User:Hugo Dufort

Childhood
I was born in Montreal, Quebec, on January 14, 1974, in a French-speaking family; my father is a now retired police agent, and my mother is an artist and an ergotherapist. I started programming at the age of 12 on a TRS-80 Color Computer, on which I learned (all by myself) the basics of computer programming. Until the age of 16 I had much trouble learning English, but after a summer camp in Scotland and in England, I got much better (although I still speak with a thick accent).

At the age of 15 I suffered a second/third degree burn on my right hand, which forced me to write with my left hand for half the school year; I was forced to stop drawing for a long time.

I was never strong in arithmetics; one of my teachers once told me: "You can't multiply properly, but you certainly know how to doodle in the margins". Despite these limitations, I managed to "discover" differential calculus by myself at the age of 16 (using my own notation); this puzzled my Physics teacher. When a high school Math teacher "taught" us that there was no notation for describing prime numbers in a simple way, I came up with a simple definition that used set notation and first order logic. He couldn't refute it, although he pretended that my definition was unusable (!)

At the age of 17, I started losing interest in drawing and painting, and got interested in poetry and philosophy. Since then, I have been more interested in words, grammars and logic; I have lost much of my initial interest (and proficiency) in geometry, vectors and calculus. An interesting side note: as a kid, I wanted to become a geologist. It is only when I read about the employment opportunities, which were at an all-time low in the 80s in Quebec, that I decided to become an urbanist (in the doldrums in the 80s too), then an architect. Unfortunately, I miscalculated by trajectory and ended up as a software architect instead.

College and Undergraduate Studies
After two mediocre years studying Science ("Sciences Pures") in Collège Ahuntsic (I eventually failed two courses and had to re-pass them during the next 2 summers), I entered Université de Montréal in Computer Science. I was initially rejected due to my low grades in college, but after an incredible stroke of luck, I got caught in an open political war between the department's secretary and the dean, and got accepted. Thanks forever to Mady K. for that invaluable gift.

I got brilliant grades in most of my undergraduate courses (Baccalauréat), most notably 11 consecutive "A+" grades in 2nd and 3rd year courses. I was respected for my unusual approaches at solving classic problems, my habit of eating during courses, and my weird sense of humor (I once sent wav snippets to random SGI IRIX stations across the department for 2 days before I got caught).

In 1995, I have participated in a "Useless program competition" with a program named GENCORE, which purposely crashed and generated a core dump of the exact size given as a parameter at the command line. The winner of the competition, though, invented the network mouse driver (which allows the user to move his mouse on multiple networked desktop computers)... which is as useless as it gets!

I won the department's animated Christmas card competition with a 3D renderer written hastily in Simula 67. It was painful and fun at the same time.

I once sequestrated Professor Nie in his office for 2 hours, until he corrected 3 major errors which were made by his assistant in an expert system engine in Prolog. I had discovered the errors after more than 48 hours of non-stop debugging; I was becoming insane. Luckily, there were no negative consequences to my desperate action. Prof Nie is a real gentleman.

WWW
I am a veteran Internet and Web user; I had the chance to surf the Web when there were about 200 sites (in 1993). I could "get through" the Web during lunchtime. At the time, the Web was very disconnected (few links between sites), but there were a few "directories of everything". As it grew bigger and more varied, search engines appeared. My tiny (puny?) personal web page was indexed for the first time by Lycos, then by AltaVista, in late 1995.

I programmed my first Web application in 1995; it was a crude C UNIX program which transformed text documents with minimal formatting (such as "end of page" markers) into a collection of interconnected HTML pages. I programmed my first CGI script in 1997; it was a C program wrapped in a C shell script, which compiled results from an HTML survey page.

The browsers I used so far: a forgotten early browser on X-Windows, then Mosaic (compiled by myself in my UNIX account!), Lynx (through dial-up modem, pre-SLIRP/PPP), Netscape, Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Konqueror.

Graduate Studies and Research
In 1996, I was admitted in a graduate course (Master's Degree)... no question asked! A funny side note: there were spaghetti stains on my admission form, but neither Paul Bratley nor Neil Stewart noticed when they endorsed it.

My Master's thesis covered multiple topics in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), more precisely Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). I was a prolific author (as far as MSc students go) and provided almost 100% of the original ideas and content for most of the articles I published. Topics I covered in my thesis and articles are wide-ranging: 1. Assessment and use of cognitive dissonance in collaborative learning 2. Meta-rules for the evaluation of curricula and knowledge structures 3. Unsupervised clustering of student profiles for the initialization of student models and attribute selection 4. Data structures for the dynamic representation of knowledge (with forward/backward propagation of information), mostly in the student model (overlap of the curriculum) 5. Evaluation of student comprehension based on indirect indicators (and not purely "by grade"; it is almost considered an heresy in education science, though)

I took a course in bioinformatics, and made an interesting project in evolutionary programming, which involved the evolution of simulated lunar lander modules (it also featured load-balanced distributed computing, using up to 10 SPARCstation computers in the labo at night).

I have also written a pretty good essay on the philosophical consequences of the Barcan formula (concerning mostly the concepts of identity, uniqueness and distinction). I have studied modal logic, temporal logic, agent logic and fuzzy logic, among other systems.

My thesis received the highest possible grade. I continued making fundamental and applied research at the university even after I finished my MSc, although I was considered a "freelance researcher"; I didn't ask for a salary, only for a copy of the published articles (the proceedings), and I was glad to offer my ideas and insights. However in 2003 I was overworked and on the verge of depression, and I couldn't keep the pace; I was also in a strong ethical disagreement with one of the researchers over some aspects of the research work, so I ended my collaboration.

I was an invited member of the AIED Society in 1997-1999. I was an invited member of the ACFAS in 1999-2000. I have been an ordinary member of the FIQ since 2001.

Current Research Interests
I had been doing some personal research work in number theory since late 1999, and I was exploring some interesting properties of prime numbers. However, after the traumatic incident described below, I had to put it aside for a few years. Mathematics have become even more laborious, but I am patient.

''I was victim of a brutal attack while walking on the street in Montreal at night, in early 2000, which left me with permanent damage in the right ear. At the time I had a broken nose, contusions, a few broken ribs and a large hematoma on the side of the head. I still suffer from persistent tinnitus, attention disorder, sleep disorder, fatigue and sometimes dizziness.''

I have only resumed this "side project" in 2006. So far, I have produced a very simple proof that all complex primes in N are located on the y=4x+3 line (I love simpler proofs and Occam's Razor is my best friend). I have also explored complex primes and their properties, although till recently I had only rediscovered known properties. I am currently working on some original (and more advanced) work in number theory, which I won't disclose here (of course).

I have kept folders full of handwritten notes about some unfinished works in Intelligent Tutoring Systems, most notably concerning information propagation in curricula, backward-forward propagation algorithms (feedback loops and dynamic equilibrium in information structures), and indirect (holistic, inferred) student evaluation; I may revive these ideas someday in a new research paper.

I also work on the hybridation of neural nets and cellular automata, along with genetic programming techniques; and on so-called "lamarckian" propagation of information structures in virtual environments, using concepts of physical distance and meme permeability in individuals.

Professional Activities
I have been working in the IT industry since 1998. I had to start working a full-time job before I had finished my Master's Degree for economic reasons; my research scolarship was about to end.

I worked in the development of web services, in teledetection (vehicle tracking systems using satellites, ground-based cell network and ionospheric short-wave emitters) and in natural language processing (analysis and classification of corporate/contact information). I also developed a nearly flawless HTML parser, and quite frankly it is much more difficult than it looks like.

In 2005-2006 I worked as a technology consultant; I have helped more than a dozen IT/electronics companies getting funding for their research & development efforts. In particular, I was pleased to help a company which is developing a groundbreaking ITS system.

I currently work mostly as a technical translator (English to French) and technical writer for the IT industry, although I also do some professional web development in PHP.

Recently, I started tinkering with XHTML and AJAX.

