AtGentive IST Call 4 Project meeting

1
AtGentiveAttentive Agents for Collaborative
LearnersAtGentive IST Call 4 PM2006 Workshop
6-7 February 2006, Luxembourg

• Thierry Nabeth Albert A. Angehrn
• INSEAD CALT (Centre for Advanced Learning
  Technologies)
• http//www.calt.insead.edu/

2
Table of content

• The Attention Challenges in the information
  society
• AtGentive A Presentation
• Concrete illustration
• Potential areas for collaborations

3
The new conditions of the Information Society

• A complex world with an explosion of elements to
  deal with (information, technologies,
  solicitations, etc.)
• An increase level of autonomy and responsibility
  of people (students, learners employees)
• But, Basically the same people (limited human
  mental capacities, motivations).

4
The attention challenges

• Perception. How to deal in an effective way
  (filtering the bad, selecting the good) with this
  massive flood of information, knowledge,
  technologies and solicitations
• Reasoning Decision. How to process all this
  knowledge. How to make sense out of it. How
  define objectives and to decide the next lines of
  action.
• Execution. How to deal with the execution of
  multitude of activities that users groups are
  now engaged in (without being overwhelmed,
  distracted, and allocating the best their
  attention).

5
What is AtGentive

• The objective of AtGentive is to investigate the
  use of Artificial Agents for supporting the
  Management of the Attention of young or adult
  learners in the context of individual and
  collaborative learning environments
• AtGentive Attentive AGents

6
AtGentive provides

• Digital environments for supporting schools and
  learning networks (virtual communities)
• Variety of Mechanisms providing attentional
  support
• Enhance Perception Attention friendly interfaces
  (e.g. Filter details, Magic Lens, social
  transluscence), different intervention modes
  (embedded characters), etc.
• Support for reasoning development of
  attentional metacognitive skills (help to
  situate, to make plans, etc.)
• Provide attentional guidance (via agent
  interventions) to people during their activities.
  (assess them, refocus them, stimulate them)

7
The Agents ?

• Some Components are able to reason and intervene
  proactivelly
• Artificial characters are used for some of the
  Interventions.

8
Two applications

• Two application domains
• AtGentSchool (for Schools) Agent-enhanced
  environment for Schools
• AtGentNet (for Learning Networks) Agent-enhanced
  virtual community platform.
• Two pilots to validate
• CELN schools
• STC learning Network
• A User-Centred design approach

9
AtGentSchool Children engaged into learning
experiences

• The users
• Children in schools
• The activities
• They write stories
• They can access expert and professors
• They work in small groups
• The agents assist them, guide them, and stimulate
  them

10
(No Transcript)
11
AtGentNet Supporting Knowledge exchange

• The users
• Managers geographically distributed
• They work in SMEs and they feel isolated
• The activities
• They share documents and cases
• They share experiences via interaction in
  discussions (forum, chats, etc.)
• They can also engage into some learning
  activities (lectures, simulations, etc.)

12

Where does Mr Fox works?
Who is Edward Fox ?
13
Some Scenarios

• Scenarios illustrating how to
• Enhance user perception
• More effectively help people to better manage
  their attention
• Help them to develop attentional self-reflective
  metacognitive capabilities

14
First mechanisms space structuration
specialisation (metaphor)

• AtGentNet will be structured as a set of well
  identified and specialised spaces supporting a
  limited number of activities. The forms is which
  these spaces are presented to the users will be
  chosen to make it very clear the context and the
  nature of the activities taking place in a given
  space
• Hypothesis to investigate
• The creation of dedicated spaces will reduce the
  likelyhood of distraction of the user.
• Besides, the form of the space will reinforce the
  perception of the context of the interaction

15
Second mechanisms the Magic Lens

• Individual enhancing and filtering of shared
  representation
• The Magic Lens concept consist in providing a
  personalized enhanced perception of a common
  representation, taking into account the
  specificity of the users interacting with this
  representation. More concretely the different
  users wearing this magic leans (that can be
  activated in the browser) will get a slightly
  perception of the shared space (Cybrary, Forum,
  Chatroom, etc.) in which they interact.
• Example of user experiences in a forum, the user
  will see magnified the posting of the other users
  that are important to him.
• Hypothesis to investigate
• Magic lens will be able to provide individual
  attentional support without impeding the
  collaborative dimension

16
Third mechanisms Agent Guidance

• The Agent, aware of the users profile and of the
  context may proactively intervene.
• Example an embodied character, only visible by
  the user, may intervene and indicate an item of
  particular importance
• An agent may suggest an action to a student. For
  instance in AtGentSchool, the agent may ask the
  student a specific action related to the creation
  of a story (write an introduction).
• an agent may suggest some new behaviour and
  practices. (your quote all your messages as very
  important. Do you know the story of the boy who
  cried Wolf. Or, I observe that you are using the
  email to communicate with the same group of
  people. Why not to create a blog? it may help you
  to make best use of your time.)
• An agent may question the relevance of the
  behavioural profile with the stated agenda of the
  user (dissonance).
• Hypothesis to investigate
• How to intervene proactively, and generating a
  positive impact.

17
Fourth mechanisms self-reflective tools

• AtGentNet will provide a set of mechanisms to
  develop his / her attentional meta-cognitive
  abilities Via
• The visualisation of it previous activity related
  to his / her dedicated attention (where did he
  spent his time, what are his actions). This
  information will be extracted from the observed
  activity.
• A set of assessment of his current way of
  managing his / attention. The system may indicate
  an observed attentional profile.
• The definition of an agenda (getting focussed),
  and the suggestion of an attentional profile
  matching this agenda.
• A set of presentation exercises to understand
  attentional concepts. (for instance stories
  presenting cases of bad practices for instance
  on the good use of email different categories of
  attention captive / voluntary- -front of mind /
  back of mind-, etc.)
• Hypothesis to investigate
• It is possibility to help the user to develop
  his/her metacognitive capabilities.

18
Potential areas for collaboration

• Cognitive informed systems, metacognition
• Social translucence mechanisms
• Artificial characters (effectiveness)
• Capturing people activities
• Learning agenda
• Very open and flexible architectures (web 2.0,
  web services, mash up)

19
AtGentive a Summary of the key points

• Attention A global and pluri-disciplinary
  perspective. (cognitive psychology, social
  cognition, management, CHI, etc.). Attention is
  considered both at an individual and at a group
  level.
• Advanced and /or proactive support for attention
  (smart spaces, cognitive agents, embedded
  characters) for digital collaborative
  environments
• Two different application contexts / domains
  Children Education (Schools) and Knowledge
  Management (Learning Networks)

http//www.atgentive.com/