vansoest@cs.utwente.nl (Dick van Soest) (03/20/91)
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Explanation generation for knowledge-based systems:
what do users need and want in practice?
(a workshop at IJCAI-91)
There is a large discrepancy between research in explanation
generation and the explanations actually provided by current
knowledge-based systems. In research the importance of explanation,
especially of rich and flexible explanations, has frequently been
emphasized and a variety of system architectures has been proposed.
Also, techniques from natural language research and dialogue have been
studied to improve the explanation capabilities of knowledge-based
systems.
In practice, however, most current systems still have very restricted
explanation capabilities or do not even provide any explanation at
all. Yet, we know that some of these systems are rather successful.
Are their users really satisfied with the system-user interaction? If
so, is it because most knowledge-based systems today deal with a
specific type of tasks, domains, or a user group which hardly ever
requires explanation? Will users still be satisfied with the
restricted explanation capabilities of current knowledge-based systems
when these systems deal with different types of tasks and more complex
domains?
Answers to the following questions would help us to decide which
techniques to employ to support the appropriate level of system-user
interaction.
- What system characteristics (e.g. task, domain, organizational
impact) influence the type of explanation and system-user
interaction?
- What user characteristics influence the type of explanation and
system-user interaction?
- What types of explanation (e.g. superficial, summary, deep)
are needed for what type of systems and users?
- What type of interaction (e.g. one-shot answers vs.
dialogue-based) is needed for what type of systems and users?
We would like to address these topics in the workshop. To encourage
interaction and a broad exchange of ideas, the workshop will be kept
to a moderate size, limited to 30 participants. Provocative
statements will be presented by the organizing committee. All
participants will then be invited to contribute to the discussion in a
plenary session. The workshop will last a half day.
We would like to encourage researchers who have addressed the topics
mentioned above or have made empirical studies on these topics to
submit three copies of an extended abstract, not exceeding 1000 words,
no later than May 5, 1991 to the chairperson (address below).
Submitted abstracts should include 1) the title of the paper 2) the
author's name, address, phone number, and where possible E-mail and
fax number 3) the issue(s) addressed in the abstract. All submitted
abstracts will be reviewed by the organizing committee.
Acceptance notices will be mailed to the authors by June 10, 1991.
Camera-ready papers should be received at the address below no later
than June 28, 1991. Workshop proceedings will be distributed to the
participants at IJCAI.
The workshop fee will be $US50.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
- Dr. Nel Wognum, University of Twente, The Netherlands,
E-mail: wognum@cs.utwente.nl
- Dr. Cecile Paris, USC/ISI, U.S.A.,
E-mail: paris@vaxa.isi.edu
- Dr. Dianne Berry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,
E-mail: dberry@vax.oxford.ac.uk
CHAIRPERSON: Dr. Nel Wognum
University of Twente
Department of Computer Science
P.O.Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands
Fax: +31 53 339605
SCHEDULE: Abstracts received: May 5
Notice of acception: June 10
Camera-ready papers received: June 28
--
Dick van Soest
University of Twente
Computer Science Department Internet: vansoest@cs.utwente.nl
P.O. Box 217 Bitnet: vansoest@utwente.nl
7500 AE Enschede SURF-net: UTRCV1::VANSOEST
The Netherlands
Tel. +31 53 893736/893690 FAX: +31 53 339605