Mixed-initiative relaxation of constraints in critiquing dialogues

Eliminating previously recommended items in a critiquing dialogue prevents the user from navigating back to acceptable items she critiqued earlier in the dialogue. An equally serious problem if previous recommendations are not eliminated is that acceptable items may be unreachable by any sequence of critiques. Progressive critiquing solves this dilemma while also making it easier for users to recognize when none of the available items are acceptable. In this paper, we present theoretical and empirical results that demonstrate the benefits of a critiquing strategy in which the user gives priority to constraints that must be satisfied in a progressive critiquing dialogue. We also present a new version of progressive critiquing in which mixed-initiative relaxation of constraints introduced by user critiquing choices that depart from this strategy greatly reduces their impact on dialogue outcomes.