We examine adaptable dialogue interface agents using meta-rules to engage in to converse with information seeking callers. For an adaptable dialogue interface agent to exhibit the intelligence required in a dialogue with a user it needs the ability to handle unanticipated user input gracefully in a proper context, that is, it can support ad hoc requests from a user, maintain the topic of discou...

The aim of this study is to identify the relation between the interpretation of epistemic parentheticals in discourse and their prosodic realisation . Data drawn from a corpus of British English speech suggests that epistemic parentheticals (comment clauses such as I think, J believe) convey a spectrum of meaning from propositional to interpersonal. They have long been categorised simply as sen...

Received: 27 May 2005 Revised: 16 December 2005 Accepted: 3 January 2006 Abstract The concept of genre represents a meaningful pattern of communication, which has been applied in the information systems field. Genres are socially constructed: they may consequently be socially more or less acceptable or contested. This paper focuses on the concept of communicative genre and addresses the issue o...

BACKGROUND Patient autonomy has gradually replaced physician paternalism as an ethical ideal. However, in a medical context, the principle of individual autonomy has different meanings. More knowledge is needed about what is and should be an appropriate understanding of the concept of patient autonomy in clinical practice. AIM To challenge the traditional concept of patient autonomy by applyi...

To support advancements in digital archival and curation processes, developing tools and capabilities that can accommodate cultural objects and their interpretations are necessary, in compliance with meta-data standards. This helps in establishing contexts within and among collections, along with pedagogical discourse and an extension of themes. In this paper, we present Curarium, a novel platf...

This paper describes a meta-communication model and illustrates its applicability. The model integrates previous discursive approaches to reflective practice and extends them with additional relevant concepts. The concepts of the model are mainly based on Habermas’ discourse theory. By means of case examples, this paper also illustrates how the model can be used for collective sense-making, i.e...