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This paper argues that using a set of semi-structured message templates is surprisingly helpful in designing a variety of computer-based communication and coordination systems. Semi-structured messages can help provide automatic aids for: (1) composing messages to be sent, (2) selecting, sorting, and prioritizing messages that are received, (3) responding automatically to some messages, and (4) suggesting likely responses to other messages. The use of these capabilities is illustrated in a range of applications including electronic mail, computer conferencing, calendar management, and task tracking. The applications show how ideas from artificial intelligence (such as inheritance and production rules) and ideas from user interface design (such as interactive graphical editors) can be combined in novel ways for dealing with semi-structured messages. The final part of the paper discusses how communities can evolve a useful set of message type definitions.
Malone et al. (Wed,) studied this question.