Software-based dialogue systems: Survey, taxonomy and challenges

The use of natural language interfaces in the field of human-computer interaction is undergoing intense study through dedicated scientific and industrial research. The latest contributions in the field, including deep learning approaches like recurrent neural networks, the potential of context-aware strategies and user-centred design approaches, have brought back the attention of the community to software-based dialogue systems, generally known as conversational agents or chatbots. Nonetheless, and given the novelty of the field, a generic, context-independent overview on the current state of research of conversational agents covering all research perspectives involved is missing. Motivated by this context, this paper reports a survey of the current state of research of conversational agents through a systematic literature review of secondary studies. The conducted research is designed to develop an exhaustive perspective through a clear presentation of the aggregated knowledge published by recent literature within a variety of domains, research focuses and contexts. As a result, this research proposes a holistic taxonomy of the different dimensions involved in the conversational agents’ field, which is expected to help researchers and to lay the groundwork for future research in the field of natural language interfaces.With the support from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund. The corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Banco Santander for the inancial support of his predoctoral grant FPI-UPC. This paper has been funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under project / funding scheme PID2020-117191RB-I00 / AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

iSee: intelligence sharing of explanation experience of users for users.

The right to obtain an explanation of the decision reached by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model is now an EU regulation. Different stakeholders of an AI system (e.g. managers, developers, auditors, etc.) may have different background knowledge, competencies and goals, thus requiring different kinds of interpretations and explanations. Fortunately, there is a growing armoury of tools to interpret ML models and explain their predictions, recommendations and diagnoses which we will refer to collectively as explanation strategies. As these explanation strategies mature, practitioners will gain experience that helps them know which strategies to deploy in different circumstances. What is lacking, and is addressed by iSee, is capturing, sharing and re-using explanation strategies based on past positive experiences. The goal of the iSee platform is to improve every user's experience of AI, by harnessing experiences and best practices in Explainable AI

What Fits Tim Might Not Fit Tom: Exploring the Impact of User Characteristics on Users’ Experience with Conversational Interaction Modalities

Companies increasingly implement conversational agents (CAs), which can be text- or voice-based. While both interaction modalities have different implications for user interaction, it ultimately depends on the users how they perceive these design options. Research indicates that users’ perception and evaluation of information systems is affected by their individual characteristics – their dispositional traits and needs. To investigate the impact of user characteristics on the user experience with text- and voice-based CAs, we draw on task-technology fit (TTF) theory and develop a research design including a lab experiment. We developed and tested two CAs and conducted a pilot study of the experiment. Initial results indicate that user characteristics influence how users perceive the user experience with text- and voice-based CAs. We expect the results of our research to extend TTF theory to the context of conversational interfaces and guide companies in designing their CAs to deliver a satisfying user experience

Layered evaluation of interactive adaptive systems : framework and formative methods

Peer reviewedPostprin

Toward a linguistically grounded dialog model for chatbot design

The increasing interest in various types of conversational interfaces has been supported by a progressive standardization of the technological frameworks used to build them. However, the landscape of available methodological frameworks for designing conversations is much more fragmented. We propose a highly generalizable methodology for designing conversational flows rooted in a functionalist-pragmatics perspective, with an explicit adherence to a conversationalist approach. In parallel, we elaborate a practical-procedural workflow for undertaking chatbots projects in which we situate the theoretical starting point. At last, we elaborate a general case- study on which we transpose the identified approach in Italian language and using one of the most authoritative NLU platforms

On the Development of Adaptive and User-Centred Interactive Multimodal Interfaces

Multimodal systems have attained increased attention in recent years, which has made possible important improvements in the technologies for recognition, processing, and generation of multimodal information. However, there are still many issues related to multimodality which are not clear, for example, the principles that make it possible to resemble human-human multimodal communication. This chapter focuses on some of the most important challenges that researchers have recently envisioned for future multimodal interfaces. It also describes current efforts to develop intelligent, adaptive, proactive, portable and affective multimodal interfaces

Evaluation of live human-computer music-making: Quantitative and qualitative approaches

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, [VOL 67,ISS 11(2009)] DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.05.00

Chatbots for enterprises: Outlook

Chatbots are going to be the main tool for automated conversations with customers. Still, there is no consistent methodology for choosing a suitable chatbot platform for a particular business. This paper proposes a new method for chatbot platform evaluation. To describe the current state of chatbot platforms, two high-level approaches to chatbot platform design are discussed and compared. WYSIWYG platforms aim to simplicity but may lack some advanced features. All-purpose chatbot platforms require extensive technical skills and are more expensive but give their users more freedom in chatbot design. We provide an evaluation of six major chatbot solutions. The proposed method for the chatbot selection is demonstrated on two sample businesses - a large bank and a small taxi service.O