# Conversation-Based School Building Inspection Support System
## 3 Methodology
### Conversation Module (C-Module)  
The conversation module (C-module) digitalizes the inspection procedure and provides guidance for assessors to reduce the difficulty of accomplishing the inspection. Since the members of safety inspection task forces are school faculty members, the assessors may not be properly trained engineers that are capable of assessing buildings efficiently and correctly. The C-module interacts with assessors in the form of a chatbot, making inspections similar to having conversations with real people. By replacing the traditional paper-based procedure, the system directly integrates the utilities of smart devices and improves the efficiency and convenience of completing inspection reports. The C-module leads the nonprofessional assessors through all the checkpoints. It also accepts multimedia files such as images or videos sent from assessors to the chatbot for clearer damage reporting, reducing potential mistakes in the inspection. We abstract the inspection procedure into four steps:  
1. Initiate the inspection: Assessors initiate inspections after receiving notifications by sending text commands. 2. Specify the inspection target: Assessors specify the inspection targets following the system's guidance. An inspection target may be a classroom, corridor, outdoor facility, or the overall campus safety planning. 3. Describe the damage: Assessors describe the damage or deficiency of the current inspection targets following the selected checkpoints. The selection of checkpoints is based on the type of current inspection target. 4. Modify or submit the inspection result: Assessors review the inspection results before submission, modify the inspection if needed, and submit the inspection report. The target specification and damage description steps are repeated during an inspection. In a single inspection task, multiple inspection targets may be covered. After an inspection is initiated by sending text commands to the chatbot after a notification is received, the activated chatbot guides the assessor in specifying an inspection target following a cascaded procedure precustomized for each campus. The procedure may be text-based, meaning that the chatbot guides the selection by posing questions to the assessor and narrowing the candidate target following the assessor's response. After specifying the target, the chatbot asks the assessor \"questions\", referring to the checkpoints based on the type of the specified target. The checkpoints are divided into several categories based on the types of inspection targets, including an overview of the campus, indoor facilities, outdoor facilities, and facilities in corridors. Following the type of the specified target, the assessor answers the \"questions\" sequentially by sending messages to the chatbot. The assessor may send photos and videos of the damage as if communicating with real people via IM applications. Since the C-module manages the process of filling out the checklist, completed checklist data is preserved, allowing the inspection to be caused and continued later at any desired time. Finally, the chatbot summarizes the contents of the inspection into a message and presents it to the assessor for final confirmation. If modification is required, the assessor may select the checkpoints to be modified and correct the answers. After the corrections are accomplished and confirmed, the C-module saves the results to the database. Providing spatial information is essential for both target specification and damage description. To specify the inspection target, the assessor needs to indicate the target in the campus plan. Similarly, to describe the damage, the assessor needs to locate and record the location of the discovered damage on the floor plan. Thus, the proposed application integrates these similar needs, with a two-phase damage locating process designed for the conversation-based system framework. This process is illustrated in Figure 2. The process combines collected plans and links them into a cascaded map system.