Publication
Semantic Transparency in User Assistance Systems
Andrea Kohlhase; Michael Kohlhase
In: Proceedings of the 27th annual ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. ACM International Conference on Design of Communication (SIGDOC-09), October 5-7, Bloomington, IN, USA, Pages 89-96, ACM Press, 2009.
Abstract
In this paper we analyze the problem of "situating explanations" in user assistance
systems. We introduce semantic transparency as a user interface property that enables
giving appropriate help. We explicate this notion in document player applications found
in office suites, for example. Moreover, we show how semantic transparency can be
strengthened when the underlying software is complemented by a semantic ally system. The
approach consists in illustrating existing software semantically. We present some
semantic extensions of office applications as examples. We also describe how the
semantic transparency approach allows the exploitation of new interactions for user
assistance systems.