ABSTRACT

Smart personal assistants (SPAs), such as Alexa for example, promise individualized user interactions owing to their varying interaction possibilities, knowledgeability, and human-like behaviors. To support the widespread adoption and use of SPAs, organizations such as Google or Amazon provide low code environments that support the development of SPAs (e.g., for Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa). These so-called low code platforms enable domain experts (e.g., business users without programming skills or experience) to develop SPAs for their purposes. However, using these platforms alone does not guarantee a useful and good conversation with novel SPAs due to non-intuitive design choices. Following a design science research approach, we propose the Smart Personal Assistant for Domain Experts (SPADE) method to address the missing link. This method supports domain experts in the development and contextualization of sophisticated SPAs for various application scenarios and focuses especially on conversational and anthropomorphic design steps. Our proof of concept and proof of value results show that SPADE is useful for supporting domain experts to create effective SPAs in different domains beyond private set-ups.

摘要

智能个人助理 (SPA)，例如 Alexa，由于其不同的交互可能性、知识和类似人类的行为，有望实现个性化的用户交互。为了支持 SPA 的广泛采用和使用，Google 或 Amazon 等组织提供了支持 SPA 开发的低代码环境（例如，Google Home 或 Amazon 的 Alexa）。这些所谓的低代码平台使领域专家（例如，没有编程技能或经验的业务用户）能够为他们的目的开发 SPA。然而，由于非直观的设计选择，单独使用这些平台并不能保证与新颖的 SPA 进行有用和良好的对话。按照设计科学研究方法，我们提出了领域专家智能个人助理 (SPADE) 方法来解决缺失的环节。此方法支持领域专家针对各种应用场景开发和上下文化复杂的 SPA，尤其侧重于对话和拟人化设计步骤。我们的概念证明和价值证明结果表明，SPADE 可用于支持领域专家在私人设置之外的不同领域创建有效的 SPA。