Fischer, G., Nakakoji, K., Ostwald, J., Stahl, G., & Sumner, T. (1998) "Embedding Critics in Design Environments." In M. T. Maybury & W. Wahlster (Eds.), Readings in Intelligent User Interfaces, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, pp. 537-561. http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/embedded-critics-98.pdf plus: Janus Video Tape


1. what did you find (articulate the answers in your own words)
1.1. interesting about the article?
1.2. not interesting about the article?
I found the concepts of the three critiquing mechanisms interesting. The information provided by the generic versus the specific versus the interpretative critics led me to think about problem solving in teaching and learning situations. What or who serves in each of those three capacities for teachers as they deal with problems and dilemmas all the time? What would generic knowledge look like versus interpretive knowledge and can you only possess this through accumulated years of teaching? I found all of the concepts discussed in the article interesting.


2. what do you consider the main message of the article?
How the human critiquing paradigm can be utilized by computer design programs to facilitate the information gathering, decision-making processes of humans.

3. are themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?
I would like to know other areas besides kitchen design where these principles are being tested.

4. do you know of other papers, ideas, and systems which are closely related to
4.1. DODEs
4.2. Critiquing?
4.3. analyze “spelling correctors” as a critiquing system
No, I don't know of other papers, ideas or systems. Spelling correctors are helpful as critiquing systems when they allow the user to see mistakes and then take action to correct them. When the mistakes are "automatically" corrected the user may not even be aware of the mistake and so will continue to make the same mistake. The system is a generic critic and involves little to no interaction between user and system.

5. what does the article say about
5.1. design
5.2. learning
5.3. collaboration
5.4. innovative media support for these activities?
The article notes that design is an evolving, dynamic process whose knowledge is distributed and only partially defined. Learning occurs as users acquire new information either through the generic, specific or interpretive critics and then act on that new knowledge to make changes or additions to their design. This kind of learning is a collaborative process between user and computer where each supplies information, extends information, and makes changes to existing paradigms or perspectives to incorporate new ideas through problem reframing and problem solving.

6. do you have any ideas how this research could / should be extended based on your own knowledge and experience?
I wonder if computer design systems could be used to plan classrooms or school buildings. Could this be used daily by teachers for problems with students or curriculum? If I have a student who never turns in homework could I design a strategy to change this behavior using a similar design tool? What would I have to know as a teacher in order to collaborate with a design system effectively?