Le Travail Humain, Rubrique "Théories et Méthodologies", 1999, tome 62(3): 223-246.

CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND COOPERATION IN INTELLIGENT ASSISTANT SYSTEMS. P. BREZILLON and J.-Ch. POMEROL LIP6, Case 169, University Paris 6, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France E-mails: Name.Surname@lip6.fr

Abstract:
The role of contextual information in intelligent assistant systems is controversial. In this paper, we start from our experience of Intelligent Assistant System developers to clarify some notions about context and to study the question of context sharing. Moreover, we consider two important aspects of man-machine cooperation, namely explanation generation and incremental knowledge acquisition. Making context explicit in cooperative systems is the key factor for any implementation of these two concepts. Starting from our experience in the development of knowledge-based systems, especially of an interactive system for incident management in subway control, we explain our views about context for the development of intelligent assistant systems.

Keywords: Intelligent assistant systems, cooperation, context, explanation, incremental knowledge acquisition.