Conversational Agents 2016

References:

Conversational Agents and Natural Language Interaction (2011)

Smartphone-based conversational agents and responses to questions about mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical health
AS Miner, A Milstein, S Schueller, R Hegde… – JAMA internal …, 2016 – jamanetwork.com
Importance Conversational agents are smartphone-based computer programs designed to respond to users in natural language, thereby mimicking conversations between people. Many people use their smartphones to obtain health information. Objective To describe the

Like having a really bad PA: the gulf between user expectation and experience of conversational agents
E Luger, A Sellen – Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human …, 2016 – dl.acm.org
Abstract The past four years have seen the rise of conversational agents (CAs) in everyday life. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook have all embedded proprietary CAs within their software and, increasingly, conversation is becoming a key mode of human-

Improving access to online health information with conversational agents: a randomized controlled experiment
TW Bickmore, D Utami, R Matsuyama… – Journal of medical …, 2016 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Background Conventional Web-based search engines may be unusable by individuals with low health literacy for finding health-related information, thus precluding their use by this population. Objective We describe a conversational search engine interface designed to

Comparing system-response retrieval models for open-domain and casual conversational agent
F Charras, GD Duplessis, V Letard… – … and Conversational …, 2016 – workshop.colips.org
Abstract. This paper studies corpus-based process to select a systemresponse usable both in chatterbot or as a fallback strategy. It presents, evaluates and compares two selection methods that retrieve and adapt a system-response from the OpenSubtitles2016 corpus

Online Sequence-to-Sequence Reinforcement Learning for Open-Domain Conversational Agents
N Asghar, P Poupart, J Xin, H Li – arXiv preprint arXiv:1612.03929, 2016 – arxiv.org
Abstract: We propose an online, end-to-end, deep reinforcement learning technique to develop generative conversational agents for open-domain dialogue. We use a unique combination of offline two-phase supervised learning and online reinforcement learning with

Field evaluation with cognitively-impaired older adults of attention management in the embodied conversational agent louise
P Wargnier, G Carletti… – Serious Games and …, 2016 – ieeexplore.ieee.org
Abstract: We present the first experiment we conducted to evaluate the attention monitoring performance of Louise, following a Wizard of Oz method, during the interactions with a cohort of 8 elderly users in a day hospital environment. Louise is a new, semi-automatic

A neural network approach to intention modeling for user-adapted conversational agents
D Griol, Z Callejas – Computational intelligence and neuroscience, 2016 – dl.acm.org
Abstract Spoken dialogue systems have been proposed to enable a more natural and intuitive interaction with the environment and human-computer interfaces. In this contribution, we present a framework based on neural networks that allows modeling of the

” Is There Anything Else I Can Help You With?” Challenges in Deploying an On-Demand Crowd-Powered Conversational Agent
THK Huang, WS Lasecki, A Azaria… – Fourth AAAI Conference on …, 2016 – aaai.org
Abstract Intelligent conversational assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Echo, have quickly become a part of our digital life. However, these assistants have major limitations, which prevents users from conversing with them as they would with

Toward conscious-like conversational agents
M Gnjatovi?, B Borovac – … Socially Believable Behaving Systems-Volume II, 2016 – Springer
Abstract Although considerable effort Gnjatovi?, Milan has been already Borovac, Branislav devoted to studying various aspects of human-machine interaction, we are still a long way from developing socially believable conversational agents. This paper identifies some of the

VOX system: a semantic embodied conversational agent exploiting linked data
FJ Serón, C Bobed – Multimedia Tools and Applications, 2016 – Springer
Abstract In the last few years, the use of ontologies has spread thanks to the irruption of the Semantic Web. They have become a crucial tool in information systems as they explicitly state the meaning of information, making it possible to share it and to achieve higher levels

Web-services Based Conversational Agent to Encourage Willingness to Communicate in the EFL Context
E Ayedoun, Y Hayashi, K Seta – The Journal of Information and …, 2016 – jstage.jst.go.jp
Abstract In this paper, we propose an embodied conversational agent based on the willingness to communicate (WTC) model in L2 to help increase WTC in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) by providing users with various daily conversation

