Dialogue Design-With Mutual Learning as Guiding Principle

This article describes a large European research and development project on Multimedia and Network in Co-operative Research and Learning (MANICORAL) from the point of view of participating human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers. The project developed the methodology of dialogue design, drawing on two sources: participatory design (PD) and dialogue research (DR). Action research is understood as the historical basis for the two strands, where PD has focused on research in working life, and DR has focused on living conditions. However, dialogue design as a methodology differs in a number of aspects. In dialogue design, the carrying principal is mutual learning, focus is on working life of high resource groups, and users are themselves developing parts of the technologies. The techniques applied and the role of HCI researcher as mediator creating dialogues are introduced and reflected upon. Dialogue design is discussed within the theoretical concepts of communication and learning.     

An Environment for Rapid Prototyping of Interactive Systems

This paper shows an environment which supports the development of multi-thread dialogue interactive systems.The environment includes several tools and run-time support programs for the design and implementation of the user interface of an interactive system.First,methods of user interface specification with Elementary Nets are discussed.Then,the syntax of a user interface specification language based on Elementary Nets and the pre-compiler for the language as well as a graphic editor for Elementary Nets construction are described.Finally,an example is given to illustrate the design process of a user interface.     

Using ethnography in the design of an explanation system

In order for knowledge-based explanation systems to be acceptable, they must be useful and understandable to users. This implies that first, they should satisfy users' information needs and take account of their perspective; and second, they should be able to engage in dialogue with users. Much more progress has been made toward meeting the second condition than the first. Systems are still being produced that can engage in dialogue with users, but whose design reflects no systematic investigation of what people actually want (or need) to know about a given domain. Such lack of attention to the information needs of potential users is bound to limit the utility of any system. Because this issue relates to the concerns of social science as well as artificial intelligence, social scientists can help designers address it. One way of obtaining reliable data on the needs and characteristics of future users is ethnography, an anthropological method for gathering data in complex real-world settings. This article discusses some of the ways in which ethnography can contribute to the design process, drawing examples form an ongoing project to build an explanation system in migraine. Four aspects of our experience in using ethnography in the design process are discussed: rethinking basic design assumptions, investigating information needs, addressing the problem of perspective, and developing explanatory material. Based on this experience, the article concludes with the suggestion that the concept of explanation needs to be broadened still further to include more types of knowledge in the dialogue.     

Cooperative Understanding of Utterances and Gestures in a Dialogue-Based Problem Solving System

A dialogue plays an important role in learning how to solve a problem and form a concept. We are developing a problem solving and knowledge acquisition system based on co-reference between drill texts and dialogue with a teacher, focusing on first-grade mathematics. This paper presents a method of cooperative understanding of utterances and gestures within dialogue. We first describe our system design principles, which provide the basis for the integration of multimodal information during a dialogue. We define a principle of complementarity, explain its implementation, and describe the architecture of the problem solving system. We then show how to integrate our algorithms for utterance and gesture analysis within that software architecture. A feature-based approach is used for gesture recognition, derived from a sequence of images arising during the cooperative analysis of utterances. We conclude with an evaluation of the system against the design principles.     

A dialogic understanding of the relationship between CSCL and teaching thinking skills

How to teach flexible thinking and learning skills, particularly creativity and the skill of “learning to learn,” is a key concern for CSCL in the context of the emerging Networked Society. The currently dominant paradigms for supporting pedagogical design within CSCL, including socio-cultural theory, are limited in the support that they can offer to the project of teaching general thinking skills. This paper uses critical literature review, conceptual analysis, and evidence from case studies to argue for the value of a dialogic interpretative framework that links the goal of teaching thinking with the method of CSCL. The evidence reviewed suggests that dialogue is itself the primary thinking skill from which all others are derived. It is argued from this that dialogic theory offers a possible solution to the problem of how to conceptualize general thinking skills for CSCL: this is that teaching dialogue as an end in itself promotes the learning of general thinking skills. Implications of the proposed framework for pedagogical design are brought out through case studies illustrating the use of CSCL to broaden and deepen dialogic spaces of reflection.     

