Research Catalog

Title

Explanation and interaction : the computer generation of explanatory dialogues / Alison Cawsey.

Author

Cawsey, Alison.

Publication

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [1992], ©1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

vi, 232 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

• Explanation and Interaction describes the problems and issues involved in generating interactive user-sensitive explanations. It presents a particular computational system that generates tutorial, interactive explanations of how simple electronic circuits work. Moreover, the approaches and ideas in the book can be applied to a wide range of computer applications in which complex explanations are provided, such as documentation, advisory, and expert systems. The approach presented is based on an analysis of human explanatory discourse; simple techniques for text planning, dialogue management, and user modeling are developed and used in the system.
• Cawsey describes in detail the issues involved in text planning, dialogue management, and user modeling, and presents a particular approach in enough detail that practical systems may be developed based on the ideas. Because the book addresses a wide range of issues in a single system, it is appropriate as a general introduction to discourse processing and user-adapted interaction. Alison Cawsey is Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow.

Series Statement

ACL-MIT Press series in natural-language processing

Uniform Title

ACL-MIT Press series in natural-language processing.

Subjects

• Natural language processing (Computer science)
• Question-answering systems
• Computer software > Human factors

Note

• A Bradford book."
• Based on the author's doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-228) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction -- 2. Analyzing Human Explanatory Dialogues -- 3. Planning Explanation Content -- 4. Managing the Dialogue with the User -- 5. Updating the User Model -- 6. Application and Examples: Explaining How Circuits Work -- 7. Evaluation and Conclusion -- A Human Circuit Explanations -- B Planning Rules and Domain Knowledge -- C Example Dialogues with Real Users -- D Example Displays.

ISBN

0262032023

LCCN

92035405

OCLC

• 26722823
• ocm26722823

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries