SMACK: SMART MANUAL CONVERSION KIT

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN ARCHITECTURE AND PROTOTYPE FOR A COMPUTER-BASED TOOL THAT WILL AUTOMATE THE CONVERSION OF PAPER DOCUMENTS (TECHNICAL MANUALS, INCLUDING BOTH TEXT AND GRAPHICS) INTO A FORMAT THAT IS SUITABLE FOR INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC DISPLAY. OUR PROPOSED FORMAT WILL ALSO INCLUDE A SET OF TOOLS THAT WILL AUTOMATICALLY OPTIMIZE THE ELECTRONIC PRESENTATION OF THE TECHNICAL MANUALS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL READER OF THE DOCUMENT. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM, WHICH WE CALL SMACK (SMART MANUAL CONVERSION KIT) WILL INCLUDE INTELLIGENT SCANNING CAPABILITIES, SEVERAL TEMPLATES FOR AN INTELLIGENT DECOMPOSITION OF TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS INTO A FRAME-BASED PRESENTATION APPROPRIATE FOR THE SPECIFIC TEXT, AND AN INTELLIGENT TUTORING COMPONENT, WHICH WILL INCLUDE SEVERAL PRESENTATION FORMATS THAT CAN BE SELECTED AND MODIFIED TO OPTIMIZE THE PRESENTATION OF A GIVEN DOCUMENT TO A GIVEN READER. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WOULD BE DEVELOPED INCREMENTALLY, WITH INCREASINGLY LESS HUMAN INTERVENTION REQUIRED IN THE PROCESS. CAREFUL CONSIDERATION WILL BE GIVEN TO INTEGRATION OF SMACK WITH THE RELEVANT COMPONENTS OF DOD'S CALS PROGRAM.