A proactive recommendation system for writing: Helping without disrupting

Abstract

Writing professional documents are situations in which finding relevant, related information is important. Seeking for information is however not easy. A proactive recommendation system (PRS) retrieves information relevant to the written text, and presents it without user intervention. The information presented can improve the quality of the text but can also interrupt the process of writing. We describe two experiments performed to optimize the design of the PRS À Propos. Our goal is to develop a PRS for professional writers that present information non-intrusively and timely so as to minimize disturbing the writing process. The results of our experiments suggest that the tendency to interleave (re)search and writing implies a need for integrating the PRS in a writing environment able to support the task of writing the text itself and the stage of planning the contents and structure of the document. Relevance to industry While automation has increased the efficiency of repetitive processes, the impact on professional tasks has been minor. Professional writing is a complex task that takes a lot of time. The PRS that we are developing can result in substantial reductions of the cost of writing documents, and in substantial improvements of the quality of the written texts.