Towards a more natural and intelligent interface with embodied conversation agent

Conversational agent also known as chatterbots are computer programs which are designed to converse like a human as much as their intelligent allows. In many ways, they are the embodiment of Turing's vision. The ability for computers to converse with human users using natural language would arguably increase their usefulness. Recent advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general have advances this field in realizing the vision of a more humanoid interactive system. This paper presents and discusses the use of embodied conversation agent (ECA) for the imitation games. This paper also presents the technical design of our ECA and its performance. In the interactive media industry, it can also been observed that the ECA are getting popular

An embodied conversational agent for intelligent web interaction on pandemic crisis communication

In times of crisis, an effective communication mechanism is paramount in providing accurate and timely information to the community. In this paper we study the use of an intelligent embodied conversational agent (EGA) as the front end interface with the public for a Crisis Communication Network Portal (CCNet). The proposed system, CCNet, is an integration of the intelligent conversation agent, AINI, and an Automated Knowledge Extraction Agent (AKEA). AKEA retrieves first hand information from relevant sources such as government departments and news channels. In this paper, we compare the interaction of AINI against two popular search engines, two question answering systems and two conversational systems

Towards a more natural and intelligent interface with embodied conversation agent

Conversational agent also known as chatterbots are computer programs which are designed to converse like a human as much as their intelligent allows. In many ways, they are the embodiment of Turing's vision. The ability for computers to converse with human users using natural language would arguably increase their usefulness. Recent advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general have advances this field in realizing the vision of a more humanoid interactive system. This paper presents and discusses the use of embodied conversation agent (ECA) for the imitation games. This paper also presents the technical design of our ECA and its performance. In the interactive media industry, it can also been observed that the ECA are getting popular

An embodied conversational agent for intelligent web interaction on pandemic crisis communication

In times of crisis, an effective communication mechanism is paramount in providing accurate and timely information to the community. In this paper we study the use of an intelligent embodied conversational agent (EGA) as the front end interface with the public for a Crisis Communication Network Portal (CCNet). The proposed system, CCNet, is an integration of the intelligent conversation agent, AINI, and an Automated Knowledge Extraction Agent (AKEA). AKEA retrieves first hand information from relevant sources such as government departments and news channels. In this paper, we compare the interaction of AINI against two popular search engines, two question answering systems and two conversational systems

Teleworking practice in small and medium-sized firms: Management style and worker autonomy

In an empirical study of teleworking practices amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West London, organisational factors such as management attitudes, worker autonomy and employment flexibility were found to be more critical than technological provision in facilitating successful implementation. Consequently, we argue that telework in most SMEs appears as a marginal activity performed mainly by managers and specialist mobile workers

E-business in Thailand: A case study of two Thai search engine companies

Search engine is one of the reasons for e-commerce success in today's world. They are playing an important role in supplying both international and local communities with various dimensions of business information for the customers and other interested parties. In Thailand, two of the most popular and successful Thai search engines are Sanook.com and Hunsa.com at httv://www.sanook.com and httv://www.hunsa. com respectively. This study aims to analyse their business strategies and models including related aspects through a qualitative approach. The study was based on interviews with the CEO or CIO of the companies and individuals who have particular interests in search engines and assessment of the Websites. The research outcomes cover the search engine companies' background, business strategies and models; industry, competitors and environmental analysis; key business drivers and threats. The study also covers innovation factors and adoption including Website assessment through evaluation of the search engines and their future development

Embodied conversational agents for H5N1 pandemic crisis

This paper presents a novel framework for modeling embodied conversational agent for crisis communication focusing on the H5N1 pandemic crisis. Our system aims to cope with the most challenging issue on the maintenance of an engaging while convincing conversation. What primarily distinguishes our system from other conversational agent systems is that the human-computer conversation takes place within the context of H5N1 pandemic crisis. A Crisis Communication Network, called CCNet, is established based on a novel algorithm incorporating natural language query and embodied conversation agent simultaneously. Another significant contribution of our work is the development of a Automated Knowledge Extraction Agent (AKEA) to capitalize on the tremendous amount of data that is now available online to support our experiments. What makes our system differs from typical conversational agents is the attempt to move away from strictly task-oriented dialogue

Empowering ECAs in handheld devices

The growth of mobile services on mobile phones or PDA has been significant in the recent years. This has opened up a new arena for many organizations to implement services on these mobile devices. In this paper, we propose an extension to our work in Artificial Life; of having our embodied conversational agents (ECAs) framework to be extended for mobile handheld devices. We present an overview and investigate new challenges on the implementation of the ECAs on the cross-platform architecture suitable for small end user devices. We demonstrated the proposed downsizing framework suitable for mobile devices with the application in the area of crisis communication

Object-based learning with concept mapping embodied intelligent agent

For effective learning, the teaching materials for the learning purpose should be comprehensible and appropriate for the learners. Moreover, the learners are expected to construct the concepts and relations of the learning materials so as to achieve the desired learning objectives. Concept mapping is a technique using graphs for representing knowledge in a structure according to different levels of abstraction and inclusion. The technique has been widely applied in many disciplines and various educational levels. This learning environment is intended to guide the learners toward general understandings of the topic they have to learn. In concept mapping with learning objects settings, learners are able to direct their own unique sequences of tailored instructions under their control. This paper shows how the concept mapping and learning objects can be integrated in the Constructive Learning Model Embodied Intelligent Agent. The authors propose learning objects as a form of resources, concept maps as representation of the instructional tool and intelligent agent as a means to assist learners to create a personalized learning environment