Mind the gap: collecting commonsense data about simple experiences

  • Authors:

  • Jerry S. Weltman;S. Sitharama Iyengar;Michael Hegarty

  • Affiliations:

  • Lousiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA;Florida International University, Miama, Florida, USA;Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2013 international conference on Intelligent user interfaces
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

In natural language, there are many gaps between what is stated and what is understood. Speakers and listeners fill in these gaps, presumably from some life experience, but no one knows how to get this experiential data into a computer. As a first step, we have created a methodology and software interface for collecting commonsense data about simple experiences. This work is intended to form the basis of a new resource for natural language processing. We model experience as a sequence of comic frames, annotated with the changing intentional and physical states of the characters and objects. To create an annotated experience, our software interface guides non-experts in identifying facts about experiences that humans normally take for granted. As part of this process, the system asks questions using the Socratic Method to help users notice difficult-to-articulate commonsense data. A test on ten subjects indicates that non-experts are able to produce high quality experiential data.