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1992 Volume 7
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RESEARCH ARTICLE   Open Access    

An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training

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  • Abstract: An important aspect of any interactive computer system is its ease of use. On-line assistance is a major contributor to software usability. Conventional on-line assistance includes on-line documentation, or keyword access to textual help descriptions. More sophisticated on-line assistance includes intelligent help which provides immediate assistance for a specific problem, and intelligent training whose main goal is to support the user in learning about the system. These contemporary forms of intelligent assistance represent knowledge about the particular application, the user and the particular tasks the user is to perform. In addition, they possess inferencing capabilities to model the individual user's goals, plans, intentions and knowledge.This paper provides an overview of on-line assistance research, from empirical studies that attempt to determine the nature of effective assistance, to the design of intelligent on-line assistance systems capable of tailoring the assistance to the individual user. For readers interested in more details, recommendations for further reading in the related areas of advice-giving and intelligent help, intelligent user interfaces, critiquing, intelligent tutoring systems, and on-line documentation and hypertext are given.
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  • Cite this article

    Barbara Wasson, Sigmund Akselsen. 1992. An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training. The Knowledge Engineering Review. 7:6445 doi: 10.1017/S0269888900006445
    Barbara Wasson, Sigmund Akselsen. 1992. An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training. The Knowledge Engineering Review. 7:6445 doi: 10.1017/S0269888900006445
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RESEARCH ARTICLE   Open Access    

An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training

  • Published online: 07 July 2009
The Knowledge Engineering Review  7,  Article number: 10.1017/S0269888900006445  (1992)  |  Cite this article

Abstract: Abstract: An important aspect of any interactive computer system is its ease of use. On-line assistance is a major contributor to software usability. Conventional on-line assistance includes on-line documentation, or keyword access to textual help descriptions. More sophisticated on-line assistance includes intelligent help which provides immediate assistance for a specific problem, and intelligent training whose main goal is to support the user in learning about the system. These contemporary forms of intelligent assistance represent knowledge about the particular application, the user and the particular tasks the user is to perform. In addition, they possess inferencing capabilities to model the individual user's goals, plans, intentions and knowledge.This paper provides an overview of on-line assistance research, from empirical studies that attempt to determine the nature of effective assistance, to the design of intelligent on-line assistance systems capable of tailoring the assistance to the individual user. For readers interested in more details, recommendations for further reading in the related areas of advice-giving and intelligent help, intelligent user interfaces, critiquing, intelligent tutoring systems, and on-line documentation and hypertext are given.

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    Barbara Wasson, Sigmund Akselsen. 1992. An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training. The Knowledge Engineering Review. 7:6445 doi: 10.1017/S0269888900006445
    Barbara Wasson, Sigmund Akselsen. 1992. An overview of on-line assistance: from on-line documentation to intelligent help and training. The Knowledge Engineering Review. 7:6445 doi: 10.1017/S0269888900006445
    shu

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