Autobriefer: A System for Authoring Narrated Briefings

Abstract

We describe a system called AutoBriefer which automatically generates multimedia briefings from high- level outlines. The author of the briefing interacts with the system to specify some of the briefing content. In order to be scalable across domains, AutoBriefer provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to create or edit domain knowledge for use in the selecting of some of the briefing content. The system then uses declarative presentation planning strategies to synthesize a narrated multimedia briefing in various presentation formats. The narration employs synthesized audio as well as, optionally, an agent embodying the narrator.