主动联想型对话机器人的设计与实现

人机对话系统通常仅是用户命令的执行者,很少能主动发起对话,或依据对话以外的内容展开个性化的人机交互。本文提出了联想型对话机器人的概念和对应设计方案,即通过融合用户提问和用户个人特征的方式产生对话内容,这样的对话系统不仅可以主动发出对话邀请,也可以个性化地回答用户问题,提升人机对话的满意度。文章首先介绍了联想型对话机器人与其他类型对话系统的区别与联系,探讨了联想型对话机器人设计所需的关键技术和方法,并以在线教育系统为例,基于有限状态机的方法,构建了主动联想型对话机器人算法模型和联想式对话的生成策略,使机器人能够联想用户的历史行为,生成以用户使用产品为背景的智能对话。     

Human-computer dialogue design considerations

The three critical elements of quality human-computer dialogue design include a compilation of existing design guidelines, behavioral research to expand the general dialogue principles, and a computer-aided implementation for retrieval of the guidelines by dialogue authors. The need for empirically based dialogue guidelines relating to generic human-computer taks is stressed. The results of two studies dealing with interactive text editing are presented as examples of research directed toward specifying dialogue design principles and developing formal tools for human-computer dialogue research. One of these studies deals with a methodology for developing user models, and the second study deals with the design of HELP information. Computer-aiding in the form of rule-based systems for selecting appropriate dialogue guidelines and software tools for authoring dialogues are discussed as means for implementing these dialogue design considerations.     

Designing a dynamic system traffic control of a freight railway

This paper empathizes the interface design for a new control system for freight that was developed during the process of modernization in a company. On one side, there are managers, intermediate decision levels, that dialogue with the ergonomists and, on the other side, the operators with their own opinions about the system. These last ones are rarely asked by the managers about their opinions. The proposed system is configured from the opinions of the operators. Other problems, such as technology transfer and insistence of the managers about using similar systems obliged that the final project should include some modifications.     

The design and implementation of dialogue control in voice operated database inquiry systems

This paper describes work performed as part of the U.K. Alvey sponsored Voice Operated Database Inquiry System (VODIS) project in the area of intelligent dialogue control. The principal aims of the work were to develop a habitable interface for the untrained user; to investigate the degree to which dialogue control can be used to compensate for deficiencies in recognition performance; and to examine the requirements on dialogue control for generating natural speech output. A data-driven methodology is described based on the use of frames in which dialogue topics are organized hierarchically. The concept of a dynamically adjustable scope is introduced to permit adaptation to recognizer performance and the use of historical and hierarchical contexts are described to facilitate the construction of contextually relevant output messages.     

Perceptual control and layered protocols in interface design: II. The general protocol grammar

Perceptual control theory (PCT) is a framework theory for psychology, based on the tenet “All behaviour is the control of perception.” Layered protocol theory (LPT) is PCT applied to the special case of communication between cooperating partners, each controlling their own perceptions and many levels of abstraction within a dialogue. This paper discusses some perceptual control processes that occur within a single dialogue level, in the form of a General Protocol Grammar that is asserted to be valid for every level of every dialogue. A companion paper is concerned with LPT applied to the design and analysis of human–machine interfaces.     

Why observing a dialogue may benefit learning

Abstract The Vicarious Learner project is investigating the fundamental role of dialogue for learning. More specifically, the project is exploring the benefits to learners of being able to observe others participating in discussion. Such opportunities are becoming fewer with the proliferation of computer-based courses and distance learning, as well as growing student numbers. This paper presents the theoretical aspects of the work. A high-level ‘process model’ of learning is presented and then a more detailed model of what happens in educational dialogues. This ‘logic model’ of dialogue breaks discussions into two parts: the introduction of new premises and the derivation of new premises by the application of rules of reasoning in the domain. It is argued that in ordinary conversation the first aspect dominates while in educational dialogues, many misunderstandings arise from the need for more emphasis on explicit demonstration of use of rules.     

