Smart Information Flow Technologies - linguistics

Power and Politeness in Interactions: ADMIRE - A Tool for Deriving the Former from the Latter

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 19:42:19 +0000

Citation:

Miller, C. Power and Politeness in Interactions; ADMIRE-A Tool for Deriving the Former from the Latter. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Social Informatics. Washington, DC (December 2012).

Date Published:

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

Interactive Phrasebook - Embeddding Human Social Dynamics in Language Training

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 19:44:42 +0000

Citation:

Interactive Phrasebook - Embeddding Human Social Dynamics in Language Training. Peggy Wu and Christopher Miller. In Proceedings of Second IEEE International Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom 2010) Aug 20-22, 2010, Minneapolis, MN.

Date Published:

Friday, August 20, 2010

Publication File:

SIFT-InteractivePlaybook-socialCOM-final.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

Interactive Phrasebook™ - Conveying Culture Through Etiquette

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 19:40:57 +0000

Citation:

Interactive Phrasebook™ - Conveying Culture Through Etiquette, In Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, June 14-17, 2010, Pittsburgh, PA.

Date Published:

Monday, June 14, 2010

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

Interactive Phrasebook, Language and Culture Training

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:35:38 +0000

Keywords: phrasebook. cultural awareness, etiquette, socially aware

Abstract: Cultural-awareness and knowledge of business etiquette in the globalized world is vital in creating successful partnerships. Its importance is demonstrated by the numerous culture and language training books, programs, and consulting companies geared towards the international business market. One problem is that there are nuances within a culture that may dramatically alter the meaning behind communications, but these subtleties cannot be taught effectively in the current teaching formats. Contextual information such as the power distance or familiarity between the speaker and the hearer and their effects are often footnotes in a lesson, despite their considerable influence on the interpretation of the message. This problem can be addressed by computerized training that allows the learner to...

Citation:

Wu, P., & Miller, C. (2008, June 12-13). Interactive Phrasebook, Language and Culture Training. Proceedings of the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace (ICELW), Columbia University, New York, NY.

Date Published:

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Publication File:

SIFT-ICELW2008.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

A Computational Apporach to Etiqeutte and Politeness: An "Etiquette Engine™" for Cultural Interaction Training

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:52:37 +0000

Keywords: social interaction behavior, etiquette, politeness, culture, NPSs, cross cultural training, training games

Abstract: Computational models and simulations of culture-specific social interactions are useful for a variety of applications including training, interaction or perception prediction and interpretation and even the design of machines and systems which will interact verbally with members of different cultures. To date, such models have been achieved via the scripting of specific trajectories of behaviors or, in limited instances, through very complex, “first principles” psychological models of agent motivation and goal-based behaviors. Neither of these is entirely appropriate for the production of a large series of rich and deep social interactions. We have developed a quantitative, computational implementation of a rich, universal theory of human-human “politeness” behaviors and the culture-specific interpretive frameworks for them (labeled “etiquette”) from sociology, linguistics and anthropology. This model links observable and inferred aspects of power and familiarity relationships, the degree of imposition of an act (each of which have implications for roles and intents) and the actor’s character to produce expectations about politeness behaviors. We have recently demonstrated the ability for this algorithm to produce culture-specific, politeness-appropriate utterances and perceptions of utterances in a game setting. Furthermore, our algorithmic approach to calculating culturespecific attitudes offered distinct advantages over alternate methods of producing such behaviors. Not only was it possible to more rapidly amass a much larger set of alternate trajectories through an interaction setting, but it was also possible to “swap” alternate sets of cultural knowledge to enable giving an agent alternate cultural perceptions with great ease.

Citation:

Miller, C., & Parasuraman, R. (2007, March 26-29). A Computational Approach to Etiquette and Politeness: An "Etiquette Engine™" for Cultural Interaction Training. Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Behavior Representation In Modeling and Simulation. Norfolk, VA.

Date Published:

Monday, March 26, 2007

Publication File:

MWFJV-BRIMS07-vfin.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

A Computational Approach to Etiquette and Politeness

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:27:53 +0000

Keywords: social interaction behavior, etiquette, politeness, avatar, NPCs, cross cultural training, training games

