The Role of Chatbots in Teaching and Learning
Danielle Kane · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 2016
provide an international list of developers, business, and chatbots.The forums for chatbots.org,Alicebot.org,and Program-O can be extremely useful as you consider the type of chatbot you might want to create, for AIML help, and general troubleshooting assistance. Types of chatbotsThere are two main types of chatbots: A "web-based" application which runs on a remote server and is accessed through a web page from multiple computers or a "stand-alone" application which runs on a single computer.A simple and basic web-based chatbot is a blank white web page with a form that is the sole interface between the patron and the bot.Anything beyond that, such as graphics, animations, or audio/speech recognition, is extra.Web-based chatbots have advantages over stand-alone applications: web-based chatbots allow more control over bot behavior and personality, they can be accessed from multiple computers, and most can be hosted for free, though premium options are available.While standalone chatbots are easy to install and to use, you usually do not own the chatbots.This limits the amount of configuration that can be done to personalize the chatbots.Most chatbots, whether they are web-based or stand-alone will require some understanding of AIML.A discussion and explanation of AIML is in an appendix to this chapter. Role of Chatbots in Instruction and ReferenceChatbots, with their pattern matching, natural language processing, and ability to connect multiple patterns to one response, are a natural fit for providing reference and instructional assistance.Nardi (1996) referred to a "diverse information ecology" in which librarians and chatbots can collaborate to perform different but related tasks to serve patrons.Creating chatbots offers a library the opportunity to enhance current reference and instruction services to serve a