Thinking behind the environment
for Making Construals (MCE)
Construction
• The subjective multi-agent world
- picture of multi-agent
- vocabulary – LSD oracles, handles, derivates
- observable, dependency, agency
• The objective zero-agent world
– picture of the single agent – the solitary maker
– definitions, functions, procedures
private experience / empirical / concrete
interaction with artefacts: identification of persistent features and contexts
practical knowledge: correlations between artefacts, acquisition of skills
identification of dependencies and postulation of independent agency
identification of generic patterns of interaction and stimulus-response mechanisms
non-verbal communication through interaction in a common environment
directly situated uses of language
identification of common experience and objective knowledge
symbolic representations and formal languages: public conventions for interpretation
public knowledge / theoretical / formal
An Experiential Framework for Learning (EFL)
TEDC 2006
Supporting a multi-agent perspective:
LSD and the ODA framework
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LSD
An LSD account for an agent classifies observables:
oracle - an observable to which it responds
state - an observable that it owns
handle - an observable conditionally under its control
derivate - an observable determined by a dependency
+ protocol = list of privileges of the form
enabling condition -> sequence of actions
where an action is a redefinition,
an agent invocation or a deletion
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Observables
• an observable
some feature of a situation to which a value or
status can be attributed. Empirical procedures
and conventions are involved in identifying a
particular observable and assigning its value.
Not all the observables associated with a
situation need be present in a particular state.
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Agents
• an agent
a family of observables whose presence and
absence in a situation is correlated in time,
that is typically deemed to be responsible for
particular changes to observables. All changes
to the values of observables in a situation are
typically construed as due to actions on the
part of agents.
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Dependencies
• a dependency
a relationship between observables that pertains in
the view of a particular agent:
“when the value of a particular observable x is
changed, other observables (the dependants of x)
are of necessity changed in a predictable manner as
if in one and the same action. The changes to the
values of x and its dependants are indivisible in the
view of the agent. That is: no action or observation
on the part of the agent can take place in a context
in which x has changed, but the dependants of x
have yet to be changed.”
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Central heating LSD account 
agent boiler
state
boilerOn, currentBoilerTemperature
oracle
desiredBoilerTemperature
handle
currentBoilerTemperature, flameNeeded
derivate
needsToHeat = currentBoilerTemperature <
(desiredBoilerTemperature - tolerance)
protocol
needsToHeat -> flameNeeded = true
Can optionally give types to observables: bool / real
etc
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The single agent perspective
The multi-agent perspective
Fundamental stance on semantics
• The identification of observables,
dependencies and agents and all matters
concerning their integrity and status is an
informal empirical activity (“What EM is”)
• It is arguably an activity that is implicit in all
system construction, whatever development
method or programming paradigm is used
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Contrasting perspectives
• Giving change / jugs
Two perspectives on making construals:
– using procs and funcs
– using when’s
cf. the objective single-agent and the subjective
multi-agent perspectives
Multiplicity of viewpoints
• The Input Window / Script View / Agent?
• The content of tabs in the input can be
– expressing the ODA pattern in an environment for
action (“script view”)
– listing a narrative sequence of redefinitions
– animating a set of actions for automation, as
when composed of ‘when’s
– recording a set of possible options for experiment
Traditional programming
Framing goals
for the design
protocols for
interaction and
interpretation
e.g. devise UML
Program design
implementation
maintenance
constructing
and programming
the machine-like
components
designing program
by identifying
objects and functions
user interface
Identifying agency
in the machine-like
components
and in the human
context for use
specification
Requirements
capture and
specification
Use affordances
interface culture
human factors
study
interface design
empirical studies
of use
prototyping
technical interface
development
e.g. writing Java code
e.g. goals, operators,
methods (GOMS)
evaluation
Empirical Modelling
Requirements
capture and
specification
Program design
implementation
maintenance
develop scripts
in isolation
as “furry blobs”
that represent
the observables
and dependencies
associated with
putative
machine-like
components
and
human interactions
and interpretations
identify and document
reliably
reproducible
sequences of
redefinition /
chains of “furry blobs”
that correspond to
programmable
automatable
machine behaviours
and ritualisable
human behaviours
and interfaces
Use affordances
interface culture
exercise, explore,
customise, revise
and adapt
sequences of redefinition
and interpretation
to reflect emerging
and evolving patterns
of interaction and
interpretation;
extend and augment
observables to support
additional functionalities
combining scripts