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The Application of Linguistic Principles to Telecommunications
Problems
Marilyn Cross
Telecommunications Software Research Centre, University of
Wollongong
When: Tuesday, 14th June 1994
Time: 4:00pm
Where: Room E6A357, Macquarie University
Abstract:
Telecommunication problems such as the undesirable or unexpected interaction of features or services are an unlikely candidate for the application of linguistic principles and natural language processing technologies. However, the application of linguistic paradigms does lead to solutions and what is more interesting opens up other avenues for research.
The feature interaction problem was contextualised by taking the advanced service UPT (Universal Personal Telecommunications Service) as an example of a service that may be viewed as a means for social interaction and which has the potential for feature combination. One possible feature combination in that service was the well discussed round robin of retry on busy and return call if busy. It was suggested that the features in the service be recast as components of communication events which form part of a cohesive communication unit. By recasting the problem in such a way, the new paradigm afforded an organised range of parameters which included choice in the temporal connections between communication events, choice in the media by which events are conveyed and choice in the participants. What is seminal in both the description of the feature combination and in the recasting of the problem is the availability of the service user, where that availability may be defined in terms of the parameters of location, time and media.
Research spawned by this solution has led to a re-examination of the 'sensitivity' of person-machine dialogue and the design of systems that support a person's communication over the many tasks interlinked tasks that form part of a working day.
Speaker:
Marilyn Cross is research manager at the Telecommunications Research Centre at the University of Wollongong. Dr. Cross' research activities in the Centre have focused on extensions and applications of advanced telecommunications services using a sociolinguistic model of communication. The basis for the extensions and applications has been theoretical and empirical research of communication patterns in the workplace.
Enquiries: Maria Milosavljevic 9850 6345 mariam@mpce.mq.edu.au
| Last modified: July 1997 |