Over and Over and Over Again

On average, according to IBM, people spend eight hours of their day online. Sigh.... I'm among those folks who tip the scale, making up for those who spend, oh, a mire 10-15 minutes a day online. And I'd agree with IBM that most of my online experience is spent conducting repetitive tasks -- like telling the boss over and over that I really am at work, even though I'm not in the office. To eliminate repetitive and mundane tasks such as this (and to keep the boss off my back), IBM has unveiled a free online service for recording step-by-step processes that Web users do on a regular basis. It then automatically runs those processes, eliminating repetition for users.

Created at IBM's Almaden Research Center and available on alphaWorks, CoScripter is a service that lets you go to a Web site, capture your actions as a "script" which can automatically perform those tasks, and share that information with others.

The service uses a technique called programming by demonstration to capture the steps of a process by watching people do it and recording those steps into a script. The scripts are integrated with a wiki, so they can be shared with other users. Programming by demonstration is a technique that's been around for a while, and examined by researchers at the University of Washington, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon, among others.

"This new service is an effective means to giving time back to users who have generally lost many hours repeatedly going through the same motions when using the Web," said IBM's Kathy Mandelstein. "CoScripter not only makes it easier for users to take advantage of the Internet, but it also encourages community and the sharing of information through the Web."

For example, say you want to begin a house search using a home search Web site. After a few searches the process becomes repetitive. With CoScripter, says IBM, you can create a script to capture, then automate the steps required in the search. Subsequent searches can be quicker by simply running the script. You can then share the script so anyone else wanting to perform the same search can save time and effort by using the script. Subsequent users can customize the script to meet their specific needs (or the specific needs of their boss), then make that revised script available as well.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 12:59 PM  Permalink