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