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Model-directed Web transactions under constrained modalities

Published:01 September 2007Publication History
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Abstract

Online transactions (e.g., buying a book on the Web) typically involve a number of steps spanning several pages. Conducting such transactions under constrained interaction modalities as exemplified by small screen handhelds or interactive speech interfaces—the primary mode of communication for visually impaired individuals—is a strenuous, fatigue-inducing activity. But usually one needs to browse only a small fragment of a Web page to perform a transactional step such as a form fillout, selecting an item from a search results list, and so on. We exploit this observation to develop an automata-based process model that delivers only the “relevant” page fragments at each transactional step, thereby reducing information overload on such narrow interaction bandwidths. We realize this model by coupling techniques from content analysis of Web documents, automata learning and statistical classification. The process model and associated techniques have been incorporated into Guide-O, a prototype system that facilitates online transactions using speech/keyboard interface (Guide-O-Speech), or with limited-display size handhelds (Guide-O-Mobile). Performance of Guide-O and its user experience are reported.

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    • Published in

      cover image ACM Transactions on the Web
      ACM Transactions on the Web  Volume 1, Issue 3
      September 2007
      145 pages
      ISSN:1559-1131
      EISSN:1559-114X
      DOI:10.1145/1281480
      Issue’s Table of Contents

      Copyright © 2007 ACM

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      • Published: 1 September 2007
      Published in tweb Volume 1, Issue 3

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