NDLI: Cognitive fit and an intelligent agent for a word processor: should users take all that advice?

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Galletta, D.F. Everard, A. Durcikova, A. Jones, B.
Copyright Year	2003
Description	Author affiliation: Pittsburgh Univ., PA, USA (Galletta, D.F.; Everard, A.; Durcikova, A.; Jones, B.)
Abstract	While intelligent agents have been developed to provide objective and expert advice to users, most experienced users know that they should not be followed blindly. Cognitive fit theory was developed about ten years ago to support the notion that tools should fit the tasks for which they were designed in light of the user's capabilities. Recently, intelligent agents have been provided to nearly every computer user as part of the Microsoft Office Suite. In nearly all of the applications in the suite, suggestions pop up as the software encounters recognized patterns. Users' capabilities vary widely, however. Some users have noticed anomalies in the advice, and their expertise leads them to override that advice. The computer credibility literature would predict that some users will take that advice without questioning it; this paper asserts that this will occur when there is lack of cognitive fit. In this study, the "advisor," one particular intelligent agent in Microsoft Word was examined. In this experimental study, 33 undergraduate students were exposed to a passage of text with five repetitions each of three types of error conditions: (1) errors flagged correctly, (2) errors found by the advisor that were not truly errors, and (3) errors missed by the Advisor. Hypotheses were that (1) the advisor would in general improve performance, (2) Expertise in English would in general improve performance, and (3) the advisor would help more those with higher English skills than those with lower English skills. Verbal SAT scores were obtained by permission of the subjects to serve as a measure of English skills. Analysis of the data showed that overall, all three hypotheses were supported in general. The paper also provides more detailed results for each of the error types. The results imply the need for careful use of intelligent agents; agents are not substitute for user expertise and could indeed degrade the performance of non-expert users.
File Size	370466
File Format	PDF
ISBN	0769518745
DOI	10.1109/HICSS.2003.1173769
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2003-01-06
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Intelligent agent Error correction Application software Pattern recognition Permission Data analysis Degradation Text processing Testing
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in