1.1 Introduction
A chatbot is an artificially intelligent software application used to conduct an online chat conversation with a user in natural language (human language such as English or French) via text or speech. Chatbot recognize the user input as well as by using pattern matching, access information to provide a predefined acknowledgment. It is implemented using pattern comparing, in which the order of the sentence is recognized and a saved response pattern is acclimatize to the exclusive variables of the sentence. They cannot register and respond to complex questions, and are unable to perform compound activities. (M. Dahiya, 2017). Over duration of interactions, chatbots gather enormous data that provides helpful information about common concerns students face to make significant changes to its operation. Chatbots provides solution to this problem by providing all the important information they need to get comfy on campus. It also helps students navigate through the campus by maps allowing familiarity with the environment.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The first chatbot was created by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966 and named as Eliza chatbot which appeared as a psychotherapist who reacted to the client with essential inquiries. It gave a deception of comprehension with scripted reactions.In 1972 Kenneth Colby turned out with a progressed chatbot Repel than Eliza which is a chatbot that could mimic an individual with distrustful schizophrenia. Later on in 1988 an endeavor is made in making chatbots with AI (Man-made consciousness) through human cooperation and named the chatbot as Jabberwacky. Later on in 1992 Imaginative labs for MS-Dos makes a chatbot named Dr.Sbaitso which is consolidated with AI and it is intended to exhibit a digitized voice.
In 1995 utilizing regular language preparing Counterfeit Phonetic Web PC Element (A.L.I.C.E chatbot) chatbot is create where heuristic example is utilized for coordinating tenets to human contribution to request to have discussion.
In 2001 a canny bot is made which is generally disseminated crosswise over sms systems called smarterchild. Later on IBM's Watson was planned in 2006 where normal language handling and machine learning is utilized to uncover inside and out information from substantial measure of information. In 2010 an astute individual right hand chatbot named siri appeared which utilizes common language UI to respond to questions and perform different demands and is a piece of Apple's IOS
At the beginning of a new session, the university receives many applications and to convert these applications into enrolments, swift communication is crucial. Students may have questions ranging from courses, fees, scholarships, facilities, and the university environment to accommodation and transportation system. Students come to the university from regions with different time zones, cultures and environments and will need assistance to settle down in the campus. With so many applications and emails, universities can find it difficult to respond to every student. Apart from prospective students, returning students need to get certain information about recent development in the university environment.
A chatbot, also known as a dialogue system or a conversational agent, is a computer program that can imitate a conversation with a user (Lexico, 2021). In the past decade, chatbot technology has evolved tremendously, thanks to the growing popularity of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Chatbots are proving themselves as a valuable tool in many situations and are visible in almost every aspect of our daily lives.
Chatbots promise a range of potential benefits. Most notably, they provide responses and solutions that are instant, consistent, and reliable (Klopfenstein et al., 2017). These characteristics make chatbots a powerful tool in many different areas, and their use has evolved rapidly in fields such as business, e-commerce, and healthcare (Adamopoulou et al., 2020).
This proposed chatbot is developed using the Google Dialog flow framework. Dialog flow is a natural language understanding platform that makes it easy to design and integrate a conversational user interface into mobile app, web application, device, bot, and interactive voice response system. The chatbot uses a GUI (Graphic User Interface) integrated into a web app to provide answers to user's query.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed that, applicants are buzzing with a lot of questions and it's undoubtedly a busy time for admissions departments responding to an influx of questions requiring fast responses. In past years, students and parents had to visit the college to enquire about details and other information about the college that is a lengthy and time-consuming process. This is also a hectic and resource wasting process for the admissions offices. To save time, energy and resources this can now be done over the internet with chatbots.
Malicious chatbots are frequently used to fill chat rooms with spam and advertisements, by mimicking human behaviour and conversations or to entice people into revealing personal information, such as bank account numbers. They are commonly found on Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger and other instant messaging protocols. There has also been a published report of a chatbot used in a fake personal ad on a dating service's website.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a departmental chatbot application. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Provide an answer to the query of the user efficiently and effectively;
- Analyze users' queries and understand users message;
- Save the time of the user in finding a specific academic task; and
- Reply end-users using a responsive GUI similar to a real person talking to the user.
1.5 Significance of Study
The implementation of this project has the potential to benefit the academic field and the society. Chatbots can make the enrolment processes easier as it provides answers to the most common questions applicants and students ask yearly.
It provides a faster response time and provides round the clock (24/7) support. A chatbot can handles multiple requests simultaneously without compromising on the quality of interactions.
Students are often concerned about making the right career decisions, many of these courses are offered in different universities. The university can leverage on chatbots to attract students interested in the courses they offer.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the design and implementation of a departmental chatbot application.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Chatbot: also known as a smartbots, talkbot, chatterbot, Bot, IM bot, interactive agent, Conversational interface or Artificial Conversational Entity) is a computer program or an artificial intelligence which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods.
Natural Language Processing: is a subfield of computer science information engineering and artificial intelligence concerned with the interations between computer and human (natural) langauges, in particular how to program computers to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data.