Belief System
I don't believe in luck, destiny or predestination. I think a powerful force named "randomness" stirs our lives; people we call "lucky" are the ones who pay attention to these subtle movements. We are not all born equal, and there is no natural justice; however, we encounter plenty of opportunities in life.

I am an outspoken Agnostic, but I am interested with a lot of spiritual approaches ranging from Stoicism to Reformed Christianism. I believe mostly in Humanism; I don't firmly believe in any specific social, moral or political system, although I carefully choose my side at every election.

Travel and Culture
I have traveled to England, Scotland, Spain, Andorra, France, Brazil, India, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. So far, the best food I had on the road was: southern indian food in Delhi, Spanish dry sausage and ham in Murcia, coffee at the Barcelona airport & Zurich airport, and an excellent moquequa in Caraguatatuba. The worst things that happened in my travels was: suffering from a tropical fever in Ubatuba and finding fly eggs in my feet sores (after having to spend 3 days unprepared in the jungle).

I speak a few languages but I don't have any specific talent in learning human languages. I am especially bad at conjugating verbs in any language (including French). However, it didn't prevent me from working as a professional translator (English to French) in technical fields such as IT, engineering, the cars/trucks/trailers industry, electricity and marketing.

I cook quite well and I have a good culinary culture; my friends say that I can't live without 25 spice jars. I love wine, Scotch and "alcools du terroir" (local alcohols, such as cidre de glace, mead and maple alcohols). My favorite wines are those from Alsace (whites), Spain (reds), Italy (reds mostly), Minervois (reds), Madiran (reds). I don't like wines that are too sweet, too dark or too obvious; I think most modern wines are way too concentrated (14.5% alcohol, obvious use of oak flakes, the sweetness of prune juice and the color of concentrated pomegranate punch).

I write poetry (in French) and I am best known for my haiku, which have been dubbed "classy yet fresh". Although I haven't published any poetry book featuring my own creations, I have initiated and produced a project involving 22 poets (some famous, some still young, some obscure) and two visual artists; the book bears the title "Sur les récifs - anthologie avec 22 poètes naufragés"; 400 copies were printed, of which more than 250 were sold and 50 were given away. Sadly, I have stopped writing poetry since 2003 because of a lack of time and energy; I hope to be resuming my artistic production soon.

Haiku - Collective Works
"Sun through the blinds." Collective, directed by Angela Leuck. Shoreline, Montreal, 2003.

"Chevaucher la lune - anthologie du haïku contemporain en français." Collective, directed by André Duhaime. Éditions David, Ottawa, 2002.

"Haïku et francophonie canadienne." Collective, directed by André Duhaime. Éditions David, Ottawa, 2000.

Poetry
"alice / grzywka" (with Marek Lugowski) in "Contre les poètes - une anthologie distome.", Revue Entrelacs, Montreal, 2003.

"Elvis Bombay" in "Sur les récifs", Editions Verlamer, Montreal, 2004.

Full entry: Sur les récifs : anthologie avec vingt-deux poètes naufragés / [direction, Hugo Dufort ; comité de rédaction, Ginette Desmarais... et al.]. — [Le Bic] : Publications Verlamer, impression 2004. — 193 p., [1 pliée] : ill. en coul. ; 21 cm. Poèmes. — Ill. collées. — ISBN : 2-9808537-0-4 (br.) : 15,00 $. — Distributeur : L'éditeur, 193, rue Saint-Paul, Le Bic, Québec G0L 1B0. 1. Poésie québécoise — 21e siècle I. Dufort, Hugo, éd. II. Desmarais, Ginette.

Note to self: Please add all the references from Pouèt Cafëe.

