mwang@watmath.UUCP (mwang) (05/08/84)
_D_E_P_A_R_T_M_E_N_T _O_F _C_O_M_P_U_T_E_R _S_C_I_E_N_C_E
_U_N_I_V_E_R_S_I_T_Y _O_F _W_A_T_E_R_L_O_O
_S_E_M_I_N_A_R _A_C_T_I_V_I_T_I_E_S
_A_R_T_I_F_I_C_I_A_L _I_N_T_E_L_L_I_G_E_N_C_E _S_E_M_I_N_A_R
- Friday, May 18, 1984.
Prof. N. Cercone of Simon Fraser University will speak
on ``The Automated Academic Advisor: An Introduction
and Initial Assessment.''
TIME: 11:30 AM (Please Note)
ROOM: MC 2035
ABSTRACT
It is increasingly difficult for academic advisors to
maintain current tracking records on each student and
to stay informed about graduation requirements which
frequently change. A large practical artificial intel-
ligence system which accepts natural language queries,
the Automated Academic Advisor (AAA), is currently be-
ing developed in our Laboratory for Computer and Com-
munications Research (LCCR). The AAA will offer facul-
ty, students, and academic advisors accurate informa-
tion on degree requirements and course offerings. Two
parsers are described which were designed for ue with
the AAA. The ATN parser ENGRA is described with em-
phasis given to several enhancements incorporated into
ENGRA. Our first AAA prototype incorporates ENGRA to-
gether with the semantic interpreter (SI) to generate
formal SQL queries for the ORACLE relational data base.
SHADOW, a Prolog-based English analyzer which forms the
basis of our second prototype, is then described. In-
formal comparisons are made between the applicability
of the two parsers to the AAA and our initial experi-
ence with these two prototypes is discussed. The AAA
is unique in that the impact and performance of this
interactive information system will be evaluated in an
organisational setting - our student advisory system.
The AAA will be actively involved in its own evaluation
(cf. Telidon). The design of the evaluation subsystem
is discussed briefly with the emphasis on `universal'
techniques of system evaluation which will permit con-
sistency and comparability of evaluation. Our evalua-
tion emphasis is placed on the system's quality assess-
May 8, 1984
- 2 -
ment rather than the more traditional performance meas-
urement criterion.
R. Hadley, F. Martin, and T. Strzalkowski have contri-
buted significantly to the ideas presented in this
talk.
May 8, 1984