People’s presence andstatus information
as the basis forcommunity knowledge
Takeshi Ohguro,
Sen Yoshida, and Kazuhiro Kuwabara

NTT CS Labs., Kyoto, Japan

“Gleams of People”
proposes a new tool for (tacit knowledge)
Overview--- at a glance● Motivation--- why is it● Concept--- what is intended● Architecture --- how it is implemented● Issues--- to be resolved●SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Overview-- Gleams of People at a glance
Sort of a network communication tool
● “ping” between people●❑ with “color” (“mood”)

of the sender❑ half asynchronously●Who cares me?
/ I care you.
❑ not only

Here I am.
/ Are you there?
SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Motivation (1)-- “tacit knowledge”
current network communication tools(Email, Web, chat)➙ depend on written language: Explicit knowledge❑ problem: e.g., flame wars
❑ cause: lack of contexts, ethics, mood, …
➘ shared implicitly: Tacit knowledge➭need to help on convey, convert, sharetacit knowledge
SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Motivation (1; contd)-- related(?) researches

communication supports
not limited to explicit form of knowledge

Socia, FreeWalk (Kyoto-U)● Knowledge as Media: CoMeMo-Community(NAIST, U-Tokyo)● Affective Computing, Tangible Media(MIT Media Lab)●

➭simple, basic form of tacit knowledge?
presence and status information
SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Why presence and status
information?
In networked environments,●People do not share the same time and place➔ chances to pass by●tend to be missing

People merely express the information itself➔ Not so important matter as to talk to➔ but we want some information about“No news” (is good news).

➭ presence and status information for:❑ Who’s caring me? / I care you,
❑ Here I am. / How’s life?
SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Motivation (2)-- for community
presence and status information on the community❑ Who’s there, in what status?

retains the “we-feeling”● precondition for knowledge sharing●➮ can help community knowledge as well

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Concept-- “ping” among people“ping” between people (personal agents),
with “color” (“mood”) of the sender➮ simple and easy transmission
for presence and status information only
●sending (with my “color”):❑ simple action on thecircle (person) to be send
● receiving:❑ the circle gleams withthe “color” of the sender●

Planned UISMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Concept-- half asynchronously●“repeater” agent:❑ “ping” is stored and forwarded with it,

if the receiver is offline➮ presence and status information is valuable
during the absence of the user
➮ may give users some relief
that “ping” is not so disturbing.

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Concept-- why not ICQ (who’s online)?
●

We don’t always want to talk to:❑ provide presence and status information

itself.
❑ not as a precondition for another communication.
●

The objective is very (inter-) personal:❑ centered “server” is not desirable.
❑ each personal agent should do the job.

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Architecture●

Multi-agent system:❑ personal agents and a repeater agent●

Java application:❑ on top of “Shine”-- a multi-agent platform for “socialware”●Current status:❑ Initial graphical components are done.

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

IssuesComplete the implementation.
● Verify the assumptions:●❑ Do we really

not always want to talk to?
❑ How the “ping” interpreted actually ?
●“Community level” support:❑ introducing “community agent”❑ definition of the community and privacy control

What else for shared tacit knowledge?
● How the interface should be?
●

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999

Summary●“Gleams of People”❑ new kind of network communication tool
❑ provides presence and status information

among people❑ can be a basis for shared tacit knowledge●“ping” between people❑ with current “color” (“mood”) of the sender❑ half asynchronously❑ simple, easy but limited messaging (signaling)●Multi-agent architecture, using Java

SMC’99 Workshop on Social Aspects of Knowledge and Memory

presented by T. Ohguro (NTT CS Labs.), Oct.12,1999