Prof. Olivier Rioul
Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France

Olivier Rioul (https://perso.telecom-paristech.fr/rioul/) is full Professor at the Department of Communication and Electronics at Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France. He graduated from École Polytechnique and from École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris, France, where he obtained his PhD degree. His research interests are in applied mathematics and include various, sometimes unconventional, applications of information theory such as inequalities in statistics, hardware security, and experimental psychology. He has been teaching information theory and statistics at various universities for twenty years and has published a textbook which has become a classical French reference in the field.

Speech Title: Information Theory as a Unified Tool for Understanding and Designing Human-Computer Interaction

Information theory, particularly in a Bayesian context, has recently regained interest as a unified tool to understand and design human-computer communication and interaction. Like in everyday life, by continuously making predictions using previous experiences, the human-computer interaction should somehow aim at reducing the level of uncertainty (entropy), reinforcing true predictions and correcting wrong ones, via some feedback interaction loop. Taking the stance that human-computer interaction can be considered as a communication process, where uncertainty and information are described using information-theoretic terms, we can design interaction in such a way to optimize decisions under uncertainty.
In my presentation I will illustrate these concepts in the context of a Bayesian experimental design using an expected utility function, where the computer can "runs experiments" on the user by sending feedback that maximizes the expected gain of information by the computer, and exploits the users’ subsequent input to update its knowledge as interaction progresses. Applications to Fitts' law, fast file retrieval and multiscale navigation are given to illustrate the concepts.

Prof. Juan Carlos Olabe
Christian Brothers University, USA

Dr. Olabe and his research group are active participants in the field of learning and teaching technologies applied to online education, including the following areas: a) the design of multimedia content for primary, secondary and college level courses; b) the development of pedagogical methodologies for new digital learning environments; c) the creation and use of technological-based tools applied to teaching and learning; d) the implementation of resources for active pedagogical methodologies; and e) the delivery of Master’s, Bachelor’s courses and degrees using learning platforms. During the last two decades, Dr. Olabe and his research group have received the support of the European Union and the National Council for Science and Technology of Latin-American through the funding of a large number of research and development projects. Dr. Olabe has published several books and multiple articles in international journals, and has collaborated with international journals and committees. He has established working relationships with members of the MIT Lifelong Kindergarten group and with members of the One Laptop per Child project (OLCP) in the US and in multiple countries of Latin America. He has established relationships with governmental educational groups of the Ministries of Education of Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia, as well as the educational networks RENATA of Colombia and CONACyT of Paraguay, and research groups at the University of Alicante, University of Extremadura, University of Salamanca, Luisíada University of Portugal, University of Silesia and LaSalle Bajío University (Mexico).

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