Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
And
now for the paperclip you loved to taunt! Microsoft’s Clippit, the beloved,
annoying (Swartz, 2003) and incredibly distracting, animated paperclip, serving
as a personal office assistant that you could query for all the help you needed
when working with Microsoft Office.
Removed
from the Microsoft suite of programs in 2007 under pressure from the crowd
….Clippit, affectionately called Clippy, was recently and briefly re-generated in
cloud versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft’s Mobile Office, and also re-cycled
as main protagonist in the Microsoft tutorial game Ribbon Hero 2.
The
brilliantly animated little paperclip wizard, designed by the Children’s book
illustrator Kevan Atteberry (Atteberry 2014), really arises at the interfacing
tip of an iceberg, consisting of expert search and querying systems, and many
different Microsoft patents exploring these domains (McCracken, 2009).
Below,
you will find a selection of the Microsoft patents driving the expert search
and user querying systems behind Clippy, as well as the interface patent for an
animated character since Clippit was the default animated option programmed to
function as your office assistant:
US
6262730 B1 - Intelligent User
Assistance Facility filed Nov. 20, 1998, disclosing an intelligent user assistance
system, “using a reasoning
model to determine the probability of a user's intentions, goals, or
informational needs in the context of a software program.”
US 6460029 – System for improving search text, filed Dec 23, 1998, disclosing “computer-executable instructions for retrieving a search query provided
by a user and locating an ambiguity in the search query that affects the
optimization of the search query. The instructions also provide for requesting
additional information from the user to clarify the text of the search query.”
US 6657643 B1 - Modulating
the Behavior of an Animated Character to Reflect Beliefs Inferred About a
User’s Desire for Automated Services, filed May 17,
1999, specifically
associated with messaging and scheduling.
I have also enclosed the image of a Clippy gem...…
Paperclips Unite!
References
