of use.
General design issues are discussed and illuminated by a description of Margin
Notes, an automatic just-in-time information system for the Web. Keywords: Contextual interfaces, Software agents, Remembrance agents, World Wide Web,
Browsers Note: 1223 KB | |||
| Expression Constraints in Multimodal Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | 225-228 | |
| Sandrine Robbe-Reiter; Noelle Carbonell; Pierre Dauchy | |||
| Thanks to recent scientific advances, it is now possible to design
multimodal interfaces allowing the use of speech and gestures on a touchscreen.
However, present speech recognizers and natural language interpreters cannot
yet process spontaneous speech accurately. These limitations make it necessary
to impose constraints on users' speech inputs. Thus, ergonomic studies are
needed to provide user interface designers with efficient guidelines for the
definition of usable speech constraints.
We evolved a method for designing oral and multimodal (speech + 2D gestures) command languages, which could be interpreted reliably by present systems, and easy to learn through human-computer interaction (HCI). The empirical study presented here contributes to assessing the usability of such artificial languages in a realistic software environment. Analyses of the multimodal protocols collected indicate that all subjects were able to assimilate rapidly the given expression constraints, mainly while executing simple interactive tasks; in addition, these constraints, which had no noticeable effect on the subjects' activities, had a limited influence on their use of modalities. These results contribute to the validation of the method we propose for the design of tractable and usable multimodal command languages. Keywords: Multimodal user interfaces, Speech constraints, Usability Note: 509 KB | |||
| APE: Learning User's Habits to Automate Repetitive Tasks | | BIBAK | PDF | 229-232 | |
| Jean-David Ruvini; Christophe Dony | |||
| The APE (Adaptive Programming Environment) project focuses on applying
Machine Learning techniques to embed a software assistant into the Visual Works
Smalltalk interactive programming environment. The assistant is able to learn
user's habits and to automatically suggest to perform repetitive tasks on his
behalf. This paper describes our assistant and focuses more particularly on the
learning issue. it explains why state-of-the-art Machine Learning algorithms
fail to provide an efficient solution for learning user's habits, and shows,
through experiments on real data that a new algorithm we have designed for this
learning task, achieves better results than related algorithms. Keywords: Learning interface agents, Programming by Demonstration, PDB, Machine
learning, Interactive programming environments Note: 954 KB | |||
| Conversation Map: A Content-Based Usenet Newsgroup Browser | | BIBAK | PDF | 233-240 | |
| Warren Sack | |||
| The Conversation Map system is a Usenet newsgroup browser that analyzes the
text of an archive of newsgroup messages and outputs a graphical interface that
can be used to search and read the messages of the archive. The system
incorporates a series of novel text analysis procedures that automatically
computes (1) a set of social networks detailing who is responding to and/or
citing whom in the newsgroup; (2) a set of "discussion themes" that are
frequently used in the newsgroup archive; and, (3) a set of semantic networks
that represent the main terms under discussion and some of their relationships
to one another. The text analysis procedures are written in the Perl
programming language. Their results are recorded as HTML, and the HTML is
displayed with a Java applet. With the Java-based graphical interface one can
browse a set of Usenet newsgroup articles according to who is "talking" to
whom, what they are "talking" about, and the central terms and possible
emergent metaphors of the conversation. In this paper it is argued that the
Conversation Map system is just one example of a new kind of content-based
browser that will combine the analysis powers of computational linguistics with
a graphical interface to allow network documents and messages to be viewed in
ways not possible with today's, existing, format-based browsers which do not
analyze the contents of the documents or messages. Keywords: Content-based browser, Social network, Social navigation, Semantic network,
Semantic navigation, Graphical interface, Spatial navigation, Computational
linguistics, Sociology Note: 3851 KB | |||
| Learning to Recommend from Positive Evidence | | BIBAK | PDF | 241-247 | |
| Ingo Schwab; Wolfgang Pohl; Ivan Koychev | |||
| In recent years, many systems and approaches for recommending information,
products or other objects have been developed. In these systems, often machine
learning methods that need training input to acquire a user interest profile
are used. Such methods typically need positive and negative evidence of the
user's interests. To obtain both kinds of evidence, many systems make users
rate relevant objects explicitly. Others merely observe the user's behavior,
which fairly obviously yields positive evidence; in order to be able to apply
the standard learning methods, these systems mostly use heuristics that attempt
to find also negative evidence in observed behavior.
