Multi-modal Multi-threaded Online Forums

This paper motivates and outlines multi-modal multi-threaded online forums. The basic idea is that rather than a single “reply” mode as in current multi-threaded online forums, where the user can only indicate that a current input statement is a reply to an existing statement, the user can select from a menu among a range of ways the input statement relates to a particular existing statement. For example, in the menu might be “contradicts”, “is premise of”, “is conclusion of”, or “is an exception to” relations. From such choices, one can construct an “argument dialogue”. The input statements are parsed and semantically interpreted by the Attempto Controlled Language, ensuring grammatically well-formed statements with first order logic representations. The database of propositions and their relations can be used by further systems.