Sample elicitation scripts Execution of the elicitation scripts Scenario elicitation modules Scenario elicitation Sample elicitation scripts Execution of the elicitation scripts Script editor

Scenario elicitation: hands-on experience The ontology tools presented before are appropriate for a knowledge engineer. They are too complex to be used by a subject matter expert that has no computer science training. Scenario Elicitation is a tool specially designed for the subject matter expert. It is used to define the instances that characterize a certain situation or scenario.

This is a typical screen of the Scenario Elicitation module. The left hand side is a tree of titles and subtitles. It is similar to a table of contents. Each title (or node) corresponds to a certain type of information. When the user clicks on such a node, the agent displays relevant questions about that node in the right hand side of the screen. If the user has previously provided answers to some of those questions, these answers are also displayed and the user can revise them. Otherwise the user is asked to provide the corresponding answers. Some answers provided by the user may generate additional nodes in the left hand side. For instance, if the user has indicated that an opposing force is a multi-state alliance, the agent will ask the user to indicate the member states. Then, for each such state the agent will create additional nodes in the left hand side. Clicking on such a node will initiate the dialog for providing relevant information about that state. This interaction may continue until the user has answered all the agent’s questions.

Disciple Client: Domain  KB Manager Select “Sicily” under “COG-MAAI-demo/KB1-elicitation-demo” Open KB Close Window Disciple Client: Modules  Scenario Elicitation Name the opposing forces in Sicily 1943 Answer Anglo Allies 1943 European Axis 1943

Click on Force Composition under Anglo_allies_1943 Select Multi_state_force Indicate the members of Anglo Allies 1943: US 1943 Britain 1943 Select Equal_partner_multi_state_alliance

Under US_1943 Under Political_factors Click on Governing_body Select Representative_democracy Click on “Representative democracy” Enter Political leader: President Roosevelt Other controlling element: Congress Select President Roosevelt … Click Close

Disciple Client:Ontology  Association browser Expand the window on the entire screen Click on Force Click on US 1943 Close Disciple Client:Domain  KB Manager Select KB1-elicitation-demo Close KB

Sample elicitation scripts <object> subconcept_of Script type: Elicit instances of Scenario Controls: Question: “Provide a name for the scenario to be analyzed:” Answer variable: <scenario-name> Default value: “new-scenario” Control type: single-line Ontology actions: <scenario-name> instance-of Scenario Script calls: Elicit the properties of the instance <scenario-name> elicitation_script Scenario After assisting the subject matter expert in defining the general ontology, the knowledge engineer has to define elicitation scripts. These scripts are associated with the concepts and the features from the general ontology and they are used elicit instances and their properties from the subject matter expert, as has just been illustrated. For instance, here the concept Scenario has two associated elicitation scripts: one script for eliciting instances of it, and another one for eliciting properties of its instances. The first script specifies that in order to elicit instances of the concept Scenario, the system should ask the expert to provide a name for the instance, create the instance with that name, and execute the script that specifies how to elicit properties of that instance. The second script specifies that in order to elicit the properties of an instance of the concept Scenario, the system should execute three scripts, each of which specifies how to elicit a certain feature for that instance. We have defined a language for these scripts and have developed a tool that allows a knowledge engineer to create the scripts in an easy way, similar with the way database programmers can create database entry forms. (In the future, these scripts might be defined based on generic scripts and might be learned from examples of interactions.) elicitation_script Script type: Elicit properties of an instance <scenario-name> of Scenario: Script calls: Elicit the feature brief_description for <scenario-name> Elicit the feature description for <scenario-name> Elicit the feature has_as_opposing_force for <scenario-name>

Has_as_opposing_force Sample elicitation scripts (cont.) <feature> subfeature_of Script type: Elicit the feature Has_as_opposing_force for an instance <scenario-name> Controls: Question: Name the opposing forces in <scenario-name> Answer variable: <opposing-force> Control type: multiple-line, height 4 Ontology actions: <opposing-force> instance-of Opposing_force <scenario-name> Has_as_opposing_force <opposing-force> Script calls: Elicit properties of the instance <opposing-force> in new window Has_as_opposing_force elicitation_script This an example of a script associated with a feature. This script specifies that in order to elicit the feature Has_as_opposing_force for an instance of any concept, the system should ask the expert to provide the names of the opposing forces, create an instance for each given opposing force, and create the relationship Has_as_opposing_force between the initial instance and each opposing force. After that, the system should elicit the properties of each opposing force.

