Synergistic use of direct manipulation and natural language

Abstract

This paper shows how the integration of natural language with direct manipulation produces a multimodal interface that overcomes limitations of these techniques when used separately. Natural language helps direct manipulation in being able to specify objects and actions by description, while direct manipulation enables users to learn which objects and actions are available in the system. Furthermore, graphical rendering and manipulation of context provides a partial solution to difficult problems of natural language anaphora. © 1989 ACM.