CHI-WEB Archives

ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)

CHI-WEB@LISTSERV.ACM.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Sender:
"ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)" <[log in to unmask]>
X-To:
Michael DeBellis <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Jul 1997 00:35:23 -0400
Reply-To:
Louis Rosenfeld <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
Louis Rosenfeld <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To:
Content-Type:
TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
MIME-Version:
1.0
Parts/Attachments:
TEXT/PLAIN (40 lines)
<much cynicism regarding "intelligent" agents deleted>

> I don't think so.  Not so much that it couldn't be done but that its not
> worth the effort.
>
> Sorry if this posting is overly cynical but I think your vision of agents is
> an extreme example of a trend that I think is disturbing (and I don't mean
> to pick on you. Of course lots of people share your vision of agents). The
> trend is the same thing I was complaining about in my previous message in
> regard to MS Word.  Adding features to software that provide little real
> value but that take up lots of memory, processing, network bandwidth, etc.
>
> Michael DeBellis
> [log in to unmask]


I'd go one step further.  Much of the "intelligence" in the concept of
agents that is being marketed to us really *couldn't* be done, even in ten
years.  Certainly Artificial Intelligence isn't sufficiently advanced
(e.g., will sophisticated voice recognition become reality, or yet another
AI holy grail?).  But also because Information Retrieval techniques simply
will not perform well in a broad, heterogeneous information environment
like the Web.  If you have difficulties finding information on the Web, an
agent won't help you that much.  Sure, it'll sift through crap faster at
regular intervals, and may learn a thing or two about your interests, but
an agent still won't be able to figure out what is and isn't crap.

Intelligent agents, like VRML, push, and a lot of other neat ideas with
limited applicability, are simply yet another Big Thing that is being
hyped to entice the investment community.


Louis Rosenfeld                                             [log in to unmask]
Argus Associates, Inc.                                   http://argus-inc.com
109 Catherine Street                                   voice: +1.313.913.0010
Ann Arbor, MI  48104  USA                                fax: +1.313.213.8082

Founder, The Argus Clearinghouse:                http://www.clearinghouse.net
Columnist, "Web Architect" in Web Review magazine:   http://www.webreview.com

ATOM RSS1 RSS2