… Execution of the elicitation scripts <object> Script type: Elicit the feature Has_as_opposing_force for an instance <scenario-name> Controls: Question: Name the opposing forces in <scenario-name> Answer variable: <opposing-force> Control type: multiple-line, height 4 Ontology actions: <opposing-force> instance-of Opposing_force <scenario-name> Has_as_opposing_force <opposing-force> Script calls: Elicit properties of the instance <opposing-force> in new window subconcept-of subconcept-of Force subconcept-of Scenario Opposing_force instance-of instance-of Has_as_opposing_force Sicily_1943 Anglo_allies_1943 instance-of Has_as_opposing_force European_Axis_1943 This is an illustration of what happens when a script is executed. When the script from the upper left part is executed, an input control is created on the screen where the expert can type the names of the opposing forces. When the expert enters a name, for instance Anglo_allies_1943, the system creates the instance Anglo_allies_1943 and its relationship with the instance Sicily_1943. When the expert enters European_Axis_1943, the system does the same. …

Script editor: hands-on experience

From the Ontology menu open the Object Browser and the Feature Browser In the Object Browser select the concept Scenario and click on the button Script Resize the panes if necessary

Click on New under Controls Type the text in the fields as in the figure

Click on New under Ontology Actions In the first edit type “<s” then Control+. (press Ctrl and . In the same time) then select the variable <scenario-name> The finder proposed only variables because in that area there can be only variables and concepts and only variables begin with “<” In the second edit type “in” then Control+. then select the feature instance-of The finder proposed only features because in that area there can be only features In the third edit type “sc” then Control+. Then select the concept Scenario The finder proposed only concepts because in that area there can be only variables and concepts but variables begin with “<”

Click on New under Script Calls In the instance field type “<s” then Control+. then select the variable from the menu The concept doesn’t need to be specified, because the instance will have only one direct superconcept (Scenario) Press Save The text eliciting instances of Scenario becomes bold in the top drop-down box Check the check-box is root (located in the bottom right corner)

From the top drop-down box select eliciting properties of an instance of Scenario The default name of the instance variable is generated from the concept name

Press New under Script Calls In the Feature box type “br” then Control+. then select the feature brief_description from the menu

Similarly make a script call for eliciting values for the features description and has_as_opposing_force Press Save

In the Feature Browser select the feature brief_description and click on the button Script The default name of the instance variable is generated from the upper bound of the feature domain (in this case OBJECT) Resize the panes if necessary

Enter the information as in the figure and press Save

Press New under Controls In the Feature Browser select the feature description The right pane is updated with the script editor for this feature Press New under Controls Change the control type from single-line to multiple-paragraphs Enter the information as in the figure and press Save

Press New under Controls In the Feature Browser select the feature has_as_opposing_force The right pane is updated with the script editor for this feature The default name of the instance variable is generated from the upper bound of the feature domain (in this case Scenario) Press New under Controls Change the control type from single-line to multiple-line Enter the information as in the figure and press Save The concept name was necessary at the script call because the instance may have more than one direct superconcept (e.g. Opposing_force and Single_state_force when the Scenario Editor is open later) The name of the new folder is not necessary (it is the name of the instance when calling scripts of this type)

From the Modules menu select Scenario Elicitation

Enter the information as in the figure The folders created for Anglo_allies_1943 and European_Axis_1943 are empty because if a script is not defined it is considered empty (i.e. no controls, no ontology actions, no script calls)

Recommended reading License, Learning Agents Laboratory, George Mason University, October 2001. (required) Disciple-RKF/COG: Demo Guide, Learning Agents Laboratory, George Mason University, October 2001. Installation, General Functions, Scenario Elicitation, Script Editor, Learning Agents Laboratory, George Mason University, October 2001. Michael Bowman, Sicily COG Report, US Army War College, Spring 2001.