关于GSM通信智能窗的设计

目前生活中使用的大部分窗户仍采用人工开关方式,而且不具备室内温度自动控制,室外湿度实时监控,以及同用户＂短信会话＂等功能。该套设计方案采用了GSM模块及多种传感器为检测装置,并基于STC89C52单片机设计了可以解决上述问题的多功能通信智能窗,并以智能窗为基础,将该设计理念推广到更多的智能家居上。实验表明,该设计安全可靠,功能强大,各模块性能稳定,数据收发准确,将完全满足人们与窗户＂远程对话＂的需求。     

Dialogic weaving: a favorable tension between design and craft

Focusing on a process where a designer embeds herself in craftspeople’s workshops with the intention of ‘learning from inside’ and ‘making together’; this paper proposes pathways for considering collaboration between designers and craftspeople via digital fabrication and weaving. The tension of forces that make weaving possible, act as an analogy for this collaboration as well as providing the title of the project as ‘One Over, One Under’. The project proposes a mode of working and a spectrum of outcomes where the designer has a first-hand experience of production techniques, engages in a serious and continuous dialogue through making, and develops an intervention that also brings forth her own skill set (introducing digital fabrication and structural variations), thus transforming the conventions and boundaries between established roles and manufacturing techniques. An experiment that resulted in a series of objects considering both the technologies of production and the input of the designer, this process not only increases the potentials that crafts hold for the field of design, but it also offers possibilities of collaboration and a further articulation of the design act.     

Designing a dynamic system traffic control of a freight railway

This paper empathizes the interface design for a new control system for freight that was developed during the process of modernization in a company. On one side, there are managers, intermediate decision levels, that dialogue with the ergonomists and, on the other side, the operators with their own opinions about the system. These last ones are rarely asked by the managers about their opinions. The proposed system is configured from the opinions of the operators. Other problems, such as technology transfer and insistence of the managers about using similar systems obliged that the final project should include some modifications.     

Hierarchical dialogue structures in interactive computer systems

A powerful yet simple-to-use command dialogue has evolved in the development of an interactive graphics system for the computer-aided design of electronic circuits. This dialogue overcomes many of the problems typically encountered in systems with a strongly hierarchical command structure; the user is kept constantly aware of the current state within the hierarchy and is able to manoeuvre rapidly about this structure. The rules for the use of the dialogue are few and simple; mistakes are not catastrophic. The dialogue is equally suited to both naïve and experienced users. The dialogue is described in the context of an interactive graphics environment, but the extension of the principles to any interactive computer system should be obvious.     

Combining interaction and context design to support collaborative argumentation using a tool for synchronous CMC

Abstract Empirical studies and theory suggest that educational dialogue can be used to support learners in the development of reasoning, critical thinking and argumentation. This paper presents an educational design for synchronous online peer discussion that guides student dialogue in ways that lead to improved argumentation and collaborative knowledge development. This design includes a mediating interface – or tool, linked to a broader set of online educational activities – a designed local context, where the latter aims to provide conditions that support argumentation. The approach is based on collaborative working and dialogue game approaches to discussion. Preliminary findings with UK Open University students showed the argumentation process was more coherent, varied, deeper and extended when using our interaction design compared with the use of a simple unstructured interface.     

Participatory heritage innovation: designing dialogic sites of engagement

Abstract

Innovations in digital cultural communication for museums challenge us to develop appropriate methods for participation in curatorial processes and to rethink the role of audiences inside exhibitions. The article explores the potentials of scaffolding sites of dialogue and creative engagement through the design process and final exhibition. It draws upon experiences from an interactive exhibition project, Digital Natives, in which we combined principles from Participatory Design with issues of contemporary digital culture to explore possibilities for creating heritage innovation. We suggest three critical stages of the dialogic design process in which engagement between stakeholders, researchers, and audiences can be central to shaping and transforming future conceptions of digital cultural heritage, through process and final exhibition. In this way, we argue that a participatory design anthropological approach to digital culture can expand opportunities for heritage innovation through technological means of engagement in museums.