Exploring the Applicability of Elaborateness and Indirectness in Dialogue Management

Pragst, Louisa; Minker, Wolfgang; Ultes, Stefan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92108-2_20

Louisa Pragst³⁵,
Wolfgang Minker³⁵ &
Stefan Ultes³⁶

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering ((LNEE,volume 510))

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Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the applicability of soft changes to system behaviour, namely changing the amount of elaborateness and indirectness displayed. To this end, we examine the impact of elaborateness and indirectness on the perception of human-computer communication in a user study. Here, we show that elaborateness and indirectness influence the user’s impression of a dialogue and discuss the implications of our results for adaptive dialogue management. We conclude that elaborateness and indirectness offer valuable possibilities for adaptation and should be incorporated in adaptive dialogue management.

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References

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Acknowledgements

This paper is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 645012.

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Authors and Affiliations

Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
Louisa Pragst & Wolfgang Minker
Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
Stefan Ultes

Authors

Louisa Pragst
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Wolfgang Minker
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Stefan Ultes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Louisa Pragst .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Maxine Eskenazi
LIMSI-CNRS, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Laurence Devillers
LIMSI-CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Orsay, France
Joseph Mariani

Appendices

Appendix

This appendix contains the complete dialogues spoken in the videos of the user studies for both the high EI and the low EI level, in order to enable a more extensive understanding of the conducted studies.

Dialogue of the High EI Condition

system::: Hello Louisa.
user::: Hello Christian.
system::: How can I help you?
user::: I’m afraid Mr. Smith doesn’t drink enough during the day.
system::: How much does Mr. Smith usually drink?
user::: Only one cup of tea after breakfast.
system::: You’re right, that is not enough. Do you know why he doesn’t drink enough?
user::: He doesn’t like the taste of water. He would rather have some soft drink, but I don’t think that is good for him.
system::: Then you should try sweetened tea. It tastes good and is not as bad as a soft drink.
user::: Perhaps I don’t even need to sweeten it. He does drink tea in the morning, after all.
system::: Exactly. A little company may help as well. While sitting and chatting you can easily drink some glasses without even noticing it.
user::: I guess that’s true. Chatting is just more comfortable with a nice cup of tea.
system::: By the way, does Mr. Smith use a clear glass?
user::: Yes, he does. A beer glass with a handle, so he can better grab it. Why?
system::: That might be too unobtrusive. A clear glass filled with water does not really attract attention.
user::: Do you think something more eye-catching would be better.
system::: It is worth a try. Perhaps something more colourful?
user::: I could use the cup his granddaughter gave him. It’s very colourful.
system::: That is a very good idea. He will be happy whenever he sees that cup.
user::: I think so, too. He loves her very much. Also, that cup has a handle. That is very important for him, he feels more secure when grabbing something with a handle.
system::: Many elderly feel that way.
user::: But what if Mr. Smith still doesn’t drink enough? After all, I need to increase that quite a lot.
system::: The body doesn’t only get fluid by drinking. Food contains fluid too.
user::: I don’t think that will be enough.
system::: There some dishes that contain a lot of fluid, such as soup.
user::: Or goulash? He really likes that.
system::: Yes, goulash is fine. And fruits.
user::: Alright. Thank you, Kristina. You really helped me.
system::: No problem at all.
user::: I’ll get back to work.
system::: I will be here if you need me.

Dialogue of the Low EI Condition

system::: Hello Louisa.
user::: Hello Christian.
system::: How can I help you?
user::: I’m afraid Mr. Smith doesn’t drink enough during the day.
system::: How much does Mr. Smith usually drink?
user::: Only one cup of tea after breakfast.
system::: You’re right, that is not enough. Do you know why he doesn’t drink enough?
user::: He doesn’t like the taste of water. He would rather have some soft drink, but I don’t think that is good for him.
system::: Then you should try sweetened tea. It tastes good and is not as bad as a soft drink.
user::: Perhaps I don’t even need to sweeten it. He does drink tea in the morning, after all.
system::: Yes, you can try that.
user::: But what if Mr. Smith still doesn’t drink enough? After all, I need to increase that quite a lot.
system::: I have got three more ideas. Do you want to hear all of them?
user::: Yes, please.
system::: First, you should keep him company. While chatting people usually drink a lot without even realising it.
user::: I guess that’s true. Chatting is just more comfortable with a nice cup of tea.
system::: Second, you can increase his fluid intake by preparing dishes that contain much fluid, such as soup, goulash and fruits.
user::: He really likes goulash.
system::: Does Mr. Smith use a clear glass?
user::: Yes, he does. A beer glass with a handle, so he can better grab it. Why?
system::: In that case you should give him a more colourful glass. A clear glass filled with water does not really attract attention.
user::: I could use the cup his granddaughter gave him. It’s very colourful.
system::: Then it is a good choice.
user::: Alright. Thank you, Kristina. You really helped me.
system::: No problem at all.
user::: I’ll get back to work.
system::: I will be here if you need me.

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Pragst, L., Minker, W., Ultes, S. (2019). Exploring the Applicability of Elaborateness and Indirectness in Dialogue Management. In: Eskenazi, M., Devillers, L., Mariani, J. (eds) Advanced Social Interaction with Agents . Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 510. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92108-2_20

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92108-2_20
Published: 02 August 2018
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92107-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92108-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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