Mobile conversational agents for context-aware care applications
D Griol, Z Callejas – Cognitive Computation, 2016 – Springer
Abstract Smart mobile devices have fostered new interaction scenarios that demand sophisticated interfaces. The main developers of operating systems for such devices provide APIs for developers to implement their own applications, including different solutions for

A Conversational Agent for an Online Mental Health Intervention
D Elmasri, A Maeder – International Conference on Brain and Health …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract This study investigated suitability of chatbots for a mental health intervention, specifically alcohol drinking habits assessment. The target group was young adults 18–25 years, the highest consumers of alcohol per capita in Australia. A chatbot program was

Framework for the Formulation of Metrics for Conversational Agent Evaluation
M Kaleem, O Alobadi, J O’Shea… – … and Conversational …, 2016 – pdfs.semanticscholar.org
Abstract The evaluation of conversational agents is an area that has not seen much progress since the initial developments during the early 90’s. The initial challenge faced when evaluating conversational agents is trying to formulate the metrics that need to be

Conversational Agents in Second Life
B Heller, M Procter, C Rose – LEARNING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS, 2016 – books.google.com
Conversational agents (CAs), also known as chatbots, are computer programs that are designed to chat with users using the rules of conversation and turntaking (see http://www. chatbots. org for examples). As noted by Kerly, Ellis, and Bull (2009), the use of CAs in

Adapting the design and the use methodology of a Pedagogical Conversational Agent of Secondary Education to Childhood Education
S Tamayo-Moreno… – Computers in Education …, 2016 – ieeexplore.ieee.org
Abstract: Pedagogic Conversational Agents are interactive educational systems that talk with students about a particular domain assuming the role of teacher, student or colleague. They have been used with good results from the upper areas of education to Primary Education.

Intelligent conversational agents as facilitators and coordinators for group work in distributed learning environments (moocs)
GS Tomar, S Sankaranarayanan, CP Rosé – 2016 AAAI Spring Symposium …, 2016 – aaai.org
Abstract Artificially intelligent conversational agents have been demonstrated to positively impact team based learning in classrooms and hold even greater potential for impact in the now widespread Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) if certain challenges can be

Building a Working Alliance with a Knowledge Based System Through an Embodied Conversational Agent
D Richards, P Caldwell – Pacific Rim Knowledge Acquisition Workshop, 2016 – Springer
Abstract Knowledge is only useful if the intended user is able to utilize the system. In early knowledge based systems, known as expert systems, the user interface provided the means through which knowledge was acquired and accessed. Today it is possible to interact with

Using temporal association rules for the synthesis of embodied conversational agents with a specific stance
T Janssoone, C Clavel, K Bailly, G Richard – International Conference on …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract In the field of Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) one of the main challenges is to generate socially believable agents. The long run objective of the present study is to infer rules for the multimodal generation of agents’ socio-emotional behaviour. In this paper, we

Conversational agents for academically productive talk: a comparison of directed and undirected agent interventions
S Tegos, S Demetriadis, PM Papadopoulos… – International Journal of …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract Conversational agents that draw on the framework of academically productive talk (APT) have been lately shown to be effective in helping learners sustain productive forms of peer dialogue in diverse learning settings. Yet, literature suggests that more research is

Co-constructing intersubjectivity with artificial conversational agents: people are more likely to initiate repairs of misunderstandings with agents represented …
K Corti, A Gillespie – Computers in Human Behavior, 2016 – Elsevier
Abstract This article explores whether people more frequently attempt to repair misunderstandings when speaking to an artificial conversational agent if it is represented as fully human. Interactants in dyadic conversations with an agent (the chat bot Cleverbot)

EMBODIED CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS AS SOCIAL ACTORS?
F Muhle – Socialbots and Their Friends: Digital Media and the …, 2016 – books.google.com
A marginal note in anthropologist Tom Boellstorff’s ethnographic study ‘Coming of Age in Second Life’refers to a strange experience residents of Second Life (SL) sometimes have. Boellstorff notes that ‘Volunteer helpers often found new residents of Second Life asking

