Abstract
In this paper I consider how user modelling can be used to improve the provision of complex explanations, and discuss in detail the user modelling component of the EDGE explanation system. This allows a user model to be both updated and used in an explanatory dialogue with the user. The model is updated based on the interactions with the user, relationships between concepts and a reviseable expertise level. The model in turn influences the planning of the explanation, allowing a more understandable explanation to be generated. I argue that both user modelling and an “interactive” style of presentation are important for explanations to be acceptable and understandable, and that each reinforces the other.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Breuker, J., R. Winkels and J. Sandberg: 1987, ‘A Shell for Intelligent Help Systems’. In:Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 167–173.
Cawsey, A.: 1993a,Explanation and Interaction: The Computer Generation of Explanatory Dialogues. MIT Press.
Cawsey, A.: 1993b, ‘Planning Interactive Explanations’.International Journal of ManMachine Studies 38, 169–199.
Chappel, H. and B. Cahour: 1991, ‘User Modelling for Multi-Modal Cooperative Dialogue with KBS’. Technical report, Deliverable d3 of Esprit Project P2474: MMI2.
Chin, D.: 1989, ‘Knome: Modelling What the User Knows in UC’. In: A. Kobsa and W. Wahlster (eds.),User Models in Dialog Systems. Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 74–107.
Clancey, W.J.: 1979, ‘Tutoring Rules for Guiding a Case Method Dialog’.International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 11, 25–49.
de Rosis, F., N. de Cardis and S. Pizzutilo: 1993, ‘User Tailored Hypermedia Explanations’. In: INTERCHI '93 Adjunct Proceedings, pp. 169–170.
Desmaris, M.C. J. Lui: 1993, ‘Exploring the Applications of User-Expertise Assignment for Intelligent Interfaces’. In: INTERCHI '93 Conference Proceedings, pp. 308–313.
Greer, J., M. Mark and G.I. McCalla: 1989, ‘Incorporating granularity-based recognition into scent’. In: D. Bierman, J. Breuker and J. Sandberg (eds.), Artificial Intelligence and Education, pp. 107–115.
Hartley, R. and M. Smith: 1988, ‘Question Answering and Explanation Giving in Online Help Systems’. In: J. Self (ed.),Artificial Intelligence and Human Learning. Chapman and Hall, pp. 38–360.
Huang, X., G.I. McCalla, J.E. Greer and E. Neufeld: 1991, ‘Revising Deductive Knowledge and Stereotype Knowledge in a Student Model’.User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 1(1), 87–116.
Jones, K. Sparck: 1991, ‘Tailoring the Output to the User: What Does User Modelling in Generation Mean’. In:Natural Language Generation in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Kass, R.: 1989, ‘Student Modeling in Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Implications for User Modeling’. In: A. Kobsa and W. Wahlster (eds.),User Modeling in Dialog Systems. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Kass, R.: 1991, ‘Building a User Model Implicitly from a Cooperative Advisory Dialogue’.User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 1, 203–258.
Kobsa, A. and W. Wahlster (eds.): 1989,User Models in Dialog Systems. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Maybury, M.T.: 1990,Planning Multisentential English Text Using Communicative Acts. Ph.D. thesis, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 1990. Published as technical report RADC-TR-411, Rome Air Development Center, Rome, New York.
McCalla, G.I.: 1993, ‘The Central Importance of Student Modelling to Intelligent Tutoring’. In: E. Costa (ed.),New Directions in Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Springer Verlag, pp. 108–131.
McKeown, K.R.: 1985,Text Generation: Using discourse strategies and focus constraints to generate natural language text. Cambridge University Press.
McKeown, K.R.: 1988, ‘Generating Goal-Oriented Explanations’.International Journal of Expert Systems Research and Applications 4, 377–395.
Moore, J.D. and C. Paris: 1992, ‘Exploiting User Feedback to Compensate for the Unreliability of User Models’.User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 2, 287–330.
Moore, J.D. and W.R. Swartout: 1990, ‘Pointing: A Way Towards Explanation Dialogue’. In: Proceedings of the Eighth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 457–464.
Moore, J.D.: 1991, ‘A Reacting Approach to Explanation: Taking the User Feedback into Account’. In:Natural Language Generation in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic, pp. 3–48.
Paris, C.L.: 1989, ‘The Use of Explicit User Models in a Generation System for Tailoring Answers to the User's Level of Expertise’. In: A. Kobsa and W. Wahlster (eds.),User Models in Dialog Systems. Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 200–232.
Peachey, D.R. and G.I. McCalla: 1986, ‘Using Planning Techniques in Intelligent Tutoring Systems’.International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 24, 77–98.
Reiter, E., C. Mellish and J. Levine: 1992, ‘Automatic Generation of On-Line Documentation in the IDAS Project’. In: Proceedings of the Third Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing. Morristown, NJ: Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 64–71.
Reiter, E.: 1990, ‘Generating Descriptions that Exploit a User's Domain Knowledge’. In: R. Dale, C. Mellish and M. Zock (eds.),Current Research in Natural Language Generation. Academic Press.
Self, J.: 1988, ‘Bipassing the Intractable Problem of Student Modelling’. In:Proceedings of the Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS-88), pp. 18–24.
Shifroni, E. and B. Shanon: 1992, ‘Interactive User Modeling: An Intergrative Explicit-Implicit Approach’.User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 2 (4), 331–365.
Sleeman, D.: 1985, ‘UMFE: A User Modelling Front End Subsystem’.International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 23, 71–88.
Suthers, D.D.: 1992, ‘A Task-Appropriate Hybrid Architecture for Explanation’.Computational Intelligence 7, 315–332.
Wallis, J.W. and E.H. Shortliffe: 1985, ‘Customised Explanations Using Causal Knowledge. In: B.G. Buchanan and Shortliffe (eds.),Rule Based Expert Systems. Addison Wesley, pp. 371–390.
Weiner, J.L.: 1980, ’Blah, a System Which Explains Its Reasoning’.Artificial Intelligence 15, 19–48.
Wenger, E.: 1987,Artificial Intelligence and Education. Los Altos: Morgan Kaufmann.
Woolf, B. and D.D. McDonald: 1984, ‘Context-Dependent Transitions in Discourse’.Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 355–361.
Wu, D.: 1991, ‘Active Acquisition of User Models: Implications for Decision Theoretic Dialog Planning and Recognition’.User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction 1, 149–172.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cawsey, A. User modelling in interactive explanations. User Model User-Adap Inter 3, 221–247 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257890
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257890