Abstract
Chatbots are emerging as interactive systems. However, we lack knowledge on how to classify chatbots and how such classification can be brought to bear in analysis of chatbot interaction design. In this workshop paper, we propose a typology of chatbots to support such classification and analysis. The typology dimensions address key characteristics that differentiate current chatbots: the duration of the user’s relation with the chatbot (short-term and long-term), and the locus of control for user’s interaction with the chatbot (user-driven and chatbot-driven). To explore the usefulness of the typology, we present four example chatbot purposes for which the typology may support analysis of high-level chatbot interaction design. Furthermore, we analyse a sample of 57 chatbots according to the typology dimensions. The relevance and application of the typology for developers and service providers are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bailey, K.D.: Typologies and Taxonomies: An Introduction to Classification Techniques, vol. 102. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1994)
Brandtzaeg, P.B., Følstad, A.: Why people use chatbots. In: Kompatsiaris, I., et al. (eds.) INSCI 2017. LNCS, vol. 10673, pp. 377–392. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70284-1_30
Chen, H., Liu, X., Yin, D., Tang, J.: A survey on dialogue systems: recent advances and new frontiers. ACM SIGKDD Explor. Newslett. 19(2), 25–35 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3166054.3166058
Collier, D., LaPorte, J., Seawright, J.: Putting typologies to work: concept formation, measurement, and analytic rigor. Polit. Res. Q. 65(1), 217–232 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912912437162
Eide, A.W., et al.: Human-machine networks: towards a typology and profiling framework. In: Kurosu, M. (ed.) HCI 2016. LNCS, vol. 9731, pp. 11–22. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39510-4_2
Fitzpatrick, K.K., Darcy, A., Vierhile, M.: Delivering cognitive behavior therapy to young adults with symptoms of depression and anxiety using a fully automated conversational agent (Woebot): a randomized controlled trial. JMIR Ment. Health 4(2), e19 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.7785
Følstad, A., Brandtzæg, P.B.: Chatbots and the new world of HCI. Interactions 24(4), 38–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3085558
Fryer, L.K., Ainley, M., Thompson, A., Gibson, A., Sherlock, Z.: Stimulating and sustaining interest in a language course: an experimental comparison of Chatbot and Human task partners. Comput. Hum. Behav. 75, 461–468 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.05.045
Hall, E.: Conversational Design. A Book Apart, New York (2018)
Page, L, Gehlbach, H.: How an artificially intelligent virtual assistant helps students navigate the road to college. AERA Open 3(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417749220
Weizenbaum, J.: ELIZA—a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine. Commun. ACM 9(1), 36–45 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1145/365153.365168
Xu, A., Liu, Z., Guo, Y., Sinha, V., Akkiraju, R.: A new chatbot for customer service on social media. In: Proceedings of CHI 2017, pp. 3506–3510. ACM, New York (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025496
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway grant no. 270940.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Følstad, A., Skjuve, M., Brandtzaeg, P.B. (2019). Different Chatbots for Different Purposes: Towards a Typology of Chatbots to Understand Interaction Design. In: Bodrunova, S., et al. Internet Science. INSCI 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11551. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17704-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17705-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)