Segmented interaction history in a collaborative interface agent

We have developed an application-independent toolkit, called Collagen, based on the SharedPlan theory of collaborative discourse, in which interaction histories are hierarchically structured according to a user's goals and intentions. We have used Collagen to implement an example collaborative interface agent with discourse processing, but not natural language understanding. In this paper, we concentrate on how a segmented interaction history supports user orientation, intelligent assistance, and transformations, such as returning to earlier points in the problem solving process and replaying segments in a new context. To appear in Third Int. Conf. on Intelligent User Interfaces, Orlando, FL, January 1997. This work may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part for any commercial purpose. Permission to copy in whole or in part without payment of fee is granted for nonpro t educational and research purposes provided that all such whole or partial copies include the following: a notice that such copying is by permission of Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America; an acknowledgment of the authors and individual contributions to the work; and all applicable portions of the copyright notice. Copying, reproduction, or republishing for any other purpose shall require a license with payment of fee to Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America. All rights reserved. Copyright c Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America, 1996 201 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Lotus Development Corporation Publication History:{ 1. First printing, TR-96-14, June 1996 Charles Rich MERL{A Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory 201 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 USA +1-617-621-7507 rich@merl.com Candace L. Sidner Lotus Development Corporation 55 Cambridge Parkway Cambridge, MA 02142 USA +1-617-693-7737 csidner@lotus.com ABSTRACT We have developed an application-independent toolkit, called Collagen, based on the SharedPlan theory of collaborative discourse, in which interaction histories are hierarchically structured according to a user's goals and intentions. We have used Collagen to implement an example collaborative interface agent with discourse processing, but not natural language understanding. In this paper, we concentrate on how a segmented interaction history supports user orientation, intelligent assistance, and transformations, such as returning to earlier points in the problem solving process and replaying segments in a new context.We have developed an application-independent toolkit, called Collagen, based on the SharedPlan theory of collaborative discourse, in which interaction histories are hierarchically structured according to a user's goals and intentions. We have used Collagen to implement an example collaborative interface agent with discourse processing, but not natural language understanding. In this paper, we concentrate on how a segmented interaction history supports user orientation, intelligent assistance, and transformations, such as returning to earlier points in the problem solving process and replaying segments in a new context.