MICROS: Mixed-Initiative ConveRsatiOnal Systems Workshop
This workshop addresses the need for proactive conversational systems in domains like smartphones and home assistants, but it is incremental as it builds on existing research without introducing new methods.
The MICROS workshop aimed to explore novel ideas in conversational systems, focusing on mixed-initiative approaches to address challenges like ambiguous user requests in modern information access.
The 1st edition of the workshop on Mixed-Initiative ConveRsatiOnal Systems (MICROS@ECIR2021) aims at investigating and collecting novel ideas and contributions in the field of conversational systems. Oftentimes, the users fulfill their information need using smartphones and home assistants. This has revolutionized the way users access online information, thus posing new challenges compared to traditional search and recommendation. The first edition of MICROS will have a particular focus on mixed-initiative conversational systems. Indeed, conversational systems need to be proactive, proposing not only answers but also possible interpretations for ambiguous or vague requests.