Title:  An argumentation-based approach to facilitate and improve human reasoning.

Abstract:  The ability of understanding and reasoning about different alternatives for a decision is fundamental for making informed choices. Intelligent autonomous systems have the potential to improve the quality of human-decision making but the use of such systems may be hampered by human difficulties to interact and trust their outputs. This talk will focus on the potential of argumentation-based models of reasoning to support users in making sense of incomplete and inconsistent information.   I will present a tool called CISpaces (Collaborative Intelligence Spaces) that combines a graphical representation of arguments and autonomous reasoning to facilitate collaboration in the context of intelligence analysis. I will present initial results from a few follow-up studies showing that argumentation may help bridge the gap between human and autonomous reasoning.

Biography:  Dr Alice Toniolo has joined the School of Computer Science as a lecturer in October 2016. Previously Alice was a Research Fellow in the Agent, Reasoning and Knowledge group in the Computing Science Department at the University of Aberdeen, where she was also awarded her PhD. Her research interests are within multi-agent systems to support human reasoning and decision-making. In particular, she is interested in computational argumentation-based models of reasoning with recent applications in intelligence analysis, social media and the built environment. Alice has also worked with researchers within Philosophy to investigate rich forms of deliberation dialogue.

Title:  The design of digital technologies to support transitional events in the human lifespan

Abstract:  This talk will focus on (i) qualitative research undertaken to understand how digital technologies are being used during transitional periods across the human lifespan, such as becoming an adult, romantic breakup, and end of life, and (ii) the opportunities for technology design that have emerged as a result. Areas of focus include presentation of self online, group social norms, and the problematic nature of ‘ownership’ of digital materials.

Biography – Professor Wendy Moncur, FRSA:  I hold an Interdisciplinary Chair in Digital Living at the University of Dundee, where I work across Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. I am also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and an Associate of the Centre for Death and Society (University of Bath).

The work of my group, Living Digital (www.livingdigital.ac.uk) is grounded in Human Computer Interaction, and focuses on human experiences enacted in a digital age – for example, becoming an adult, becoming a parent, relationship breakdown, and the end of life.

I have been involved in grants totalling £2.7 Million since 2011, through an EPSRC Personal Fellowship and as a Principal Investigator/Co-investigator. Full details of my publications can be found at http://bit.ly/1kQx2zH. My next large research project, ‘TAPESTRY’, is funded under the EPSRC TIPS program, and explores normative online behaviour in social groups.