research-article

Creating Better Action Plans for Writing Tasks via Vocabulary-Based Planning

Authors:

Harmanpreet Kaur,

Alex C. Williams,

Anne Loomis Thompson,

Walter S. Lasecki,

Shamsi T. Iqbal,

Jaime TeevanAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 2, Issue CSCW

Article No.: 86, Pages 1 - 22

https://doi.org/10.1145/3274355

Published: 01 November 2018 Publication History

Abstract

While having a step-by-step breakdown for a task-an action plan-helps people complete tasks, prior work has shown that people prefer not to make action plans for their own tasks. Getting planning support from others could be beneficial, but it is limited by how much domain knowledge people have about the task and how available they are. Our goal is to incorporate the benefits of having action plans in the complex domain of writing, while mitigating the time and effort costs of creating plans. To mitigate these costs, we introduce a vocabulary-a finite set of functions pertaining to writing tasks-as a cognitive scaffold that enables people with necessary context (e.g. collaborators) to generate action plans for others. We develop this vocabulary by analyzing 264 comments, and compare plans created using it with those created without any aid, in an online study with 768 comments (N=145) and a lab study with 96 comments (N=8). We show that using a vocabulary reduces planning time and effort and improves plan quality compared to unstructured planning, and opens the door for automation and task sharing for complex tasks.

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Cited By

Park SVishwabhan SMuller MKarger D(2024)“I Really Need Your Help with This Work...”: A System for Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Managing Up by Leveraging One’s Motivation to Get Things DoneACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/365260331:4(1-36)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652603
Hui JSprouse M(2023)Lettersmith: Scaffolding Written Professional Communication Among College StudentsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581029(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581029
Liu CHuang ZLiu DZhou SPeng ZMa X(2022)PlanHelperProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35555556:CSCW2(1-26)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555555
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Index Terms

Creating Better Action Plans for Writing Tasks via Vocabulary-Based Planning
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Collaborative and social computing systems and tools
  2. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 2, Issue CSCW

November 2018

4104 pages

EISSN:2573-0142

DOI:10.1145/3290265

Editors:
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois & Adobe
,
Andrés Monroy-Hernández
Snap Inc.
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Airi Lampinen
Stockholm University
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Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Vienna University of Technology

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Copyright © 2018 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 01 November 2018

Published in PACMHCI Volume 2, Issue CSCW

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Cited By

Park SVishwabhan SMuller MKarger D(2024)“I Really Need Your Help with This Work...”: A System for Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Managing Up by Leveraging One’s Motivation to Get Things DoneACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/365260331:4(1-36)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652603
Hui JSprouse M(2023)Lettersmith: Scaffolding Written Professional Communication Among College StudentsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581029(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581029
Liu CHuang ZLiu DZhou SPeng ZMa X(2022)PlanHelperProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35555556:CSCW2(1-26)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555555
Lund JWiese J(2021)Less is More: Exploring Support for Time Management PlanningProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462133(392-405)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3461778.3462133
Anjum SLin CGurari D(2021)CrowdMOTProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34341754:CSCW3(1-25)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3434175
Feldman MMcInnis B(2021)How We Write with CrowdsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34329284:CSCW3(1-31)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3432928
Rahman SSiangliulue PMarcus A(2020)MixTAPEProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34152404:CSCW2(1-26)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3415240
August TIqbal SGamon MEncarnación M(2020)Characterizing the Mobile Microtask Writing Process22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services10.1145/3379503.3403541(1-12)Online publication date: 5-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3379503.3403541
Arnold KChauncey KGajos KPaternò FOliver NConati CSpano LTintarev N(2020)Predictive text encourages predictable writingProceedings of the 25th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3377325.3377523(128-138)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3377325.3377523
Williams AKaur HIqbal SWhite RTeevan JFourney AGuimbretière FBernstein MReinecke K(2019)MercuryProceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3332165.3347932(81-94)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2019
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