User interfaces with personal digital assistants
Within the framework of the IRAIA project, seven contractors have been developing data collection services with more meaningful user interfaces. The Prime contractor based in Berlin, is developing a system that through end user programming, enables the user to create important parts of his/her own interactive access devices. Via the system's interaction mode, the system can also provide the user with his/her own personal digital assistance, which can become the user's personal software agent. Employing the Best Practice principles, the system is designed to provide the user with a personal assistant that provides recommended actions to perform during search processes. These principles are based upon how users retrieve data and how they seek to execute much quicker processing steps when searching for large documents. A significant advantage is that the system is able to apply the Best Practice principles to both individual users and collective group users. Based upon the IRAIA model requirements, this system monitors, records and performs analyses on search and navigation execution procedures. The personal assistance in this particular case is a Java application add-on and represents the user interface. Through continually accessing the system, it is able to recall the history of user activities, and thus provide the user with a tailor made optimum execution procedure. When a user accesses the system for the first time, the personal assistant searches its established and stored execution procedures and provides the user with similar procedures. This personal assistant therefore provides individual users with a significant and worthwhile tool for search and navigation procedures. At the same time, it can provide advanced foundations for library providers who need to develop much more efficient retrieval systems. Additional work and upgrades to the current system can be based upon existing interfaces and Java applications and/or on theoretical groundwork. The German organisation believes that there is great potential for further dissemination, and is currently looking for a licence agreement with a view to public and/or private partnerships.
