EAGER: Interaction History Management Systems and their Application to Evidence-Based Practice of Healthcare

Brandeis University, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

Interactive systems are software systems that incorporate "human-in-the-loop" in achieving complex tasks. This proposal introduces Interaction History Management Systems (IHMSs): systems that capture and manage sequences of user interactions that determine the behavior of an interactive system. The interactions managed by an IHMS may be system- and domain-specific and can include SQL queries, search keywords, annotations of results and applied processing algorithms. By managing the histories of such interactions, it becomes possible to optimize and add additional functionality (e.g., versioning, time travel, use analysis) to the underlying interactive system. This project explores the design and optimization of IHMSs to support the formulation of "systematic reviews": human-accumulated evidence that provide empirical data for the effectiveness of treatment strategies of a given patient's diagnosed disease or disorder. The project leverages research in several computer science areas such as query and workflow management, query recommendations and query provenance while it explores new interdisciplinary research domains. It also has high impacts in the domain of healthcare: it leads to the next generation of collaborative, streamlined systematic reviewing systems and therefore improves the effectiveness of evidence-based healthcare practice. Computer science students will be trained in healthcare applications and interdisciplinary research. Further information on the project can be found on the project web page: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~olga/IHMS.html