In this paper, we present several approaches to learning interest profiles from positive evidence only, as it is contained in observed user behavior. Thus, both the problem of interrupting the user for ratings and the problem of somewhat artificially determining negative evidence are avoided. The learning approaches were developed and tested in the context of the Web-based ELFI information system. It is in real use by more than 1000 people. We give a brief sketch of ELFl and describe the experiments we made based on ELFl usage logs to evaluate the different proposed methods. Keywords: Adaptive recommendation interfaces, User modeling, Machine learning,
Evaluation of methods Note: 1586 KB | |||
| A Reinforcement Learning Agent for Personalized Information Filtering | | BIBAK | PDF | 248-251 | |
| Young-Woo Seo; Byoung-Tak Zhang | |||
| This paper describes a method for learning user's interests in the Web-based
personalized information filtering system called WAIR. The proposed method
analyzes user's reactions to the presented documents and learns from them the
profiles for the individual users. Reinforcement learning is used to adapt the
term weights in the user profile so that user's preferences are best
represented. In contrast to conventional relevance feedback methods which
require explicit user feedbacks, OUT approach learns user preferences
implicitly from direct observations of user behaviors during interaction. Field
tests have been made which involved 7 users reading a total of 7,700 HTML
documents during 4 weeks. The proposed method showed superior performance in
personalized information filtering compared to the existing relevance feedback
methods. Keywords: Web-based information filtering, User interface agents, Learning user's
preferences, Reinforcement learning Note: 612 KB | |||
| Efficient Text Summarization using Lexical Chains | | BIBAK | PDF | 252-255 | |
| H. Gregory Silber; Kathleen F. McCoy | |||
| The rapid growth of the Internet has resulted in enormous amounts of
information that has become more difficult to access efficiently. Internet
users require tools to help manage this vast quantity of information. The
primary goal of this research is to create an efficient and effective tool that
is able to summarize large documents quickly. This research presents a linear
time algorithm for calculating lexical chains which is a method of capturing
the "aboutness" of a document. This method is compared to previous, less
efficient methods of lexical chain extraction. We also provide alternative
methods for extracting and scoring lexical chains. We show that our method
provides similar results to previous research, but is substantially more
efficient. This efficiency is necessary in Internet search applications where
many large documents may need to be summarized at once, and where the response
time to the end user is extremely important. Keywords: Summarization, NLP, Lexical chains, Cohesion, Linguistics, Algorithm Note: 573 KB | |||
| MIND-WARPING: Towards Creating a Compelling Collaborative Augmented Reality Game | | BIBAK | PDF | 256-259 | |
| Thad Starner; Bastian Leibe; Brad Singletary; Jarrell Pair | |||
| Computer gaming offers a unique test-bed and market for advanced concepts in
computer science, such as Human Computer Interaction (HCI), computer-supported
collaborative work (CSCW), intelligent agents, graphics, and sensing
technology. In addition, computer gaming is especially well-suited for
explorations in the relatively young fields of wearable computing and augmented
reality (AR). This paper presents a developing multi-player augmented reality
game, patterned as a cross between a martial arts fighting game and an agent
controller, as implemented using the Wearable Augmented Reality for Personal,
Intelligent, and Networked Gaming (WARPING) system. Through interactions based
on gesture, voice, and head movement input and audio and graphical output, the
WARPING system demonstrates how computer vision techniques can be exploited for
advanced, intelligent interfaces. Keywords: Augmented reality, Wearable computing, Computer vision Note: 1018 KB | |||
| A Recipe Based On-Line Food Store | | BIBAK | PDF | 260-263 | |
| Martin Svensson; Jarmo Laaksolahti; Kristina Höök; Annika Wærn | |||
| Recent research in the area of information retrieval hypothesizes that
people benefit from social clues, so called social navigation, when they try to
navigate information spaces [7]. We have designed an on-line grocery store
building upon those ideas manifested in several different ways. The most
central feature is that the system uses a combination of content-based and
collaborative filtering as the basis for recipe recommendations. This filtering
process can in turn be controlled by editors, whose role is to control the
content of the "recipe clubs". Other types of social clues are also present,
such as displaying how many users that have chosen a recipe. Finally, the
system shows information about other users currently present in the system, and
allows users to get in direct contact through chat. Keywords: Recommender system, Social navigation, User groups, Collaborative filtering,
Content-based filtering, On-line shopping Note: 722 KB | |||
| Procedure Based Help Desk System | | BIBAK | PDF | 264-271 | |
| Akira Takano; Yuko Yurugi; Atsushi Kanaegami | |||
| In this paper, we describe an outline of "Procedure based help desk system".
