Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

CO-WORKER: Toward Real-Time and Context-Aware Systems for Human Collaborative Knowledge Building

  • Published:
Cognitive Computation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The information exchange occurring during human interactions, conveyed through verbal and nonverbal communication modes, builds up a new-shared knowledge among the interacting people. A current automatic meeting assistance system is just able to store such an exchange (for successive offline processing), while it would be valuable developing automatic tools that provide appropriate support as it takes place. Currently, the international scientific community is strongly committed toward the implementation of intelligent instruments able to recognize and process in real-time relevant interactional signals in order to provide timely support to the happening interaction. This work will argue on an even more comprehensive paradigm for collaborative computer support to human interaction, not adequately addressed in the literature so far, concerning the implementation of human–computer interaction (HCI) systems able to process in real-time multimodal signals, to infer contextual information, and support in a collaborative way human interaction in-group activities, such as learning, discussion, work cooperation, decision-making, and problem solving. Such systems should act as co-workers, actively cooperating and contributing to the group’s knowledge building and pretending to share with the group, significances and individual potentialities rather than act as passive data storing devices. In carrying out their functions, these HCI systems will be placed on a group cognitive level, where individual purposes, actions, and emotions are mediated by the group interaction, and meanings are mainly built through the group shared knowledge and experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Zastrow C, Kirst-Ashman KK. Understanding human behavior and the social environment. Belmont: Thomson Brooks-Cole; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hogg M, Abrams D. Social identifications: a social psychology of intergroup relations and group processes. New York: Thomson Publishing; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stahl G. Group cognition: computer support for building collaborative knowledge (acting with technology). MIT Press. 2006. http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/mit/.

  4. Tur G, et al. The CALO meeting assistant system. IEEE Trans Audio Speech Lang Process. 2010;18(6):1601–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bourlard H, Renals S. Recognition and understanding of meetings overview of the European AMI and AMIDA projects. 2008 (Online). http://publications.idiap.ch/index.php/publications/show/15.

  6. AMI-AMIDA projects: augmented multi-party interaction, 2009 (Online). http://www.amiproject.org.

  7. NCCR-IM2 project: the swiss national center of competence in research on interactive multimodal information management, 2011 (Online). http://www.im2.ch/.

  8. Waibel A, Steusloff H, Stiefelhagen R, Watson K. Computers in the human interaction loop. Springer, London; 2009. p. 3–6.

  9. Stahl G. Studying virtual math teams. 2010 (Online). http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4419-0227-6/.

  10. Picard RW. Affective computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Minsky M. The emotion machine. New York: Simon & Schuster; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Krenn B. The NECA project: net environments for embodied emotional conversational agents. In Proceedings of workshop on emotionally rich virtual worlds with emotion synthesis at the 8th international conference on 3D web technology (Web3D). 10 Mar 2003.

  13. Balomenos T, Raouzaiou A, Ioannou S, Drosopoulos A, Karpouzis K, Kollias S (2005) Emotion analysis in man-machine interaction systems. In Machine learning for multimodal interaction, pp 318–328.

  14. Paiva A, et al. (2001) Safira: supporting affective interactions in real-time applications. CAST 2001: living in mixed realities. Schloss Birlinghoven, Germany, p. 227–230.

  15. The HUMAINE portal, 2011 (Online). http://emotion-research.net.

  16. SSPnet, a European network of excellence in social signal processing, 2011 (Online). http://sspnet.eu/.

  17. Anolli L, Mantovani F, Balestra M, Agliati A, Realdon O, Zurloni V, Mortillaro M, Vescovo A, Confalonieri L. The potential of affective computing in e-learning: MYSELF project experience. International conference on human-computer interaction (interact 2005), workshop on eLearning and human-computer interaction: exploring design synergies for more effective learning experiences, 2005.

  18. SIENTO project: affective learning technologies, 2011 (Online). http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/latte/projects/siento.shtml.

  19. Beaudouin-Lafon M. Computer supported co-operative work. New York: Wiley; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Scardamalia M, Bereiter C. Knowledge building: theory, pedagogy, and technology. In: Sawyer K, editor. Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2006. p. 97–118.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Principi E, Cifani S, Rocchi C, Squartini S, Piazza F. Keyword spotting based system for conversation fostering in tabletop scenarios: preliminary evaluation. HSI’09: the 2nd IES international conference on human system interaction, Catania, Italy, 21st–23rd May 2009.

