NSF Proposal
RUI: Exploring the Personal Web
David Wolber, Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator
David Wolber
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA. 94117
(415) 422-6451
Table of Contents
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Project Summary

Table of Contents

Project Description (including Results from Prior NSF Support)

References Cited

Biographical Sketches

Proposal Budget (cumulative and annual budgets, including subaward budget(s), if any, and up to
three pages of Budget Justification)

Current and Pending Support

Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources

Special Information and Supplementary Documentation

Appendices (Include only
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1.
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Biographical Sketches
David Wolber, Principal Investigator
David Wolber is an associate professor in the computer science department at the University of
San Francisco (USF). At USF he teaches software engineering, introduction to computer science,
and the department’s senior project course.
Up until a year or so ago, Wolber’s primary research focus was on the design of Programming by
Example (PBE) tools for building animated interfaces. The PI worked for over a decade in this
area [] designing, implementing, and testing two tools (DEMO and Pavlov). The research
culminated in a journal article [] as well as an ACM Communications paper [] and a chapter in
Henry Lieberman's book, Your Wish is My Command: Programming by Example, both coauthored with Brad Myers[].
While on sabbatical in the year 2000, Wolber served on the program committee for the
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI). Inspired by tools such as Watson []
and Margin Notes [], he subsequently began exploring software agents that assist users in the
creative process. He was further inspired by his own secondary-career efforts writing fiction in
the Master's of creative writing program at USF, and the desire he perceived for better tools to
help in the creative process.
a. Education
University of California, Davis B.S., Computer Science, 1986
University of California, Davis M.S., Computer Science, 1988
University of California, Davis Ph.D. Computer Science, 1991
b. Appointments
Associate Professor, University of San Francisco, 2000Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco, 1993-2000
c. Publications
(i)Closely associated to project
1. Wolber, D., Kepe, M. Ranitovic, I., “Exposing Document Context in the Personal Web”, Proceedings
of the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), 2002 (to appear).
2. Wolber, D., Witchell, J., Kepe, M., Ranitovic, I., “Exploring the Personal Web”, submitted to the
World Wide Web (WWW) Conference, 2002.
(ii) Other Significant Publications
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3. Wolber, D., Myers, B., "PBD Interface Builders: Demonstrating the When as Well as the What",
Chapter in Your Wish is my Command, pp. 321-344, Lieberman, Henry, ed., Morgan Kauffman, 2001.
4. Wolber, D., "Pavlov: Where PBD Meets Macromedia Director", Chapter in Your Wish is my
Command, pp. 345-350, Lieberman, Henry, ed., Morgan Kauffman, 2001.
5. Myers, B., McDaniel, R., Wolber, D., "Demonstrational Interfaces", ACM Communications, March
2000.
6. Wolber, D., "An Interface Builder for Designing Animated Interfaces", Transactions on ComputerHuman Interface( TOCHI), December 1997.
7. Wolber, D., "Pavlov: Programming By Stimulus-Response Demonstration", Proceeding of the
Conference on Human Computer Interface (CHI '96), 1996.
8. Wolber, David, "A Multiple Timeline Editor for Designing Multi-threaded Applications", Proceedings
of the User Interface and Software Technology (UIST) Conference, San Francisco, California, 1998.
9. Wolber, David, "Reviving Functional Decomposition in Object-Oriented Design", Journal of
Object-Oriented Programming (JOOP), October 1997.
10. Fisher, G., Wolber, D. and Busse, D.*, "Adding Rule Based Reasoning to a Demonstrational Interface
Builder", Proceedings of the User Interface and Software Technology (UIST) Conference, Monterey,
California, 1992.
11. Wolber, D., and Fisher, G., "A Demonstrational Technique for Developing Interfaces with
Dynamically Created Objects", Proceedings of the User Interface and Software Technology Conference
(UIST), Hilton Head, South Carolina, 1991.
12. Wolber, D., Janne, E., Chen, K., "Creating Animated Interfaces With Stimulus-Response
Demonstration", Proceedings of the Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (CHI '95), 1995.
d. Synergistic Activities
While teaching computer science at USF, PI is also working on a Master’s degree in USF's creative
writing program. This rather uncommon combination provides an excellent opportunity for targeting the
power of software agents at the creative process. Specifically, the PIs peers and instructors within the
writing program are an excellent pool of test users for the proposed tool, and potentially could provide
some excellent insight into how software agents can help in the creative process.
The PI has experience integrating research into the curriculum of the courses he teaches. For instance, the
development of a programming by example animation system, based on the PIs Pavlov system, has
become a popular project in his Software Engineering course. In the past year, the PI also assigned a
simple reconnaissance agent as a development project for his freshman programming students. Though it
takes time to pare down such projects to make the work within a short-time period and with various levels
