Analyza: Exploring Data with Conversation
Abstract
We describe Analyza, a system that helps lay users explore
data. Analyza has been used within two large real world systems. The
first is a question-and-answer feature in a spreadsheet product. The
second provides convenient access to a revenue/inventory database
for a large sales force. Both user bases consist of users who do not
necessarily have coding skills, demonstrating Analyza's ability to
democratize access to data.
We discuss the key design decisions in implementing this system.
For instance, how to mix structured and natural language modalities,
how to use conversation to disambiguate and simplify querying, how
to rely on the ``semantics'' of the data to compensate for the lack
of syntactic structure, and how to efficiently curate the data.
data. Analyza has been used within two large real world systems. The
first is a question-and-answer feature in a spreadsheet product. The
second provides convenient access to a revenue/inventory database
for a large sales force. Both user bases consist of users who do not
necessarily have coding skills, demonstrating Analyza's ability to
democratize access to data.
We discuss the key design decisions in implementing this system.
For instance, how to mix structured and natural language modalities,
how to use conversation to disambiguate and simplify querying, how
to rely on the ``semantics'' of the data to compensate for the lack
of syntactic structure, and how to efficiently curate the data.
