Allen E. Milewski

Facsimile-to-speech system

Written material is read at low cost by a computer-based system which is designed to receive via a telephone line a facsimile of the written material submitted by a system user. Once the facsimile is received, the system performs an optical character recognition (OCR) process thereon. The text thus identified by the OCR process is converted to intelligent speech using a speech synthesizer. The synthesized speech is communicated back to the system user either over the already established telephone connection or in a subsequent call.

Delegating to software agents

There is currently a great deal of interest in the development of intelligent agents. While there is little agreement on exactly what constitutes an intelligent agent, many definitions embody a user-interface model that differs from the traditional one where users perform tasks with the help of computer-based “tools”. In contrast, the “delegation” model associated with agents is based on entrusting tasks to an autonomous, sometimes anthropomorphized system, whose performance is monitored and evaluated. This change in user-interface model is a dramatic one since delegation can be a difficult and often-avoided behavior in humans. Agent-interface designs need to overcome well-established drawbacks in delegation. For this purpose, designers should find the management sciences and organizational psychology literatures to be as relevant as that of traditional human factors. This paper describes issues regarding task delegation as they pertain to the design of intelligent-agent?user interfaces.

Occurrence and Effects of Leader Delegation in Virtual Software Teams

Virtual teams are an important work structure in software development projects. However, little is known about what constitutes effective virtual software team leadership, in particular, the amount of leader delegation that is appropriate in a virtual software-development environment. This study investigates virtual software team leader delegation and explores the impact of delegation strategies on virtual team performance mediated by team motivation, team flexibility and team satisfaction with the team leader. This research is a report of a pilot study run on student teams carried out to refine and test the research constructs and research model for a larger study run in corporations. The study found that virtual team leaders delegate more to competent virtual teams and that such delegation is positively correlated with team member satisfaction with their leader and with team member motivation. Overall, the work provides important information for software-based organizations interested in developing virtual team leadership skills.

Global and task effects in information-seeking among software engineers

Information-seeking strategies were explored in software engineers. A complex interaction of task and geographic differences was revealed. There is a general tendency across software engineers to favor non-social sources, such as documentation, for tasks where the goal is to seek factual information. More social sources are preferred when seeking information to diagnostic, problem-solving questions. Within this effect, some geographic variations assert themselves in a way that might partly be interpreted in terms of national cultural differences in Individualism vs. Collectivism. Implications of geographic differences in information-seeking for collaboration within global software development teams are discussed.

Replying to email with structured responses

Structured response objects include buttons, menus and formatted fields that an email sender can insert in a message to elicit predetermined responses from recipients. Two studies explored the usefulness of structured response objects in meeting the needs of everyday email. In Study 1, subjective content classifications suggested that more than half of typical email messages are requests or answers to requests. Further, a significant proportion of requests and answers could be expressed as structured response objects, the most common one being the choice of a single item from a predetermined list. Study 2 experimentally determined social factors that affect preference for structured responses compared with free form text. It found an overall preference for replying with structured responses compared with text. But, in accordance with social richness theories, this preference was reduced for ambiguous messages and for those of a personal nature. Together, these results suggest that structured response objects can be a useful tool to increase the convenience and efficiency of electronic messaging.

An intuitive formal approach to dynamic workflow modeling and analysis

The increasing dynamics and the continuous changes of business processes raise a challenge to the research and implementation of workflows. The significance of applying formal approaches to the modeling and analysis of workflows has been well recognized and many such approaches have been proposed. However, these approaches require users to master considerable knowledge of the particular formalisms, which impacts the application of these approaches on a larger scale. This paper presents a new formal, yet intuitive approach for the modeling and analysis of workflows, which attempts to overcome the above problem. In addition to the abilities of supporting workflow validation and enactment, this new approach possesses the distinguishing feature of allowing users who are not proficient in formal methods to build up and dynamically modify the workflow models that address their business needs.

An experimental system for transactional messaging

With the growing use of electronic mail come challenges in how to aid users in handling ever-increasing volumes of email. Firsthand experience as well as the systematic study of users’ email patterns suggest that a large fraction of messages are parts of larger transactions. We have implemented an approach toward structuring messages that is intended to help users carry out some of these transactions. Our approach has been to make message structure both general-purpose and optional. Two studies support the applicability and the acceptance of the messaging model. The system, which provides capabilities that are largely absent from conventional email systems, has been deployed in an internal trial.

Strategies in cross-modality matching.

Subjects were tested on cross-and within-modality matching conditions with either a 5-sec or a 20-sec delay imposed between standard and comparison stimuli. Half the subjects were informed before the trial of what the comparison modality would be, while the others were not. There was a strong effect of instructions on the cross-modality conditions, but little on the within-modality conditions. The informed subjects showed better performance in the haptic-visual condition, while for the uninformed subjects, visual-haptic performance was better. The results suggest the importance of subjects’ processing strategies in cross-modality performance.

Mechanisms underlying the slant aftereffect

Transfer of the median plane slant aftereffect was assessed across changes in the type of depth information for the slant of the display. In addition, the effectiveness of monocularpictorial and binocular information in inducing the aftereffect was measured. Binocular information produced a larger aftereffect than did monocular-pictorial information, and adaptation created with one type of depth information induced an aftereffect assessed with presentation of the other type of depth information. The results suggest that the slant aftereffect is not entirely specific to type of depth information presented. The induction of the aftereffect involves a process more general than the sensory mechanisms responsible for adaptation to twodimensional tilt or adaptation to a texture gradient.

Delegation in Virtual Team: the Moderating Effects of Team Maturity and Team Distance

Virtual teams are becoming an important work structure in software development projects. However, a number of issues arise due to the complexity and newness of the virtual team context. One such issue relates to when and how team leaders should delegate authority and responsibility to the team. Previous studies have yielded conflicting results. This work aims to answer this question about delegation by investigating the moderating effects of team maturity and team distance on the relationship between leader delegation and team outcomes. A research model and specific propositions are presented. This paper provides useful insights for future virtual team leadership research and for organizations interested in developing virtual team leadership