primary objective to filter out irrelevant data, and the intelligent interface agent has
as its primary objective to present data in a more understandable format. We will
now concentrate on these two agents.
The volume of electronic mail is growing, and some decision-makers have to
spend almost half an hour every day replying to electronic mails. Mailing lists,
bulletin boards, asynchronous computer conferences and newsgroups send messages
to many recipients; part of these messages are unwanted because users are not
subscribed anymore. An intelligent filtering agent can filter out irrelevant emails
and only present the relevant emails to the decision-maker. By applying information
filtering techniques, irrelevant data can be reduced and information can become
more relevant. Artificial intelligence studies how this filtering can be achieved. One
of the many techniques which come from the field of artificial intelligence is the
artificial neural network. These networks are based on the way the brain processes
information. The network is composed of a large number of highly interconnected
information processing elements that can be compared to the neurons we have in our
brain. These so-called perceptrons are tied together with weighted connections that
can be compared with the synapses that we have in our brain.
Another type of intelligent agent is the intelligent interface agent. However, when
looking at intelligent interfaces, we still have a long way to go before these interfaces
can be used to make the information which is presented to the decision-maker more
clear. For now it is best to improve the interface by looking at the design of the
interface. The information system presents the information through an interface. In
the beginning of the computer era, interfaces were command line-based, the user
would have to type in a command and the computer performs an action. With the
introduction of the mouse, it became possible to use graphical user interfaces.
Nowadays almost every computer makes use of the graphical user interface.
According to scientific research, humans understand images and visual information
better than plain text. When focusing on the presentation of data as a determinant of
information quality, it is good to study human-computer interaction, also known as
ergonomics.
Another type of interface is a voice recognition interface. Information can be
presented to the user via a voice, the user does not have to read the information on a
computer screen, but the user will hear the information wherever his location may
be. Although this type of interface is still in the early phases of development, we will
concentrate on it because we think it will be one of the most important techniques
which can help increase all the three concepts of information quality as discussed in
Sect. 2. Currently, with voice recognition software, the user has to go through a
number of exercises in which he has to ‘train’ the voice recognition software so that
it will understand the speaker’s voice. If there would be a possibility to really speak to
the computer without pauses between the words spoken and without the limitations of
a specific library of words, the ultimate goal has been reached. This type of technologies is called natural speech input. The problem lies in making the conversation
between the user and the computer as human-like as possible. When this technology is
sufficiently mature`, decision-makers can ask which information they want to have,
and they are presented with the relevant, accurate information in an understandably
way. This increases information quality and thus decreases information overload.
9 Strategic and Managerial Decision-Making for Sustainable Management: Factors. . .
171
as its primary objective to present data in a more understandable format. We will
now concentrate on these two agents.
The volume of electronic mail is growing, and some decision-makers have to
spend almost half an hour every day replying to electronic mails. Mailing lists,
bulletin boards, asynchronous computer conferences and newsgroups send messages
to many recipients; part of these messages are unwanted because users are not
subscribed anymore. An intelligent filtering agent can filter out irrelevant emails
and only present the relevant emails to the decision-maker. By applying information
filtering techniques, irrelevant data can be reduced and information can become
more relevant. Artificial intelligence studies how this filtering can be achieved. One
of the many techniques which come from the field of artificial intelligence is the
artificial neural network. These networks are based on the way the brain processes
information. The network is composed of a large number of highly interconnected
information processing elements that can be compared to the neurons we have in our
brain. These so-called perceptrons are tied together with weighted connections that
can be compared with the synapses that we have in our brain.
Another type of intelligent agent is the intelligent interface agent. However, when
looking at intelligent interfaces, we still have a long way to go before these interfaces
can be used to make the information which is presented to the decision-maker more
clear. For now it is best to improve the interface by looking at the design of the
interface. The information system presents the information through an interface. In
the beginning of the computer era, interfaces were command line-based, the user
would have to type in a command and the computer performs an action. With the
introduction of the mouse, it became possible to use graphical user interfaces.
Nowadays almost every computer makes use of the graphical user interface.
According to scientific research, humans understand images and visual information
better than plain text. When focusing on the presentation of data as a determinant of
information quality, it is good to study human-computer interaction, also known as
ergonomics.
Another type of interface is a voice recognition interface. Information can be
presented to the user via a voice, the user does not have to read the information on a
computer screen, but the user will hear the information wherever his location may
be. Although this type of interface is still in the early phases of development, we will
concentrate on it because we think it will be one of the most important techniques
which can help increase all the three concepts of information quality as discussed in
Sect. 2. Currently, with voice recognition software, the user has to go through a
number of exercises in which he has to ‘train’ the voice recognition software so that
it will understand the speaker’s voice. If there would be a possibility to really speak to
the computer without pauses between the words spoken and without the limitations of
a specific library of words, the ultimate goal has been reached. This type of technologies is called natural speech input. The problem lies in making the conversation
between the user and the computer as human-like as possible. When this technology is
sufficiently mature`, decision-makers can ask which information they want to have,
and they are presented with the relevant, accurate information in an understandably
way. This increases information quality and thus decreases information overload.
9 Strategic and Managerial Decision-Making for Sustainable Management: Factors. . .
171