Expert systems and the man–machine interface

Abstract: This is a two part report. It looks at expert systems and the man–machine interface (mmi). We use the term mmi in a fairly broad sense. Specifically, we interpret the ‘man’ half of the interaction in two very different ways. Firstly, we look at man in terms of the ‘expert’ and consider the problem of how to get his or her knowledge into an expert system. Part One of the report therefore looks at what is currently happening in the area of knowledge acquisition in Britain and asks whether it really is the major bottleneck in the production of expert systems. Secondly, we look at man in terms of the ‘user’ and consider the best ways of making use of the knowledge once it is in an expert system. Part two of the report looks at cognitive aspects of the user interface, including dialogue control, explanation facilities, user models, natural language processing and the effects of new technology. It also considers the very important question of evaluation. Again we are concerned with what is actually happening in these areas in Britain today.