About
The Virtual Participant project developed intelligent agents capable of autonomously engaging in electronic conferences and newsgroup discussions.
The concept of the Virtual Participant was best understood as a “bard” telling stories around a campfire. Drawing on the work of Schank and others, the project was based on the idea that storytelling provided an effective foundation for knowledge management and learning from others’ experiences. Stories were short, memorable, and adaptable to different contexts through active interpretation.
Since electronic discussion groups spanned years and frequently revisited the same topics, the Virtual Participant addressed this challenge by contributing relevant stories from past discussions. These agents learned from previous conversations and shared them in ongoing discussions, helping to provide context, continuity, and valuable insights.
The process of organisational learning involved capturing and indexing knowledge generated during work, allowing it to be retrieved later to support individual and group activities. However, most organisational learning systems had limited success—while a few proved effective, many had little impact, and some even disrupted workplace operations. The primary reason for failure was the lack of integration with daily work practices. Research indicated that for organisational learning to be effective, it needed to be closely embedded within existing workflows.
The Virtual Participant successfully addressed this issue. It analysed newsgroup and email discussions, alerting participants to relevant past messages, even those archived, within a discussion. It could also be consulted privately via email. Essentially, it acted as a proactive search tool, embedding its contributions within discussion groups to serve as a long-term organisational memory.
The project initially focused on Open University Business School students using FirstClass, an asynchronous, text-based electronic conferencing system. FirstClass facilitated communication between students and tutors, with different conferences dedicated to various course topics. Each year, discussions followed similar patterns, but previous conversations, even when archived, were often overlooked. While FAQs attempted to address this issue, they required significant effort to maintain and were generally ineffective.
The goal of the Virtual Participant was to store key points from past discussions and present them in current conversations when relevant. A prototype was developed to test this approach, and insights from the initial study informed the design of a second, more successful prototype that addressed earlier shortcomings.
A key observation in electronic discussions was that participation was uneven—only a small percentage of users actively contributed, while the majority remained silent ‘lurkers.’ Typically, 10% of users provided 50% of the information, another 10% contributed 25%, and the remaining participants benefited passively. The Virtual Participant aimed to ensure that even those who only observed gained value from discussions.
The project focused on improving the signal-to-noise ratio and reducing excessive information. The Virtual Participant database extracted relevant insights from past discussions, similar to Answer Garden’s expert-generated responses. To maximise relevance and minimise unnecessary material, the system targeted messages to the specific context of ongoing discussion threads. Feedback from the first prototype was instrumental in refining the system, leading to a more effective second version.
Research
Research on the Virtual Participant primarily focused on understanding what made such systems acceptable to users. The goal was to develop effective knowledge management and sharing systems that worked for all users, not just those who were technologically adept. The project aimed to empower communities rather than just individuals.
The Active Archive was the first version of the Virtual Participant, initially named Uncle Bulgaria after a character from The Wombles, a British children’s television series. Developed by Simon Masterton for his PhD under the supervision of Stuart Watt, the Active Archive was an educational application of the Virtual Participant. It participated in FirstClass electronic discussions for the Open University’s MBA course B882 Creative Management. By the end of the course, the majority of students responded overwhelmingly positively to its contributions.
As research progressed, it became clear that the potential applications of Virtual Participants extended far beyond education. The concept was seen as highly valuable for knowledge management, leading to the development of a generic Virtual Participant shell. This system was designed to connect with various conferencing platforms and be equipped with different knowledge bases. The provisional name for this system was Big Bob, inspired by a large balloon once located near the Open University and later moved to London.
Another planned application was PAL, a library support version of the Virtual Participant. Many users needed assistance from library help desk staff outside of working hours, and PAL was intended to handle some of these inquiries. This would provide quicker response times for users while also reducing the workload for support staff.
Team
Stuart Watt
Project Co-ordinator
Emanuela Moreale
Research Fellow
Simon Masterton
Knowledge Mapping and Structuring Unit
Related Projects
- The Vicarious Learner project
HCRC Edinburgh - InfoFinder and ContactFinder
Andersen Consulting - Mark Ackerman’s Answer Garden
- Orbital Software’s Organik technology
- ASK Systems
Institute of Learning Sciences, North Western University
Publications
The Virtual Participant: Lessons to be Learned from a Case-Based Tutor’s Assistant
Paper by Simon Masterton, presented at Computer Support for Collaborative Learning ’97.
Available as KMI Technical Report 47
Oracles, Bards, and Village Gossips, or, Social Roles and Meta Knowledge Management
Paper by Simon Masterton and Stuart Watt, in press.
Available as KMI Technical Report 82
The Virtual Participant: Knowledge Management and Electronic Conferencing
Presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format, by Simon Masterton and Stuart Watt