A multi-agent conversational system with heterogeneous data sources access
EM Eisman, M Navarro, JL Castro – Expert Systems with Applications, 2016 – Elsevier
… 11. Regarding commercial systems, one of the most famous examples is Anna, IKEA’s Automated Online Assistant. 12 Like most conversational agents, she has a memory and is able to answer a quite broad set of general questions (eg personal information, or hobbies). …

Conversational Interfaces: Devices, Wearables, Virtual Agents, and Robots
M McTear, Z Callejas, D Griol – The Conversational Interface, 2016 – Springer
… Keywords. Wearables Smart watches Multimodal conversational interfaces Cards Virtual agents Embodied conversational agent (ECA) Social robot. 13.1 Introduction. So far we have discussed conversational interfaces on smartphones. …

Crowd-Powered Conversational Agents
THK Huang – 2016 – cs.cmu.edu
Abstract Intelligent conversational agents have quickly become a part of our digital life. However, despite decades of research, existing conversational agents are limited in scope, brittle to the complexity of language, and expensive to produce. Users today are still not

Building Open-domain Conversational Agent by Statistical Learning with Various Large-scale Corpora
H Sugiyama – 2016 – isw3.naist.jp
Conversation is important and nature activity for humans to develop social ties and form solidarity of our society. Also for dialogue agents that talk with people, conversation is important not only for counseling or entertainment purpose but also improving performance

Conversational Agents as Historical Figures: Persona Effects in the Absence of Visual Information
B Heller – EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and …, 2016 – learntechlib.org
Abstract: Three previously published studies were re-examined using a common set of measures to further explore the role of visual information when chatting with a conversational agent acting as a historical figure. One hundred and seventy students

Sense of Self-Agency in Sharing Conversational Experiences between Agents and Human Users
J Nakanishi, Y Sakatani, M Okubo… – … (ICSC), 2016 IEEE …, 2016 – ieeexplore.ieee.org
… We also show an experimental system to examine the impact of the sense of self-agency on the successful transfer of conversational experiences from agents to their users. Index Terms—conversational agent, sense of self-agency, com- munication model I. INTRODUCTION …

Smartphone-Based Conversational Agents and Responses to Questions about Mental Health, Interpersonal Violence, and Physical Health
PMT Klingenbjerg – Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2016 – jem-journal.com
Smartphone-Based Conversational Agents and Responses to Questions about Mental Health, Interpersonal Violence, and Physical Heal 18 patients died by 28 days compared to 18 in the placebo group. Intensive care unit length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, ventilator free

An Investigation of Conversational Agent Interventions Supporting Historical Reasoning in Primary Education
S Tegos, S Demetriadis, T Tsiatsos – International Conference on …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract This work examines the efficiency of an agent intervention mode, aiming to stimulate productive conversational interactions and encourage students to explicate their historical reasoning about important domain concepts. The findings of a pilot study,

Draft: A Medical Conversational Agent
S Yeung – linda.healthcare
In this project, we endeavor to build a conversational agent capable of providing assistance to MedWhat users on medical topics. As an example, a user may begin a conversation by asking the question,“Can I drink alcohol with my malaria pills?” The agent could then ask a

Conversational agent for mobile-learning: A review and a proposal of a multilanguage text-to-speech agent,“MobiSpeech”
M Abdelkefi, I Kallel – … in Information Science (RCIS), 2016 IEEE …, 2016 – ieeexplore.ieee.org
Abstract: The new Information, communication, and mobile technologies empower the users to learn anywhere and anytime. They also need conversational systems that could be aware of their mobile context in order to adjust it dynamically. The actual research field is focusing

RE-WOCHAT: Workshop on Collecting and Generating Resources for Chatbots and Conversational Agents-Development and Evaluation Workshop …
DM Tweeting – pdfs.semanticscholar.org
RE-WOCHAT: Workshop on Collecting and Generating Resources for Chatbots and Conversational Agents- Development and Evaluation Workshop Programme (May 28 th, 2016) 13: 50–14: 00–Welcome Message by the Organizing Team 14: 00–15: 00–Short Paper Session I Data Collection

Young Merlin: an embodied conversational agent in virtual reality
I Gris, DA Rivera, A Rayon, A Camacho… – Proceedings of the 18th …, 2016 – dl.acm.org
Abstract This paper describes a system for embodied conversational agents developed by Inmerssion and one of the applications—Young Merlin: Trial by Fire—built with this system. In the Merlin application, the ECA and a human interact with speech in virtual reality. The

Maximizing Appropriate Responses Returned by a Conversational Agent through the Use of a Genetic Algorithm for Feature Selection
J McClendon, L Hodges, S Remy – The Twenty-Ninth International Flairs …, 2016 – aaai.org
Abstract We present an approach to creating conversational agents that are capable of returning appropriate responses to natural language input. The approach described consists of a genetic algorithm used as a feature selection technique to evolve a subset of random

Embodied Conversational Agent-Based Deception Detection
AC Elkins, JG Proudfoot, N Twyman… – Proceedings of SAI …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract An Embodied Conversational Agent-based human deception detection system was tested in a laboratory experiment during which some subjects had committed a mock crime and had guilty knowledge of that crime. Sensor signals were analyzed for their ability to

Smart (but Also) Challenging Learning Environments: The Case of Conversational Agents That Foster Productive Peer Dialogue
SN Demetriadis, SD Tegos – … of Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 2016 – Springer
Abstract Smart learning environments (SLEs) are typically described as environments that offer rich learning interactions by making use of digital, context-aware, and adaptive technologies. This work introduces the concept of “smart challenging learning

Design and Development of a Physical and a Virtual Embodied Conversational Agent for Social Support of Older Adults
MMM Peeters, VG Motti, H Frijns… – Truong, KP Reidsma …, 2016 – researchgate.net
Abstract—Populations in developed societies show an increasingly higher life expectancy across the globe. To support older adults to live longer and healthier lives in the familiar surroundings of their homes, technological developments, such as robots and avatars, have

Real-Time Tailoring of Depression Counseling by Conversational Agent
L Ring, T Bickmore, P Pedrelli – Iproceedings, 2016 – iproc.org
Background: Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world, with over 350 million people affected worldwide. To address this, many researchers have developed computer-based therapy systems to treat this condition. However, many of these systems have been

Smartphone-Based Conversational Agents and Responses to Questions About Mental Health, Interpersonal Violence, and Physical Health
C Mangurian, E Linos – JAMA, 2016 – sml.stanford.edu
OBJECTIVE To describe the responses of 4 widely used conversational agents (Siri [Apple], Google Now, S Voice [Samsung], and Cortana [Microsoft]) to a standardized panel of questions related to mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical health. DESIGN,

NDLtutor: An Automated Conversational Agent to Facilitate Metacognitive Skills in Fully-Negotiated OLMs
RM Suleman, R Mizoguchi, M Ikeda – International Conference on …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract In this paper we discuss the findings related to our research on the paradigm of Negotiation-Driven Learning (NDL). Fully-negotiated OLMs have employed different negotiation mechanisms to support learner learning and reflection. In NDL research we are

Acceptability of Embodied Conversational Agent in a Health Care Context
JA Micoulaud-Franchi, P Sagaspe, E De Sevin… – … on Intelligent Virtual …, 2016 – Springer
Abstract While the interest of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECA) in health care context increased, the extent to which patients find ECAs acceptable should be more evaluated. Thus, in this study, we evaluated the acceptability of an ECA who conducts a clinical

On data driven parametric backchannel synthesis for expressing attentiveness in conversational agents
C Oertel, J Gustafson, AW Black – Proceedings of the Workshop on …, 2016 – dl.acm.org
Abstract In this study, we are using a multi-party recording as a template for building a parametric speech synthesiser which is able to express different levels of attentiveness in backchannel tokens. This allowed us to investigate i) whether it is possible to express the

Conversational Agents as Historical Figures: Individual Differences and Perceptions of Agent and Social Presence
B Heller – EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and …, 2016 – learntechlib.org
Abstract: Eight-six students chatted online for 10 minutes with a historical figure application of a conversational agent under 3 interface conditions; No Image, Static Image, or Animated Image with Voice. Students rated their perception of the agent and social presence and

Conversational Agents and Mental Health: Theory-Informed Assessment of Language and Affect
A Miner, A Chow, S Adler, I Zaitsev, P Tero… – Proceedings of the …, 2016 – dl.acm.org
Abstract A study deployed the mental health Relational Frame Theory as grounding for an analysis of sentiment dynamics in human-language dialogs. The work takes a step towards enabling use of conversational agents in mental health settings. Sentiment tendencies and

A study of the use of natural language processing for conversational agents
RS Wilkens – 2016 – lume.ufrgs.br
Language is a mark of humanity and conscience, with the conversation (or dialogue) as one of the most fundamental manners of communication that we learn as children. Therefore one way to make a computer more attractive for interaction with users is through the use of

A General Evaluation Framework for Text Based Conversational Agent
M Hijjawi, Z Bandar, K Crockett – International Journal of …, 2016 – e-space.mmu.ac.uk
This paper details the development of a new evaluation framework for a text based Conversational Agent (CA). A CA is an intelligent system that handle spoken or/and text based conversations between machine and human. Generally, the lack of evaluation

The Power of a Nod and a Glance: Envelope vs. Emotional Feedback in Animated Conversational Agents
J Cassell, KR ThórissonR – justinecassell.com
Abstract In this article we describe results from an experiment of user interaction with autonomous, human-like (humanoid) conversational agents. We hypothesize that for embodied conversational agents, nonverbal behaviors related to the process of

An Investigation on The Effectiveness of Employing Topic Modeling Techniques to Provide Topic Awareness For Conversational Agents
O Moradiannasab – ACL 2016, 2016 – aclweb.org
Abstract The idea behind this proposal is to investigate the possibility of utilizing NLP tools, statistical topic modeling techniques and freely available online resources to propose a system able to provide dialogue contribution suggestions which are relevant to the context,

EDUARDO: A Semantic Model for Automatic Content Integration with an Conversational Intelligent Agent
FR dos Santos, SJ Rigo, JLV Barbosa… – Proceedings of the 22nd …, 2016 – dl.acm.org
… Integration with an Conversational Agent Fábio Rodrigues dos Santos1,2 1Instituto Federal de Roraima (IFRR) Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil, 69303-220 fabio.santos@ifrr.edu.br … The model also contemplates the use of Semantic Content through a Conversational Agent. …

Conversational Agent Module for French Sign Language using Kinect Sensor
T Poulet, V Haffreingue, T Ridene – www-rech.telecom-lille.fr
Abstract. Inside a CAVE different AR/VR scenarios can be constructed. Some scenarios use conversational agent interaction. In case of “deafmute” person the interaction must be based on sign language. The idea of this paper is to propose a “deaf-mute conversational agent”

A Conversational Agent for the Improvement of Human Reasoning Skills
NT Le – fg-elearning.gi.de
With the increase of possibilities in computing and artificial intelligence, computers have been used as autonomous agents in more and more domains over the course of the last decades. More intricate and convincing ways of communication between software agents

The Enhanced Arabchat: An Arabic Conversational Agent
M Hijjawi, Z Bandar, K Crockett – International Journal of …, 2016 – e-space.mmu.ac.uk
The Enhanced ArabChat is a complement of the previous version of ArabChat. This paper details an enhancements development of a novel and practical Conversational Agent for the Arabic language called the “Enhanced ArabChat”. A conversational Agent is a computer

An Exploratory Study Toward the Preferred Conversational Style for Compatible Virtual Agents
A Shamekhi, M Czerwinski, G Mark, M Novotny… – … on Intelligent Virtual …, 2016 – Springer
… Thus, improving vocal characteristics of conversational agents’ discourse will be critical in improving the overall quality of human-agent interaction. Also, engagement and satisfaction can be two influencing factors in the success of the human-agent interaction. …

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