  22. Rocchi C, Principi E, Cifani S, Rotili R, Squartini S, Piazza F. A real-time speech-interfaced system for group conversation modeling. In Bruno A, Simone B, Carlo M, editors. Proceeding of the 2009 conference on neural nets WIRN09: proceedings of the 19th Italian workshop on neural nets, vietri sul mare, Salerno, Italy, May 28–30 2009. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2009. p. 70–80.

  23. Hutchins E. Cognition in the wild. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Leontev AN. Activity, consciousness, and personality. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Garfinkel H. Studies in ethnomethodology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.; 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Watzlawick P, Hemlick Beavin J, Jackson DD. Pragmatics of human communication. New York: W.W. Norton; 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  27. McNeill D. Gestures and thoughts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Munhall KG, Jones JA, Callan DE, Kuratate T, Vatikokis-Bateson E. Visual prosody and speech intelligibility. Psych Sci. 2004;15(2):133–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Bargh JA, Chen M, Burrows L. Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype priming on action. J Pers Soc Psych. 1996;71:230–44.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Fodor JA. The modularity of mind. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Barsalou LW, Niedenthal PM, Barbey A, Ruppert J. Social embodiment. In: Ross B, editor. The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 43. San Diego: Academic Press; 2003. p. 43–92.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Hughes HC, et al. Visual auditory interactions in sensorimotor processing: saccades versus manual responses. J Exp Psych Hum Percept Perf. 1994;20:131–53.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Perrott DR, et al. Aurally aided visual search in the central visual field: effects of visual load and visual enhancement of the target. Hum Factors J Hum Factors Ergon Soc. 1991;33(4):389–400.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Callan DE, et al. Neural processes underlying perceptual enhancement by visual speech gestures. NeuroReport. 2003;14:2213–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. McGurk H, MacDonald J. Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature. 1976;264:746–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Esposito A. The perceptual and cognitive role of visual and auditory channels in conveying emotional information. Cognit Comput. 2009;1:268–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Bales RF. Interaction process analysis: a method for the study of small groups. University of Chicago Press (Online). http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2001/196.

  38. Kipp MA. A generic annotation tool for multimodal dialogue. In Proceedings of the 7th European conference on speech communication and technology (Eurospeech); 2001. p. 1367–1370.

  39. Sloetjes H, Wittenburg P. Annotation by category: ELAN and ISO DCR. In Proceedings of the 6th international conference on language resources and evaluation, 2008.

  40. Neale D, Carroll J, Rosson M. Evaluating computer-supported cooperative work: models and frameworks. In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work; 2004. p. 112–121.

  41. Gress CLZ, Fior M, Hadwin AF, Winne PH. Measurement and assessment in computer-supported collaborative learning. Comput Hum Behav. 2010;26(5):806–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Bastien C, Scapin DL. Evaluating a user interface with ergonomic criteria. Int J Hum Comput Interact. 1995;7:105–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Schmidt K. Cooperative work and coordinative practices. Computer supported co-operative work. London: Springer; 2011 (Online). doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-068-1-1.

  44. Stahl G, Hesse FW. The CSCL field matures. Int J Comput Support Collab Learn. 2010;5(1):1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Stahl G, Koschmann T, Suthers D. Computer-supported collaborative learning: an historical perspective. In Sawyer RK, editor. Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 409–426 (Online). http://GerryStahl.net/cscl/CSCL, 2006.

  46. Dillenbourg P, Jarvela S, Fischer F. The evolution of research on computer-supported collaborative learning. In Balacheff N, et al., editors. Technology-enhanced learning. Springer; 2009. p. 3–19.

  47. Ellis C, Gibbs S, Rein G. Groupware: some issues and experiences. Commun ACM. 1991;34(1):39–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 3MediaLabs, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 1, 60131, Ancona, Italy

    Stefano Squartini

  2. Dipartimento di Psicologia and IIASS, Seconda Università di Napoli, Vietri Sul Mare, Salerno, Italy

    Anna Esposito

Authors
  1. Stefano Squartini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna Esposito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Esposito.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Squartini, S., Esposito, A. CO-WORKER: Toward Real-Time and Context-Aware Systems for Human Collaborative Knowledge Building. Cogn Comput 4, 157–171 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12559-012-9136-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12559-012-9136-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation