Abstract

I will show that partial evaluation can be usefully viewed as a programming model for realizing mixed-initiative functionality in interactive applications. Mixed-initiative interaction between two participants is one where the parties can take turns at any time to change and steer the flow of interaction. I will concentrate on the facet of mixed-initiative referred to as `unsolicited reporting' and demonstrate how out-of-turn interactions by users can be modeled by `jumping ahead' to nested dialogs (via partial evaluation). This approach permits the view of dialog management systems in terms of their support for staging and simplifying interactions; three different voice-based interaction technologies are characterized using this viewpoint. Time permitting, I will show that the built-in form interpretation algorithm (FIA) in the VoiceXML dialog management architecture is actually a (well disguised) combination of an interpreter and a partial evaluator.
(Joint work with Manuel Perez and Robert Capra; a copy of a paper related to this talk is available here.)

Dr. Naren Ramakrishnan is an assistant professor of computer science at Virginia Tech. He received a Ph.D. in computer sciences from Purdue University in Aug 1997. His research interests include problem solving environments, mining scientific data, and personalization. He is the recipient of a 2000 NSF CAREER award and the 2001 New Century Technology Council Innovation award.