Dr Simon Wells

sesquipedalia verba

Talks

  1. “Platforms for Supporting Argumentation Research”, presented at the 2024 Scottish Argumentation Day, hosted by the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, on Friday 17th May 2024.

  2. “On The Role of Dialogue Models in the Age of Large Language Models ”, Presented to the Twenty-Third International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument held online on the 1st of December 2023.
    Abstract: We consider the roles that dialogue models play in computational dialogue, how that role is changing with the advent of large-language models (LLMs) that are increasingly capable of dialogue, and argue that even with LLMs that are maximally capable of engaging in dialogue , there’ll still be a role for dialogue model research as in order to provide external bench-marks and regulatory guidance, for LLMs, just as they do for humans.


  3. “Reconsidering RepStat Rules in Dialectical Games ”, Presented to the Twenty-Second International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument held in Cardiff on 12th September 2022.

  4. “Towards a Declarative Approach to Constructing Dialogue Games ”, Presented to the Twenty-First International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument held virtually on 2nd September 2021.

  5. “AI Research @ Edinburgh Napier University ”, Presented to the 2021 SICSA-AI All Hands meeting held virtually on 17th June 2021.

  6. “Introduction to Programming: AKA READY. || Things you probably shouldn't do in the browser console”, presented to the incoming freshers of the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, on Friday 11th September 2020.

  7. “Datastores for Argumentation Data”, presented at the Twentieth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA20), Perugia, Italy, on Tueday 8th September, 2020.

  8. “Shades of Grey || Some thoughts on the subject of intelligent machines, trust, communiation, and deception”, presented at the third Trust in Intelligent Machines Workshop (TIM 2020), Online, on Wednesday 27th May 2020

  9. “Introduction to Programming: AKA READY. || Things you probably shouldn't do in the browser console”, presented to the incoming freshers of the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, on Friday 13th September 2019.

  10. “A Paroxysm of Dissent: Partisan Political Advertising During the Brexit Campaign”, presented at the Third European Conference on Argumentation (ECA2019), Groningen, Netherlands, on Thursday 27th June 2019.

  11. “The Computational Approach to Argument Strength”, presented at the Third European Conference on Argumentation (ECA2019), Groningen, Netherlands, on Thursday 27th June 2019.

  12. “Introduction to Programming: AKA My Struggle || Things you probably shouldn't do in the browser console”, presented to the incoming freshers of the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, on Friday 14th September 2018.

  13. “MIND THE GAPS: Deception in real world argumentative dialogue systems”, presented at the 9th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA), University of Amsterdam, NL, on Friday 6th July 2018.
    Abstract: With the increasing prevalence of artificially intelligent machines in everyday life, a trend that threatens not only to continue but to accelerate, the need to examine how people interact with these machines intensifies. Whilst the basis for much of the increased interest and utility of AI has been rooted in machine learning and neural network based systems, there are also areas of particular concern for argumentation theorists. For example, regardless of how an AI decision is made internally, should that decision be called into question, then the system should be able to explain itself, and perhaps even defend itself, furthermore, the system should be able to work with people to improve decisions, should they be found wanting.

    This is in line with recent trends stemming from various regulatory and professional bodies, which have independently proposed that artificial intelligence systems be capable of explaining their decisions. This trend is found both at the supranational regulatory level, in recommendations from the European Commission, as well as at the industrial professional level, in British standards for intelligent and autonomous robots.

    It would appear that many years of research into formal argumentative dialogue systems may soon result in real-world payoffs. However, thorny questions remain in relation to how our ideal, normative systems of argument and dialogue will fair when exposed to real-world motivations.

    Whilst it is often assumed that the truth should, or will, always be told, this can be easier said than done, and even when achievable, can be counterproductive. In this paper we attempt to shed light on some gray areas concerning truth telling, or lack thereof, in relation to human dialogical interaction with AI systems. From this investigation, we make recommendations for the design of future, real world, applied dialectical argumentation systems.



