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