Tutorial #22

User Interface Agents

Pattie Maes, Alan Wexelblat, MIT Media Lab

Monday, April 15, full-day

Benefits

You will learn the state-of-the-art in the design of software agents. You will also see numerous examples of successful agents that assist users in performing a wide variety of tasks.

Origins

This tutorial is new for CHI 96.

Features

why we need user interface agents
types of user interface agents
how agents interact with users
examples of successful agents for a wide variety of tasks
behavior-based interface agents
multi-agent systems
current issues in designing interface agents

Audience

User interface designers, implementers, and researchers who need to know the state-of-the-art in providing software assistants for users. No knowledge of agents or of artificial intelligence is assumed.

Presentation

Lecture, video, exercises, and live demonstrations of user interface agents on the Internet.

Instructors

Pattie Maes is an associate professor at MIT's Media Laboratory. She is one of the pioneer researchers in the area of software agents. She organized the first major symposium on interface agents, at MIT in 1992, and is a consultant in the area of software agents for major companies. Alan Wexelblat is a research assistant at the MIT Media Laboratory, where his research concerns personalized assistance for dealing with complex information navigation problems.