Workshop # 1

The Use of Herbert H. Clark's Models of Language Use for the Design of Cooperative Systems


Tuesday May, 26


Goal and Topics

Human-computer cooperation (HCC), and human-computer-human cooperation (HCHC) are two "arenas of language use," i.e. "theaters of action in which people do things with language" (Clark, 1992). To account for what actions people take in these arenas, and how they do them, or to design systems that support these actions, many researchers rely to Herbert H. Clark and colleagues' collaborative models of language use, e.g., "Grounding in communication" (Clark & Brennan, 1991; Clark & Marshall, 1981), "Referring as a collaborative process" (Clark & Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986), and "Contributing to Discourse" (Clark & Schaefer, 1989).

The number of works relying to Clark's models appears today significant enough to stand back from the use of these models in HCC and HCHC fields, i.e., to make an inventory of Clark's models uses, to identify application fields of the models, to determine the successes and failures of the applications, to learn from these successes and failures. Briefly speaking, it seems now possible to rule on the appropriateness of the Clark's models to the design of cooperative systems.

The goal of the "Clark Workshop" is thus to bring together researchers who used, discussed or evaluated the Clark's models in the context of HCC and HCHC, and to initiate a constructive debate on the appropriateness of the models. As a by-product the workshop would provide some general principles about what is an appropriate model for design; these principles would serve to the whole HCC and HCHC community.

Papers are sollicited which will state a position on the appropriateness of the Clark's models (CM). The position statement will be argumented, especially with references to CM-based studies, done or in progress, from oneself or from others. Examples of reference studies are:
  • Applications of CM in system design.
  • Evaluations of CM as "design" models.
  • Surveys on the use of CM in system design.
  • Comparisons beween CM and other models of language use (e.g., Johnson-Laird, Sanford & Garrod, Sperber & Wilson, Winograd & Flores) as models useful for designing cooperative systems.
Papers are sollicited from both "present" and "distant" authors. Present authors are those authors who intend to participate to the workshop. Distant authors are those authors who do not intend to participate to the workshop, or who will not be able to participate, but who would like to communicate their position, and feed the workshop discussion with their position.

Two kinds of paper selection will be thus performed: (1) a selection of papers from potential present authors, and (2) a selection of papers from potential distant authors. Selected papers will be collected in the Workshop Proceedings (paper and electronic).



Information for Authors

  • Submission Format: Authors should submit a position paper (up to 5 pages), written in English. Papers should follow the COOP'98 conference formatting instructions. These instructions are available for downloading in [word 5.1], [rtf], and [text] at the following URL:

    http://zenon.inria.fr/acacia/Coop/Coop98/Coop-98-CFP.html#SubmissionDetails

    Electronic submissions are preferred.


  • Selection criteria: The papers will be assessed on their contribution to the discussion of the appropriateness of the Clark's models. First criteria for selections (1) and (2) are soundness and relevance of the arguments. Criteria particular to selection (1) are the significance of the arguments and the quality of their exposition.


  • Authors are requested to provide a cover letter indicating which Clark's model(s) they discussed in the paper, and to which author category ("present authors" or "distant authors") they want to submit.




Paper Submission

  • Authors are requested to submit their paper to the following address:

    Alain Giboin
    COOP'98 - "Clark Workshop"
    2004 route des Lucioles, BP 93
    06 902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex
    France

    or (preferably) email their paper to the following email address:

    Alain.Giboin@sophia.inria.fr




  • Deadline for submissions is: April 10, 1998.




Important Dates

  • Deadline for submissions: April 10, 1998
  • Notification to authors: April 30, 1998
  • Workshop: May 26, 1998
  • COOP'98 Conference: May 27-29, 1998




Organization of the Workshop

  • Before the workshop: We will circulate accepted papers (through the Coop'98 Web server), and ask the authors to send commentaries to the positions stated in these papers.


  • During the workshop: Discussion will be structured around the positions identified in the papers, and the commentaries generated on the positions.


  • After the workshop: The discussion on the use of Clark's models for the design of cooperative systems would be extended in different ways: by reporting the workshop discussion in a journal, by editing a book based on the various contributions to the workshop, by soliciting further papers and commentaries to be edited on a dedicated Web server.


Organizing Board

  • Susan E. Brennan, S.U.N.Y., Stony Brooks, USA
  • Alain Giboin, INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France, Chair


Editorial Board

  • Michael Baker, CNRS, Lyon, France
  • Susan E. Brennan, S.U.N.Y., Stony Brooks, USA
  • Béatrice Cahour, CNRS Rouen, France
  • Pierre Dillenbourg, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Alan J. Dix, Staffordshire University, UK
  • Alain Giboin, INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France
  • Peter A. Heeman, Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, USA
  • John C. McCarthy, University College Cork, Ireland
  • Lyn Pemberton, University of Brighton, UK
  • Michael F. Schober, New School for Social Research, New York, USA
  • David R. Traum, University of Maryland, USA
  • Alain Trognon, University of Nancy, France
  • Deanna Wilkes-Gibbs, Bellcore, Morristown, USA
  • Terry Winograd, Stanford University, USA




Further Information

  • For further information on the workshop, contact:

    Alain Giboin
    COOP'98 - "Clark Workshop"
    2004 route des Lucioles, BP 93
    06 902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex
    France
    Tel.: + 33 - 4 92 38 78 14
    Fax: + 33 - 4 92 38 77 83
    E-mail: giboin@sophia.inria.fr


  • For further information on COOP'98, contact:

    Monique Simonetti
    COOP'98
    2004 route des Lucioles, BP 93
    06 902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex
    France
    Tel.: + 33 - 4 92 38 78 64
    Fax: + 33 - 4 92 38 79 55
    E-mail: simoneti@sophia.inria.fr


  • Coop'98 Web Server:

    http://zenon.inria.fr/acacia/Coop/Coop98/




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