Preparing enough amounts of contents for help desk system is important for constructing an efficient help desk system. However, the preparation of contents is a hard job for contents-creators (usually, who is an expert of the work.). To support making help desk contents, we developed "Procedure based help desk system". Primary functions of this system are to easily generate help desk contents about software usage (They will be called as "procedure data".). Then the system classifies procedure data and constructs procedure database. Also the system provides useful functions to refer accumulated procedure data. Keywords: Help desk, Case based reasoning, Guidance Note: 1983 KB | |||
| Virtual Reviewers for Collaborative Exploration of Movie Reviews | | BIBAK | PDF | 272-275 | |
| Junichi Tatemura | |||
| We propose a collaborative exploration system that helps users to explore
recommendations from various viewpoints. Given ratings and reviews on movies
from reviewers, the system provides "virtual reviewers" that represent
particular viewpoints. Each virtual reviewer navigates the user by recommending
and characterizing both movies and reviewers according to its viewpoint. We
have developed a browsing method with virtual reviewers and visual interfaces. Keywords: Collaborative filtering, Browsing, Navigation, Agents, Information
visualization, Recommender systems Note: 573 KB | |||
| Context-Aware Office Assistant | | BIBAK | PDF | 276-279 | |
| Hao Yan; Ted Selker | |||
| This paper describes the design and implementation of the Office Assistant
-- an agent that interacts with visitors at the office door and manages the
office owner's schedule. We claim that rich context information about users is
key to making a flexible and believable interaction. We also argue that natural
face-to-face conversation is an appropriate metaphor for human-computer
interaction. Keywords: Human-computer interaction, User interface, Agent, Office automation Note: 632 KB | |||
| A Knowledge-Based Electronic Information and Documentation System | | BIBAK | PDF | 280-285 | |
| Robert L. Young; Elaine Kant; Larry A. Akers | |||
| We describe the capabilities of a knowledge-based system to automatically
generate a collection of electronic notebooks containing various forms of
online documentation and reports. This system is a subsystem of a larger
knowledge-based system called SciNapse. SciNapse's raison d'etre is to
transform high-level simulation problem specifications into executable
numerical programs. The electronic notebooks are generated from the same domain
knowledge bases that the system uses to perform its primary tasks. These online
notebooks are of two different kinds: reference materials and reports.
Reference materials are generated from the latest version of the knowledge
base, which includes the classes that drive the system, and a network of
objects representing meta-information about the system. The reference materials
document the system's capabilities and help users understand what the system
can do. Reports are generated from the instances created by a run of the
system. They document the transformations the input specification underwent in
becoming code, and are intended to help a user understand what the system has
done.
We have found that our approach to producing documents has both advantages and disadvantages when compared with more traditional approaches to documentation. The advantages are that we can minimize the manual effort that is involved in writing documentation about the system, while at the same time maximizing the accuracy of the documentation that is produced. The main disadvantage has been the lack of truly appropriate authoring tools built to work in our environment. When we began, we expected the task of creating such authoring tools to be much easier than it has turned out to be. Later in this paper, we explore some of the factors that have caused this to be the case. Keywords: Knowledge-based systems, Intelligent interfaces Note: 777 KB | |||