  14. “Towards Argumentative Dialogue as a Humane Interface between People and Intelligent Machines”, presented at the Reasoning, Learning, & eXplainability Workshop (ReaLX 2018), Aberdeen, Scotland, on Wednesday 27th June 2018.
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  15. “A humane interface for intelligent machines”, presented at the Trust in Intelligent Machines Workshop (TIM 2018), Edinburgh, Scotland, on Tuesday 8th May 2018.
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  16. “CURRENT RESEARCH IN ARGUMENTATION @ ENU”, presented at the Edinburgh Napier University, School of Computing, Research Day, Edinburgh, Scotland, on Thursday 8th March 2018.
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  17. “The role of faulty inferences in interrogation dialogues”, presented at the Second European Conference on Argumentation (ECA2017), Fribourg, Switzerland, on Wednesday 21st June 2017.
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  18. “Monkeypuzzle: Towards Next Generation, Free & Open-Source, Argument Analysis Tools”, presented at the Seventeenth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA17), London, England, on Friday 16th June 2017.
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  19. “Then & Now”, presented at the Edinburgh Napier University School of Computing Ph.D Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday 11th May 2016.
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  20. “Introducing ALIAS”, presented at the Fifteenth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA15), Bertinoro, Italy, on Monday 26th October 2015.
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  21. “Automatically Detecting Fallacies in System Safety Arguments”, presented at the Fifteenth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA15), Bertinoro, Italy, on Monday 26th October 2015.
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  22. “Using Argumentation Within Sustainable Transport Communication”, presented at the First European Conference on Argumentation (ECA15), Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday 12th June 2015.
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  23. “Combinatorial Dialogue Games in Strategic Argumentation”, presented at the First European Conference on Argumentation (ECA15), Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday 11th June 2015.
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  24. “Argument Mining: Was Ist Das?”, presented at the Fourteenth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA14), hosted by the Jurix conference, Krakow, Poland, on Wednesday 10th December 2014.
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  25. “Using Code Generation to Build a Platform for Developing & Testing Dialogue Games”, presented at the Fourteenth International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA14), hosted by the Jurix conference, Krakow, Poland, on Wednesday 10th December 2014.
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  26. “Applied Argument Mining: Supporting Behaviour Change”, presented at the First SICSA Workshop on Argument Mining (SWAM), hosted by the School of Computing, University of Dundee, on Wednesday 9th July 2014.
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  27. “Towards Applied & Reproducible Gamified Interactions”, presented at the First Urban Sustainable, CollaboratIve, and Adaptive MObility Workshop (USCIAMO) workshop, hosted by the 11th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems (COOP 2014), on Monday 27th May 2014.
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  28. “Aligning Argumentation Theory with Behaviour Change Mechanisms”, presented at the Second Scottish Argumentation Day, hosted by the School of Computing, University of Dundee, on Friday 19th July 2013.
    Abstract: In this short talk I report on preliminary work that aims to effect real change in the context of difficult societal problems. Many such problems stem from the cumulative effects of the individual behaviours of large numbers of people. Digital behaviour change mechanisms are used to support people in forming new habitual behaviours and build on rich psychological models of behaviour dynamics. Argumentation theory has rich models of both argumentation and interaction as well as extensive collections of stereotypical patterns of real-world argumentation. In this work we begin to align elements of pyschological models of behaviour change with models of argumentative interaction. The aim is to increase the motivation of bahaviour change targets, enabling them to make informed and justifiable decisions about their behaviours and to increase the overall effectiveness of behaviour change mechanisms.

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  29. “Towards a Foundation for Comprehensive Argumentation Scheme Support in Argumentative Dialogue Games”, presented at CMNA 13, hosted by ICAIL 2013 on Friday 14th June 2013.
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  30. “ProtOCL: Specifying dialogue games using UML and OCL”, presented at CMNA 13, hosted by ICAIL 2013 on Friday 14th June 2013.
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  31. “Searching for the Principles of Computational Intelligence”, presented to members of the School of Engineering, Computing & Applied Mathematics (SECAM) at Abertay University on Tuesday 8th November 2011.
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  32. “Searching for the Principles of Computational Intelligence”, presented at the inaugural Scottish Argumentation Day hosted at Aberdeen University on Monday 15th August 2011.
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  33. “Searching for the Principles of Computational Intelligence”, presented to members of the Centre for Gene Regulation & Expression at Dundee University on Friday 14th January 2011.
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  34. “CouchDB for (absolute) Beginners“, presented to the NoSQL Autumn Conference held in the School of Computing at the University of Dundee on Saturday 20th November 2010.
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  35. “Searching for the Principles of Computational Intelligence”, presented to members of the School of Computing Science at Aberdeen University on Friday 5th November 2010.
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  36. “Argument Blogging”, presented at the 9th International Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument. IJCAI 2009, Pasadena, California, U.S.
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  37. “Mapping Persuasive Dialogues onto Argumentation Structures”, presented at the Symposium on Persuasive Technology (AISB 2009 Convention)
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  38. “MAgtALO: An Agent-Based System for Persuasive Online Interaction”, presented at the Symposium on Persuasive Technology (AISB 2008 Convention), Aberdeen in April 2008
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  39. “Agents: Intelligence & Autonomy”, presented at the School of Computing, University of Dundee, Dundee on Friday 2nd November 2007
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  40. “Knowing When To Bargain”, presented at Computational Models of Argument (COMMA) 2006
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  41. “The Architecture for Argumentation (A4A) Framework”, Research Seminar in the Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee on 26th October 2005
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  42. “Testing Formal Dialectic”, presented at Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ARGMAS) 2005
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  43. “Testing Formal Dialectic”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, 10th February 2005
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  44. “Testing Computational Dialectic”, presented at Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA) 2005
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  45. “Formal-Dialectics: Specifying the rules of formal-dialectic based interaction protocols”, Research Seminar in the Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee on 28th April 2004
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  46. “Argumentation Schemes in Agent Communication”, presented at Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ARGMAS) 2004
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  47. “Formal Dialectic Specification”, presented at Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ARGMAS) 2004
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  48. “Argumentative Dialogy: Implementing argumentative dialogue for inter-agent communication”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, 5th October 2004
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  49. “Argumentative Agents: A preliminary JUDE/Jackdaw implementation”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, 11th June 2004
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  50. “Inter-Agent Communication with Argumentation”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, 3rd March 2004
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  51. “Dialogue Games for MAS: Using Formal Dialectical Systems for Inter-Agent Dialogue”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, University of Southamption, 2nd December 2003
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  52. “Analysis of the Hamblin-Style Dialectical Systems: A mechanism for inter-agent communications”, presented at Information Exchange Project Meeting, University of Aberdeen, 19th September 2003
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  53. “Argumentation: The Application of Dialogue Games to Inter-Agent Communications”, Research Seminar in the Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee on 25th June 2003
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