Michael McTear | University of Ulster (original) (raw)
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Papers by Michael McTear
Journal of Pragmatics, Apr 1, 1983
Computational Linguistics, Jul 1, 1987
European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Aug 8, 1994
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2023
This paper describes a research project within the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT... more This paper describes a research project within the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT) that aims to improve the effectiveness of software process appraisals by introducing technology. The introduction of technology assists with some of the more manual and time-consuming tasks that are performed by assessment teams. We describe how this may be achieved by introducing a speech recognition and parsing system into process assessments.
Given the significant increased incidence of various chronic diseases and conditions such as diab... more Given the significant increased incidence of various chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, there are enormous challenges to provide high-quality healthcare within the constraints of finite budgets and available resources. This paper describes the issues involved in the design of a voicebased system to support the home monitoring by patients with Type 2 diabetes of their condition. Patients use the telephone to input key readings in either voice or DTMF mode and they receive immediate verbal feedback on their condition. Two versions of the system were developed and compared – a conversational interface, which allowed morenatural input and a more intuitive dialogue flow, and a system-directed interface with carefully designed prompts and confirmations and in which the user input was more constrained. Evaluations showed that the system-directed version performed better in terms of recognition accuracy, transaction success, and call completion time. Some conclusions are drawn from these findings regarding the importance of user-centered design along with implicationsfor solutions involving speech technology,
2021 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC), Sep 5, 2021
This study reports on the development and ‘in the wild’ trialling of a chatbot (ChatPal) which pr... more This study reports on the development and ‘in the wild’ trialling of a chatbot (ChatPal) which promotes good mental wellbeing. A stakeholder-centered approach for design was adopted where end users, mental health professionals and service users were involved in the design which was centered around positive psychology. In the wild usage of the chatbot was investigated from Jul-20-Mar-21. Exploratory analyses of usage metrics were carried out using the event log data. User tenure, unique usage days, total chatbot interactions and average daily interactions were used in K-means clustering to identify user archetypes. The chatbot was used by a variety of age groups (18-65+) and genders, mainly those living in Ireland. K-means clustering identified three clusters: sporadic users (n=4), frequent transient users (n=38) and abandoning users (n=169) each with distinct usage characteristics. This study highlights the importance of event log data analysis for making improvements to the mental health chatbot.
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, May 1, 2008
International conference on Interaction Design & International Development, Sep 1, 2008
International Workshop on Spoken Dialogue Systems Technology, Dec 1, 2009
Journal of Pragmatics, Apr 1, 1983
Computational Linguistics, Jul 1, 1987
European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Aug 8, 1994
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2023
This paper describes a research project within the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT... more This paper describes a research project within the Centre for Software Process Technologies (CSPT) that aims to improve the effectiveness of software process appraisals by introducing technology. The introduction of technology assists with some of the more manual and time-consuming tasks that are performed by assessment teams. We describe how this may be achieved by introducing a speech recognition and parsing system into process assessments.
Given the significant increased incidence of various chronic diseases and conditions such as diab... more Given the significant increased incidence of various chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, there are enormous challenges to provide high-quality healthcare within the constraints of finite budgets and available resources. This paper describes the issues involved in the design of a voicebased system to support the home monitoring by patients with Type 2 diabetes of their condition. Patients use the telephone to input key readings in either voice or DTMF mode and they receive immediate verbal feedback on their condition. Two versions of the system were developed and compared – a conversational interface, which allowed morenatural input and a more intuitive dialogue flow, and a system-directed interface with carefully designed prompts and confirmations and in which the user input was more constrained. Evaluations showed that the system-directed version performed better in terms of recognition accuracy, transaction success, and call completion time. Some conclusions are drawn from these findings regarding the importance of user-centered design along with implicationsfor solutions involving speech technology,
2021 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC), Sep 5, 2021
This study reports on the development and ‘in the wild’ trialling of a chatbot (ChatPal) which pr... more This study reports on the development and ‘in the wild’ trialling of a chatbot (ChatPal) which promotes good mental wellbeing. A stakeholder-centered approach for design was adopted where end users, mental health professionals and service users were involved in the design which was centered around positive psychology. In the wild usage of the chatbot was investigated from Jul-20-Mar-21. Exploratory analyses of usage metrics were carried out using the event log data. User tenure, unique usage days, total chatbot interactions and average daily interactions were used in K-means clustering to identify user archetypes. The chatbot was used by a variety of age groups (18-65+) and genders, mainly those living in Ireland. K-means clustering identified three clusters: sporadic users (n=4), frequent transient users (n=38) and abandoning users (n=169) each with distinct usage characteristics. This study highlights the importance of event log data analysis for making improvements to the mental health chatbot.
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, May 1, 2008
International conference on Interaction Design & International Development, Sep 1, 2008
International Workshop on Spoken Dialogue Systems Technology, Dec 1, 2009