SIBYL: a tool for managing group design rationale

ABSTRACT

We describe SIBYL, a system that supports group decision making by representing and managing the qualitative aspects of decision making processes: such as the alternatives, the goals to be satisfied, and the arguments evaluating the alternatives with respect to these goals. We use an example session with SIBYL to illustrate the language, called DRL, that SIBYL uses for representing these qualitative aspects, and the set of services that SIBYL provides using this language. We also compare SIBYL to other systems with similar objectives and discuss the additional benefits that SIBYL provides. In particular, we compare SIBYL to gIBIS, a well-known “tool for exploratory policy discussion”, and claim that SIBYL is mainly a knowledge-based system which uses a semi-formal representation, whereas gIBIS is mainly a hypertext system with semantic types. We conclude with a design heuristic, drawn from our experience with SIBYL, for systems whose goal includes eliciting knowledge from people.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.2 Types of Systems
          Subjects: Decision support (e.g., MIS)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

General Terms:
Human Factors, Languages