Doctoral candidate Kate Tsui and post-doctoral researcher Kristen Stubbs will host a symposium on "Experimental Design for Real-World Systems" at the AAAI Spring Symposium Series at Stanford University, March 23-25.

Abstract:
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) research becomes more intertwined with allied fields, the evaluation of systems designed for human-machine interaction becomes more critical. The design of experiments that meet the standards for acceptance in multiple fields can become incredibly challenging. For example, a human-robot interaction experiment may involve elements from allied fields such as psychology or anthropology. The design for such an experiment needs to meet the requirements of these different, and sometimes conflicting, disciplines.

This symposium was designed to provide a forum for researchers from many disciplines to  discuss experimental design and the evaluation of AI-based systems. Researchers from human-machine interaction and allied fields, such as psychology, anthropology, design, human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, rehabilitation and clinical care, are invited to share ideas about experiment design. Application domains include assistive technology, urban search and rescue, and remote scientific exploration.

The main foci of this symposium include a wide variety of topics that address the  challenges of experiment design for AI applications including: (1) the design of system evaluations; (2) the successes and failures in system evaluations; (3) a survey of designs for user studies; (4) the understanding the role technology plays in society; (5) the uses of quantitative and qualitative data, (6) the utility of formative and summative end user evaluations, and other related topics.

For full details, please visit www.aaai.org/Symposia/Spring/sss09symposia.php.