Abstract: Characters or agents which react appropriately—-taking offense when reasonable, giving deference where appropriate, etc.-- are a fundamental need for believability and accuracy in simulations of social interactions (including culture-specific and multi-cultural interactions). This is especially true for applications where complex and realistic interactions with intelligent agents are important-- such as cross-cultural training for military personnel. We have developed a quantitative, computational implementation of a rich, universal theory of human-human “politeness” behaviors and the culture-specific interpretive frameworks for them (labeled “etiquette”) from sociology, linguistics and anthropology. This model links observable and inferred aspects of power and familiarity relationships, the degree of imposition of an act (each of which have implications for roles and intents) and the actor’s character to produce expectations about politeness behaviors. By using observations of politeness behaviors (or their lack), the same model permits inferences and updates about those attributes. We present the algorithm we have developed and describe its results in scoring the degree of politeness or rudeness across 8 test cases. We see applicability of this model to interactive agent behavior generation and adaptation through the creation of modular, cross-cultural etiquette libraries. While other methods of interactive behavior generation are available (e.g., behavior scripting) our modular, computational approach should provide substantial payoffs in terms of reducing software development costs and/orincreasing the breadth of an agent’s social interaction behaviors.

Citation:

Miller, C., Wu, P., Funk, H., Wilson, P., & Johnson, W. L. (2006, May 15-18). A Computational Approach to Etiquette and Politeness: Initial Test Cases. Proceedings of 2006 BRIMS Conference, Baltimore, MD.

Date Published:

Monday, May 15, 2006

Publication File:

MWFWJ-BRIMS06.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages:

Results from a Field Study: The Need for an Emotional Relationship between the Elderly and their Assistive Technologies

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 19:11:34 +0000

Keywords: ILSA system, focus group, social needs

Abstract: Many of the elder-care giving responsibilities of the aging population fall on the shoulders of adult children. Caregiver burnout is one of the top reasons for the transition from independent living to costly nursing homes or other care-giving facilities. As a result, technologists are rushing to find tools that can assist caregivers and augment the elder’s ability to age in place. For a generation whose introduction to technology includes the black and white television, where the metaphors of windows and desktops are not automatically understood, the blitz of PDAs, smart homes, and voice recognition systems can be confusing, intimidating and stressful. Add to this the elder’s need for companionship to ward off isolation and dementia, and the design problem transpires to a much bigger challenge than designing around physical limitations of the elderly. The idea of companionship provided by technology is not new. From the simple rule-based Tamagotchi pets to Sony’s sophisticated AIBO, there is a large body of evidence that shows that the owners of these robotic pets form genuine and meaningful emotional bonds. However, few solutions combine ‘purposeful utility’ with entertainment and companionship. Solutions that are ‘purposeful’ are predictable and seldom achieve the level of autonomy that captures the interest of and engages the user, while solutions with high entertainment value often lack functions that directly aid the elder with daily functions. We describe the details of a smart home field test, and examine focus group discussions that were conducted with both the participants and their adult children caregivers. We identify discussions from focus group transcripts that are related to the user’s social behaviours and emotions towards the technology, and changes in the user’s interaction with his/her caregiver caused by the introduction of the technology. We describe some aspects of the “personality” the participants projected onto the smart home despite the intended lack of physical character embodiment of the system, and relate this to existing theoretical work from human-human interactions and human learning theory. Finally, we offer insight into how these observations might translate into functional implementations to reap the benefits of assistive technology as a means to both reduce the burden of caregivers and provide companionship.

Citation:

Wu, P., & Miller, C. (2005, July 22-27). Results from a Field Study: The Need for an Emotional Relationship between the Elderly and their Assistive Technologies. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Augmented Cognition, Las Vegas, NV.

Date Published:

Friday, July 22, 2005

Publication File:

Wu-AugCog2005.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Reviewing Draft

Prevent Workflow Messages:

The role of “etiquette” in an automated medication reminder

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 18:58:43 +0000

Keywords: etiquette, reminder, human-machine, face threats, ILSA

Abstract: This paper describes a model of politeness between intentional agents developed from sociolinguistic observations of human-human interactions (Brown and Levinson, 1987) and suggests a method for applying it to human-machine interactions. Applications in the context of a medication reminder system are presented including data which suggest that the Brown and Levinson model provides good predictions for how “polite” alternate reminding utterances will be perceived when delivered by a machine. Additional data from a field test of one such reminding system are presented which indicate that “politeness”, and the etiquette behaviors which achieve various levels of politeness, are important to elders—though not that maximal politeness behaviors are either expected, desired or, perhaps, productive. Further, future applications of the Brown and Levinson model in military training are also discussed.

Citation:

Miller, C., Wu, P. & Chapman, M.(2004). The role of “etiquette” in an automated medication reminder. In (T. Bickmore, Ed.), Working Notes of the AAAI Fall Symposium on Dialogue Systems for Health Communication (pp. 88-96). Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.

Date Published:

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Publication File:

EtiquetteMedReminder.pdf

Workflow: Editor Role:

Request Review

Workflow: Publisher Role:

Publish

Prevent Workflow Messages: