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Dialogue (continued)
Why do electronic conversations seem less polite? (w/ J. Ohaeri)
Experiment: Collaborative Remembering 13 3-person face-to-face groups
(speaking) 13 3-person electronic groups (typing)
Task: Recall a scene from a movie together
Politeness (Brown & Levinson)
Politeness is about giving your partner options.
The two sides of politeness:1. Save your own face2. Avoid threatening the face of others
Hedges: Markers of provisionality
Hedges may enable people to convey their alignment toward their utterances
This may make it easier for a partner to disagree and still save face.
This in turn may affect politeness.
Hedging requires producing additional words
Hedges drop out in re-referring
T1 a car, sort of silvery purple colored
T2 purplish car going to the left
T3 purplish car going left
T4 the purplish car
T5 the purple car
Speakers hedged more when there were more potential conceptualizations of an object.
(Brennan & Clark, 1997)
Questions: Another marker
Syntactic questions Rising intonation or ? punctuation Tag questions: right? wasn’t it?
Questions do not require producing additional words.
Predictions: Typing is more effortful than speaking. If communicating by text is depersonalizing,
then text conversations should contain lower rates of both hedges and questions.
If the effort explanation is correct, then face-to-face conversations should contain a higher rate of hedges than text conversations, but equal rates of questions.
Examples: Hedges
Yeah, they were sitting around the fireplace in the night... sort of like a bedtime story kind of thing. [face-to-face group 4]
We all agree it was a wreathy thingy on his neck??? [electronic group 8]
We all agree it was in Ireland, I think?[face-to-face group 3]
Examples: Questions
he was cold and almost dead... the women tied him up between two cows... he started to sweat, right? [face-to-face group 4)
M: he began telling the story S: about when his father was young, when
Ireland was being ruled by the British A: It still is, isn't it? [face-to-face group
10]
M: to attend D: to attend an English school... um M: when he was caught whispering
something to the boy in Irish? He was punished?
D: ok[face-to-face group
11]
Results
Both kinds of groups recalled equally well.
Speakers produced twice as many words as typists.
Hedge rates were twice as high for speaking as typing.
Question rates were equal for typing and speaking
Converging evidence thatpoliteness is more effortful in text
In the 13 text groups, those who produced more words hedged at higher rates.
(r = .55, p < .05) This correlation was absent in the 13 face-to-
face groups.
Conclusions: politeness & effort
Electronic conversations seem less polite not because speakers are “depersonalized”, but because it is harder for them to show their alignment toward their utterances.
Politeness is not a style of interaction that emerges automatically, but results from speakers giving each other specific options.
Conclusions: Mediated communication
Conversation is shaped by its medium People adapt very rapidly One person’s behavior shapes the
other’s.
Read or review:
CGB chapters so far Brennan chapter on grounding
Pauses in conversations
One turn often follows another after only 200 milliseconds (or less).
People make attributions about the cause of a pause.
Pauses of .8-1.2 msec. tend to indicate problems (Jefferson).
Longer pauses tend to occur only when people are also eating, driving, etc.
Applications
Cell phone safety Mediated communication - people don’t
make the same attributions to pauses when they can see what their partners are doing!
Survey interviews
Standardized Survey Interviews
Bureau of Labor Statistics census People are bad at interpreting certain
questions (How many bathrooms…?) Displays of uncertainty can tip off the
interviewer as to whether the respondent needs a clarification
(Bloom & Schober, 1998)
Standardized Survey Interviews
Questions are usually assumed to be independent.
But the first question(s) in a survey can anchor you in a way that taints your responses to the rest of the questions.
Ex: “How much money do you earn?”
…..
“How much do you spend each year on
travel?”
Standardized Survey Interviews
Michael Schober, Fred Conrad, & colleagues have proposed that surveys should be more like conversations (since people treat them that way anyway).
Standardized Survey Interviews
Questions are often ambiguous. “How many cigarettes have you smoked?” “How many bedrooms are there in your house? “How many people live in your household?”
Standardized Survey Interviews
Questions are often ambiguous. “How many cigarettes have you smoked?” “How many bedrooms are there in your house? “How many people live in your household?”
