WEB Sites Generate Dialogues! (Between Users and the Site)

This keynote illustrates an innovative approach to the conceptual modeling of a web site: instead of considering a site as an (interactive) information container we can interpret it as a device capable of generating a dialogue with the user. Activating the selected options represents the user “turns” of the dialogue; the webs “turns” are represented by the reply to the user selection. Theoretical implications of this approach are the possibilities of applying known dialogue techniques (from linguistic science) to web design (or web analysis). Practical implications consist in the possibility of improving the effectiveness of web applications (e.g., making the dialogue with a web site closer to a dialogue with a human being) or transforming a visualization supported dialogue (standard for a web site) in a dialogue based only on oral communication (making a web site accessible to visually impaired users or to users temporarily unable to look at a screen.).