of students, the payoff can be incredible in terms of motivating students (it can also lead to enthusiastic
research assistants after the course ends!).
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The PI also routinely teaches the Senior Project course in which students design and develop a significant
software system for a company or research faculty sponsor. The project course provides an excellent
opportunity to combine education and research, and it has given the PI a significant amount of experience
working with undergraduates on long-term real-world projects.
e. Collaborators and Other Affiliations
(i) Collaborators
The principal investigator served on the dissertation committee of Richard McDaniel, one of Brad Myer’s
students at Carnegie Mellon University. He also coauthored two papers with Dr. Myers, one in ACM
Communications (along with Rich McDaniel) and a chapter in a recent book on programming by
demonstration.
Brad Myers
Senior Research Scientist,
Human Computer Interaction Institute
School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891 USA
412-268-5150 [FAX: 412-268-1266]
<bam+@cs.cmu.edu>
(ii) Graduate Advisor
Gene Fisher
Department of Computer Science
College of Engineering
Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, 93407
gfisher@calpoly.edu
(805) 756-2416
(iii) Thesis Advisor
Gene Fisher
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Proposal Budget
BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
The vital need is for funds to support student research assistants throughout the year and the PI in the
summer, and to support travel to conferences for both students and the PI. The budget also calls for funds
to buy three computers for a new research lab.
Salary
USF has some internal funds available for research assistants, but generally only enough for one part-time
student per faculty member in the summer months, and definitely not enough to fund a research team of
four students. In the past, the PI’s research projects have attracted enough attention that some students
have worked without pay, but typically these students also had to work long hours at other jobs to support
their education. The requested funds would allow the PI to attract top students who could make the
research project their primary focus (at least in the summer).
The PI would like to devote the summer months completely to research and specifically the proposed
project. In past summers, he has consulted in the area for his summer salary. The proposed funding would
allow him to do what he likes best—work with students on interesting problems.
Travel
Travel funds are a key element of the proposal. USF internal funds generally support one trip to a
conference each year for faculty members. The proposal calls for NSF to match this support with funds
for two more trips each year, and to also provide funds for one student to accompany the PI on the trips.
The latter request was inspired by the PIs belief that attending a research conference can be a huge
motivating experience for students and one that can have a significant effect on their lives.
Computers
USF student research assistants have always worked in the general-purpose computer science labs.
Ideally, a research group would have its own work area as a place to congregate and collaborate, and as a
place to bring visiting researchers. The funding request for three computers is meant to provide the
equipment for such a lab.
Impact on USF
The salary, travel, and equipment funds can significantly effect the ongoing transformation of the PIs
research, and USF Computer Science research in general, from “some neat work being done at a teaching
school,” to a full-fledged, respectable research program. Prior to the PI coming to USF in 1993, little
research was performed in the computer science department, as USF has historically been a "teaching"
school (professors teach three courses a semester), and all of the computer science faculty's degrees were
in Math or some other field besides Computer Science. Over the past eight years, the PI was able to
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publish a number of research papers in prestigious conferences and journals. Subsequently, two more
computer scientists have been added to the faculty, and USF is now on the cusp of gaining a reputation
for excellent research in computer science. This grant could propel the department to new heights and
provide the Bay Area with another strong research institution along with Berkeley and Stanford.
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G.Current and Pending Support
This is an initial funding proposal for this project.
H. Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
The USF Computer Science Department currently has two labs of 15 computers each. A new
Computer Science Lab/Classroom is now under development and should be completed by the
summer of 2002. These labs are shared by courses, research teams, and students working on
homework projects.
Though space is quite limited at USF, the administration has provided small labs for research
projects in the past. The goal of the proposed project is to obtain such a lab and install three
standard computers in it.
The proposed project does not require special equipment or software other than is now available.
I. Special Information and Supplementary Documentation
J. Appendices (Include only if approved in advance of proposal submission by NSF
Assistant Director/Office Head, or designee, or by program solicitation)
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