User Interfaces for Human-Algorithm Collaboration through Modelling

通过建模实现人机协作的用户界面

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04401
• 负责人: NacentaSanchez, MiguelAngel
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: University of Victoria
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739945
• 关键词: User; Interfaces; Human; Algorithm; Collaboration

My research program is in the area of Human-Computer Interaction and intends to allow people who do not have mathematical or computer science backgrounds to take advantage of the large existing knowledge of algorithms when addressing their own personal problems and questions on their data. We can find computational solutions to many of the problems that people come across in their professional and personal lives. For example, consider a family who is trying to coordinate transportation for their kids' extracurricular activities (how can we minimize costs while reducing waiting times?), or a Grade 8 teacher who needs a seating arrangement for a class (how do we sit pupils with complementary strengths close to each other?). Unfortunately, it takes expertise and time to be able to formulate the specific problems in a way that the computer can solve them. People are unlikely to hire an expert or learn how to program a constraint programming language in order to find a better solution for something that is immediate and very specific to their current circumstances. Hence the problems stay unsolved, or we have to cope with mediocre solutions and, for some of us, the nagging feeling that this can be done better. This research is a quest in search of better ways for the algorithms and the people who need them to communicate with each other. In other words, I want to improve Human-Algorithm Communication (HAC). If people could, perhaps with help from the computer, formulate their problems in quick and efficient ways that are sensitive to the context where the solution can be worked out and applied in, we would not need experts or lengthy training to get better solutions. Simultaneously, if the outputs and parameters of the algorithms can be communicated to people in improved ways, people will be more likely to trust calculated solutions and to make use on the vast existing knowledge that we have on algorithms. The research program involves the study of human problems, the context in which they arise, how they are identified, and how humans conceptualize them. It also involves the design of new description languages to express those problems, and building interfaces that support good human-algorithm communication. Success will mean that more problems will get better solutions, for a potentially very large number of people who, currently, do not have ways to take advantage of this hard-won (and largely tax-payer-supported) existing knowledge. Because we will start work targeting a specific section of the professional population (administrators and administrative assistants), people in these jobs should be soon able to benefit of improved productivity and more challenging and stimulating work environments. The knowledge gained will also help build better user interfaces for sophisticated tasks, which will benefit other researchers and companies who build software tools for this populations, in the local economies and in Canada at large.

我的研究项目是人机交互领域，旨在让没有数学或计算机科学背景的人在解决自己的个人问题和关于数据的问题时，利用现有的大量算法知识。我们可以为人们在职业和个人生活中遇到的许多问题找到计算解决方案。例如，考虑一个家庭正在努力为孩子的课外活动协调交通(我们如何在减少等待时间的同时最大限度地减少成本？)，或者一个八年级老师需要为一节课安排座位(我们如何让优势互补的学生坐得很近？)不幸的是，需要专业知识和时间才能用计算机可以解决的方式来表达特定的问题。人们不太可能雇佣专家或学习如何编写约束编程语言，以便为某些直接和非常特定于他们当前情况的事情找到更好的解决方案。因此，问题一直没有得到解决，或者我们不得不应对平庸的解决方案，对我们中的一些人来说，还有一种挥之不去的感觉，那就是这件事可以做得更好。这项研究是为算法和需要它们相互交流的人寻找更好的方法。换句话说，我想要改进人-算法通信(HAC)。如果人们能够，也许是在计算机的帮助下，以快速有效的方式表达他们的问题，并对解决方案的制定和应用环境敏感，我们就不需要专家或漫长的培训来获得更好的解决方案。同时，如果算法的输出和参数能够以改进的方式传达给人们，人们将更有可能信任计算出的解决方案，并利用我们拥有的关于算法的大量现有知识。该研究计划涉及对人类问题的研究，这些问题产生的背景，它们是如何被识别的，以及人类如何对它们进行概念化。它还涉及设计新的描述语言来表达这些问题，并建立支持良好的人类算法交流的接口。成功将意味着更多的问题将得到更好的解决方案，对于潜在的非常大量的人来说，他们目前没有办法利用这些来之不易的(主要由纳税人支持的)现有知识。由于我们将开始针对特定部分的专业人员(行政人员和行政助理)开展工作，从事这些工作的人应该很快就能受益于生产率的提高和更具挑战性和激励性的工作环境。所获得的知识还将有助于为复杂的任务构建更好的用户界面，这将使其他研究人员和公司受益，这些研究人员和公司为当地经济和整个加拿大的这一群体开发软件工具。