Mediating intelligence through observation, dependency and agency in making construals of malaria

Abstract

Achieving co-adaptation in building an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) involves integrating machine and human perspectives on 'knowledge' and 'intelligence'. We address this integration by using Empirical Modelling (EM) principles to make construals: interactive environments in which human agents acting as model-builders can explore the observation, dependency and agency that underpins their understanding of the subject domain. This approach is well-suited to domains such as medicine where reasoning draws both on scientific knowledge and evolving human experience and judgement. We illustrate this by developing construals of malaria using a web-based variant of the principal EM tool that enables many agents to participate in the process of adaptation. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.