Thomas W. Malone
Kenneth R. Grant
Abstract
This paper argues that using a set of semistructured message templates is surprisingly helpful in designing a variety of computer-based communication and coordination systems. Semistructured 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 semistructured messages. The final part of the paper discusses how communities can evolve a useful set of message type definitions.
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Index Terms
- Semistructured messages are surprisingly useful for computer-supported coordination
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Reviews
Fred J. Damerau
This paper describes aspects of the Information Lens, “an intelligent system for information sharing in organizations.” Older members of the computing community will recognize the Information Lens as a development of SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information) systems [1], implemented in modern (object-oriented) programming methodology. The argument advanced in the paper is that much of the information passing through an organization can be at least partially formatted and that doing this allows one to build a flexible information dissemination system. Moreover, these partially-structured messages can serve as the data structures for secondary systems such as calendar management. The paper is well written and clearly describes the implemented system. At the time of writing, no experience outside the development group had yet been accumulated. Consequently, it was not possible to judge how well the constructs provided could be utilized by someone unfamiliar with the implementation. The paper is certainly worth reading by anyone who is concerned with computer-mediated communication systems.
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