“huh?” “Whatever it means to you!”
This is a misguided attempt at objectivity…
attempts to standardize can actually lead to lower accuracy.
Standardized Survey Interviews
I: And now we’d would like to ask about your employment status . did you do any work . for pay . last week
R: . Eh well . I’m still getting paid but school’s out . so .
I: Okay s:o . would you say . I mean . *it’s-*
R: *well*
I: it’s your c*all*
R: *I g*ot paid . *for work . but I was*n’t at work
I: *okay huh huh huh* hhh okay
Standardized Survey Interviews
Standardized Survey Interviews
Standardized Survey Interviews
Complicated questions require clarification.
But it’s not a simple matter of requesting clarification.
Respondents must also be aware that clarification can be useful!
Including a partial definition can be helpful, both in clarifying the intent behind the question and in letting the respondent know it’s a complicated mapping.
Alignment is neither automatic nor guaranteed!
Standardized Survey Interviews
Replacing standardized interviews with “conversational interviews” improves accuracy.
How much information or clarification to provide?
(With a live survey, this can get costly…)
People give meta-cognitive and non-verbal cues when they’re confused.
Revisit: When is it a good idea to use a spoken dialogue interface?
Speech gone wrong On the input side:
For many years, speech recognition systems seemed to be trying to solve a problem that nobody had!
After the novelty wears off, talking appliances are annoying.
It turns out that nobody wants to talk to their VCR.
On the output side: Nobody wants to listen to a long menu of options. This can be a problem with automated telephone
systems in general, whether spoken or touch-tone.
Speech gone wrong Noisy environments can be a problem Dependability can be a problem
Recognition errors Repair mechanisms
Bad dialog design can be a problem
Speech for the right reasons
Hands busy or disabled? Eyes busy? Repetitive task? Users mobile? Small screen (phone)? Blind users?
Good examples of speech applications
CAD on desktop Hands available for mouse & keyboard tasks
Dictating text (e.g., Dragon Dictates) For people with RSI or who can’t type
Car’s GPS navigation system (both for output and input - entering destination)
Telephone dialogue systems
Cohen, Giangola, & Balogh on dialog design
Ch. 8, Detailed design methodology (See CGB, p. 106) Dialog states Prompts Dialog strategies (including repair) Call flow
Ch. 14, Sample applic. detailed design (See CGB, p. 232)
Dialog state
The smallest unit in a call flow diagram May involve a single exchange between caller and
system (review: adjacency pairs) May involve a subdialog (such as clarification or
repair)
CGB, Ch. 8
Components of a dialog state The dialog state may consist of an exchange
Caller’s input moves dialog ahead to the next state Initial prompt(s) - played when the caller reaches that state
Or the state may also involve a subdialog such as clarification or error handling (repair)
Recognition grammar Composed of words or expressions and rules for parsing or combining
them Universals
How to handle “help” or “main menu”(etc.) at that state?
Action specification e.g., access info from database, enter info, or transition to another
dialog state
CGB, Ch. 8
Designing prompts
It’s essential to listen to your prompts. Prompts that sound too informal by themselves
may sound fine in conversational context.
CGB, Ch. 8
Wording prompts: Is it important? Designing telephone dialogs: Input
It’s helpful to predict the wording a caller will use! (Otherwise, how will you write a grammar?)
Output
Jon Bloom on constraining yes/no questions: Do you need additional information? Please say yes or no. Yes or no, do you need additional information?
How you word the prompts can lead callers to quite different expectations or behaviors!
http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_5.wav
System:You have five bookmarks. Here's the first bookmark ... Next bookmark ... That was the last bookmark.
Caller:Delete a bookmark. System:Which bookmark would you like to
delete?...
System:Do you want to delete another bookmark?
http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_6.wav
System:You have five bookmarks. Here's the first one ... Next one ... That was the last one.
Caller:Delete a bookmark. System:Which one would you like to delete?
... System:Do you want to delete another one?
http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_7.wav
Please say the date.
Please say the start time.
Please say the duration.
Please say the subject.
http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_8.wav
First, tell me the date.
Next, I'll need the time it starts.Thanks. <pause>
Now, how long is it supposed to last?
