at the
IPO, Center for User-System Interaction
Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Project description
IPO, Center for User-System Interaction investigates ways to improve
man-machine interaction.
IDUSI stands for Interaction and Dialogue in User Interfaces. The aim of the IDUSI project is to apply insights about human (verbal) communication to the design of interfaces for user-system interaction, in order to improve the usability of systems. It is generally assumed that the effectiveness and efficiency of human communication rests for a large part in two characteristics: the application of Grice's Co-operativity principle (most notably: Be relevant) and the continuous availability of feedback information from the listener. The first characteristic ensures that messages are optimally tuned to the current situation both in size and content; the second characteristic helps the speaker to identify potential problems at a very early stage and to take appropriate action. For instance, the response of the addressee may make clear that that the message was not correctly transferred, or that it was misunderstood. Usually, repair actions involve attempts to verify precisely these points: the speaker will attempt to verify whether the information was transferred correctly and whether the intention was correctly understood. Only once these problems have been dealt with, may the dialogue proceed as normal.
In man-machine action these two characteristics are usually missing. This is okay as long as the interaction runs smooth, but not if problems arise.
The general aim of the project can then be translated into two more concrete questions:
These questions will be addressed in the context of two concrete
industrial applications, so that notions such as relevance, intention and
feedback monitoring can be operationalised. Rather than working towards
the actual implementation of systems that exhibit the desired characteristics,
validation and evaluation of the obtained rules for system design will
be done through Wizard-of-Oz studies.
The IDUSI project is one of the projects within the Dutch research programme IOP-MMI (Innovation oriented Research Programma for Man-Machine Interaction, sponsored by the Dutch government). It is a collaboration between IPO, Center for User-System Interaction of Eindhoven University of Technology and the Department for Language and Artificial Intelligence of the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant at Tilburg.
Start: as soon as possible
Collaboration
The post-doc will be responsible for further operationalization of the central questions and for daily guidance for the Ph.D. student during the initial two years of the project. The Ph.D. student will be involved in the application of the general theories of human communication to the concrete industrial applications, and will take the results of these activities to formulate conditions for the successful application of context models and dialogue control acts in man-machine interaction. The Ph.D student will also participate in the curriculum of the J.F. Schouten graduate school for User-System Interaction.
Profile
Degree in Cognitive Science, Psychology, Computer Science. Expertise in man-machine interaction and/or human communication.
Contact
Information about vacancies:
Dr. J. Terken
+31 40 247 5254
e-mail: j.m.b.terken@tue.nl
Applications to be directed to
Mrs. P.J. Evers
IPO, Center for User-System Interaction
Eindhoven University of Technology
Postbus 513
5600 MB Eindhoven
The Netherlands
+31 40 247 5204
p.j.evers@tue.nl
Further information
IDUSI project: http://www.ipo.tue.nl/homepages/jterken/idusi-e.htm
IOP-MMI: http://www.iop.nl/
IPO, Center for User-System Interaction
http://www.ipo.tue.nl/ipo