BRIDGING THE VIRTUAL AND THE PHYSICAL SPACE

Kornelia – A chatbot for public libraries

Eva DohrmannJasmin Hügi

Nicole ScheurerAngela TrummerRené Schneider

Faculty of Information ScienceHaute école de gestion, Geneva (Switzerland)

Table of contents2

ChatbotProject: Teamwork

Kornhaus librariesIT ProfessionalStudent GroupDesigner

TestingConclusion

Chatbot: Definition3

Combination of the terms “chat” and “robot”

Simulation of an interlocutor

Server application replying questions posed via Internet in a input field

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Chatbot: In libraries4

Means to bridge the gap between libraries and digital natives

Chatbots were usually implemented in scientific, academic libraries

Needs of public libraries’ customers are differentPunctual questions such as “Is the library open?”

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Chatbot: Examples5

Stella Bibliotheksystem UniversitätHamburghttp://www.sub.uni-hamburg.de/

BoB Free University of Bozenhttp://web.inf.unibz.it/bob/?popup=yes&language=en

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Project: Teamwork6

Kornhaus libraries

Student group

IT professional

Designer

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Kornhaus libraries: Context 7

Network of 21 public libraries in Bern

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Kornhaus libraries: Why a chatbot?8

Implementation of a new information systemA chatbot hosted on the homepageAccessible 24/7Fun approach to the library and its catalogueMeeting point between people, information and technology

Birth of Kornelia

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

IT professional9

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

IT Professional: The chatbot’s architecture

10

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

IT Professional: Technical development11

Program E

Written in PHP and uses MySQL

Chats saved in log files

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

IT Professional: Program E12

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student group13

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student Group: AIML - Definition 14

Artificial Intelligence Mark-up LanguageXML derivateContent can theoretically be structured with only three tagsContent based on rules containing requests and their corresponding answers

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student Group: AIML - Rules15

<category><pattern>What is your name</pattern><template>My name is Kornelia.</template>

</category>

Question in the “pattern tag”Answer in the “template tag”

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student Group: AIML - Wildcards16

<category> <pattern>Who is *</pattern> <template> I don’t know who that is.</template>

</category>

Special characters (“*” or “_”) which replace one or more wordsJust a fraction of the input will be encodedThe chatbot recognizes the phrase structure

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student Group: Content17

Three types of content

Social chat

General chat about libraries

Kornhaus focused chat

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Student Group: Problems (1)18

Large variety of question’s formulation

Information depends on the particular libraries (ex. Opening hours)

No connection between the chatbot and the catalogue leading to confusion

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Lack of information divergence between Kornelia’s knowledge and

the expectations of the librarians

Informal / formal formulation of the questions / answers

19

Student Group: Problems (2)

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Designer20

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Designer: Graphical design21

Discussion about the chatbot’s genderFemale more trustworthy

Choice between four character typesSuitable for the Kornhaus and timelessNeither too young or skinny, nor too sexy

Artificial style

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Designer: Development22

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Designer: Facial Expressions23

neutral happy toughtful

explanatory angry

Testing: Internal testing24

The log files allowed the continual improvement of Kornelia’s knowledgeMonthly analysis of the log files

percentage of the correctly answers had increasedImplementation of a quality gate

50 essential questions

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Testing: Usability test25

Carried out by people not involved in the project and without any further informationUser and expert focused evaluationAxis of the test:

Kornelia’s ability to answerThe designThe quality of her user-friendliness

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Testing: Results26

Strengths:InnovativeFascinatingEntertaining

Weaknesses:Irrelevant questionsVague answersLack of professional knowledgeOld fashioned and unattractiveChat example as guide was missing

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Conclusion27

Constant implementation of Kornelia’s knowledge

Online since beginning July 2009http://www.kornhausbibliotheken.ch/index.php?option=com_

wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=64

Chatbot – Project: Teamwork – Testing – Conclusion

Kornelia28

Thank you for your attention!29