Last of all, I just need a brief description ...
“Oh” marks a change in the speaker’s mental statehttp://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_13.wav
Caller:Go to sports.System:Sure, sports! | Oh, that's not available at
the moment, but would you like to try something else instead?
http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_14.wav
Caller:Get my messages.System:Okay, messages. | Oh, looks like you don't
have any messages right now.
Difference in “politeness”http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch10_60.wav
You must visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.
Please visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.
... but why don't you visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.
... you might want to visit the registration Web site at phone dot ACME Widget dot com.
Pay attention to intonationhttp://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch11_0.wav
System:The number you have dialed, Four? Four? Four? Four? Four? Four? Four? is not in service. Please check the listing and dial again. <click!>
Five Meanings of "I Should Go" http://www.vuidesign.org/Audio/ch11_Table11-1.wav
PROSODY MEANINGI should GO. Falling tone on stressed "go”I should GO? Rising tone on "go” - Is that
your advice?I should go. Falling tone on "I” - Not you!I SHOULD go. Falling tone on "should” - And I
defy you to deny it!I SHOULD go. Rising-falling tone on "should”-
But I don't think I will.
How to write a spec (speech only)
Start with sample interactions: not comprehensive represent main paths validate “feel” Make audio version
as well
System Please say the policy number. Caller B-4-3-2-5-B-6-6 System B-4-3-2-5-B-6-6. Is that correct? Caller Yes. System Thanks. Hold on while I look up
the policy. [pause] Got it. For security purposes, please say your agent code.
Caller Four four six eight nine. System And….the Date of Birth of the
Policy Owner? Caller January 15 th, 1950.
(Slide from Jon Bloom)
How to write a spec (speech only)
2000Get Policy
Number
2020Retrieve Policy
Number
2010Hold On
2030Policy Not
Found
9000Transfer
Not found
2nd time
1st time
2040Get Agent Code
ETC...
Flow chart
(Slide from Jon Bloom)
(Slide from Jon Bloom)
1040_Get_Policy_Number DialogModule™ Digits Entering from 1010 Confirm PH
Prompts Type Condition Name Wording
IF policy holder 10400 Please say your policy number. Initial
IF agent 10401 Please say the policy number.
Timeout 1 10402 Sorry, I didn’t hear you. Please say the policy number one character at a time. For example, ‘one two three four five six seven.’
Timeout 2 10404 Sorry, I still didn’t hear you. Please say the policy number one character at a time. You can also say ‘more information.’
Retry 1 10406 Please say the policy number one character at a time. For example, ‘one two three four five six seven.’
Retry 2
Always
10408 Please say the policy number one character at a time. You can also say ‘more information.’
IF policy holder 10410 The policy number can be found on your annual benefit statement or on any premium notice you may have received. When you say the policy number, be sure to say it one character at a time. For example, if the numbers 5 and 2 appear next to each say, say “five two” and not “fifty-two.”
More information IF agent 10411 The policy number can be found on annual benefit statements or on
any premium notice the policyholder may have received. When you say the policy number, be sure to say it one character at a time. For example, if the numbers 5 and 2 appear next to each say, say “five two” and not “fifty-two.”
Option Vocabulary DTMF Action Confirm. Digits <digit_string> <...> Go to: 1050 Thanks and Wait Always
Confirmation Prompts Option Name Wording Result
Digits Default confirmation, as handled by DialogModule™ “I think you said <…>, is that correct?”
Module Settings Default
How to represent call flow: Make a flow chart (call flow diagram)
For assignment #6: we’re reverse-engineering a telephone dialogue (trying to derive the underlying flow chart from the dialogue we experience).
When designing a dialogue, the underlying flow chart is used to generate the dialogue behavior.
How to represent call flow: Make a flow chart (call flow diagram)
Entry/Exit Sub
dialog
Dialog State
Nonrecognition
Dialog State
Backend
Process
Decision(see CGB, p. 106)
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
(see CGB, p. 232)
Call flow diagram(flow chart)
for a login subdialog
For Assignment #6,show numbered prompts
to the side of your flow chart
Be consistent.
