Lab+II

Lab II: Visit A Variety of ChatBots Online
This lab exercise asks you to make careful observations about the responses of ChatBots as you interact with them online. It also asks you to consider how one or more ChatBots could be put to good use.

__Procedure:__
To complete this exercise, visit sites A, B and C listed below. As you interact with the ChatBots hosted at these locations, complete an Observation Sheet which you will share with your instructor.

A: [|The NLP ChatBot Group] ELIZA was the first famous computer program that attempted to create the illusion of human-//human// interaction. ELIZA simulates the conversation between a patient and psychotherapist. Its author, A.I. researcher [|Joseph Weizenbaum] of MIT, was shocked that many users took the program seriously, opening their hearts to it. Many were also quite offended, he said, after discovering that the program kept a copy of their responses. (Weizenbaum designed ELIZA to keep records of the conversations, of course, to gather data on how the bot was performing.)

Chat with [|ELIZA] and one or two other bots at the NLP site and record your observations. (Note: NLP is an abbreviation of Natural Language Processing, the branch of computer science devoted to devices for interpreting written or spoken language).

B. [|ChatBots.Org]. and the [|Library CatBot, Emma.] ChatBots.org is an amazing online catalog of over 600 chatbots which were created by businesses and individuals for various purposes. Go to ChatBots.org and look through the listings to see what kinds of work are delegated to them. (Note many of these bots do not speak English!). List several useful applications of ChatBots on your Observation Sheet.

Also visit [|CatBot Emma], who works for the Mentor Public Library in Mentor, Ohio (USA). (Note: If you prefer, you can access Emma at [|her blog].)

Unlike the text-only bots on the NLP site, notice that Emma can speak aloud! She uses a text-to-speech generator, which you can [|try out here]. Devise some fun questions to Ask Emma! For example, you might ask her:
 * Where is the Mentor Public Library?
 * Can I use the internet there?
 * Can I make noise in the library?
 * What is your job?
 * Are you a chatbot?
 * Are you a catbot?
 * Who created you?
 * Do you like dogs?
 * Are you named after a real cat?
 * Do you have family?
 * Do you have a sister?
 * Do you like your job?
 * Do you really like this job?
 * Do you ever get tired?
 * Are you hungry?
 * Do you drink milk?
 * Have you caught any mice lately?

Note: If you find questions that elicit particularly amusing responses from Emma, please share them in the Evaluation section of this lab.

IMPORTANT: Did you notice that Emma's eyes follow your mouse pointer when you mouse over her? Emma is typical of the [|Illustrated Characters] avatars available from the amazing marketing company, [|OddCast.com]. To have fun practicing making an animated avatar talk, dress the monkeys and try out various voices for them at careerbuilder.com's famous [|Monk-e-Mail page]. Then try doing the same thing with human-like characters at Oddcast's [|Text-to-Speech Demo].

C: [|TalkBot] was written by [|Wendell Cowart], originator of the Chatterbox Challenge Competition (CBC). Sure, TalkBot is more-or-less text-only (no fancy avatar), but he's smart, and he makes good conversation. That last is shown by the fact that he won the Chatterbox Challenge three times. However, TalkBot needs an OddCast avatar and voice. Don't you think?

In the [|Chatterbox Challenge], by the way, every ChatBot entrant is asked a series of questions and scored on its responses by a set of independent judges. The top ten bots move to a final round where an additional series of questions is posed to the finalists. According to the CBC site, a number of the chatbots entered in the past have become the foundation for commercial technologies.

D. Reflection and Evaluation. Briefly respond to the following questions in your Class Notebook. Or you may email your answers to your instructor.
 * Which chatbots did you try?
 * Which one(s) did you like best, and why?
 * What was something that the bot said which was completely absurd--that is, made no sense? Please write what it was.
 * What was something the bot said that sounded very much like a real person? Please write what it was.
 * What sort of person would create a bot like one of these, do you think?
 * How might a bot like these be useful? (Note: check out some of the ideas at chatbots.org before you answer.)