Circuit II—A conversational graphical interface

Abstract

The research presented in this paper attempts to demonstrate that a graphical interface can provide some of the same functionality of natural language when dialogue takes place between conversational participants. An overview of a graphically interactive system, Circuit II, is provided which uses a general-purpose electronic simulator, MITEYSPICE (McCabe D.J., MITEYSPICE Circuit Simulator User Guide. Those Engineers, London (1988); Ref. [1]) to model an audio video amplifier circuit. Circuit II provides users with a graphical representation of an electronic circuit within which they pose simple and complex questions using direct manipulation techniques. The graphical environment, based on Reichman's communication paradigm for a window system, supports a noun-verb and/or verb-noun syntax through which users mouse selections are interpreted. This work seeks to demonstrate how certain mouse selection combinations, expressed within Circuit II, have roles analogous to certain natural language features, particularly anaphora, ellipsis and deixis.