Note to self: Add upcoming book directed by Robbert Fortin (Hexagone editions)

Note to self: Add Montreal Zen Poetry Festival at 

Science - Collaborative Research Papers
(Conference, Proceedings, LNCS/Lecture Notes in Computer Science) ITS 2002 - Intelligent Tutoring Systems Biarritz, France, and San Sebastian, Spain, June 2-7, 2002 Springer-Verlag, LNCS 2363 Clarisse: A Machine Learning Tool to Initialize Student Models Esma Aimeur, Gilles Brassard, Hugo Dufort, Sebastien Gambs http://www.springerlink.com/content/5wn2nfbb69jn/?p=80b11779d6bc4ea880b0ad5d9b48b207&pi=0

(Journal) AAI - Applied Artificial Intelligence 14(5): 465-489 (2000) Vienna, Austria Cooperative Learning Strategies for Intelligent Tutoring Systems Esma Aïmeur, Claude Frasson, Hugo Dufort http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/index/PJM8D0PDL2C5T2K9.pdf

(Conference, Proceedings, LNCS/Lecture Notes in Computer Science) ITS 1998 - Intelligent Tutoring Systems 1998, San Antonio, Texas, USA Springer-Verlag, LNCS 1452 Curriculum Evaluation : A Case Study Hugo Dufort, Esma Aïmeur, Claude Frasson http://www.springerlink.com/index/PPRRMPKQTRC7CXN6.pdf

(Conference, Proceedings, LNCS/Lecture Notes in Computer Science) AI-ED 1997 8Th World Conference On Artificial Intelligence In Education Kobe, Japan Some Justifications for the Learning by Disturbing Strategy Esma Aïmeur, Hugo Dufort, Daniel Leibu, Claude Frasson Proceedings of AI-ED 97 World Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, Kobe, Japan, pp. 119-126. http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/aied/program2.html (Note: I even found a version of this article translated in German, circulating on the Web!)

(Conference, Workshop Proceedings) IJCAI 1997 Workshop on Collaboration, Cooperation and Conflict in Dialogue Systems August 1997, Nagoya Japan Profiting from Conflict in Intelligent Tutoring Systems Authors: Esma Aimeur, Hugo Dufort and Claude Frasson Proceedings of IJCAI 1997 Workshop on Collaboration, Cooperation and Conflict in Dialogue Systems, pp. 1-7. http://www.cs.umd.edu/~traum/CCCinDS/Papers/papers.html http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/traum/CCCinDS/Papers/Esma_Aimeur.ps

Science - Acknowledgements
International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (1998), 9, 32-44 The Cognitive Basis for the Design of a Mammography Interpretation Tutor Roger Azevedo, Suzanne P. Lajoie http://computing.unn.ac.uk/staff/cgpb4/ijaied/members98/archive/vol_9/azevedo/full.html (Note: Hugo Dufort and Daniel Leibu have developed the demonstration software for this project.)

Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 4, issue 3 Application and Assessment of Cognitive-Dissonance Theory in the Learning Process Esma Aïmeur http://www.jucs.org/jucs_4_3/application_and_assessment_of (Note: this article reuses content from one of my unpublished articles)

Science - Citations
A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES THAT CITE MY RESEARCH WORKS (in fact, my articles are cited by more than a hundred other articles, thesis and projects)

Permutations of control: Cognitive considerations for agent-based learning environments Baylor, A. L. Journal of Interactive Learning Research. 12(4), 403-425 (2001)

Design of animated pedagogical agents: a look at their look Agneta Gulz, Magnus Haake International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 64, Issue 4  (April 2006), Pages: 322 - 339

Redefining the learning companion: the past, present, and future of educational agents Chih-Yueh Chou, Tak-Wai Chan, Chi-Jen Lin Computers & Education archive Volume 40, Issue 3  (April 2003), Pages: 255 - 269

Supporting Social Interaction in an Intelligent Collaborative Learning System AMY L. SOLLER International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education (2001), 12

The Competence of Learning Companion Agents Pentti Hietala and Timo Niemirepo International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, (1998), 9, 178-192

Learning with virtual agents: Competition and Cooperation in AMICO Dorothée Rasseneur, Elisabeth Delozanne, Pierre Jacoboni1, Brigitte Grugeon

Evaluating Adaptive Generation of Problems in Programming Tutors – Two Studies Amruth Kumar

Usage Analysis in Tutors for C++ Programming Amruth KUMAR Proceedings of AIED-2005 Workshop 1

Rule-Based Adaptive Problem Generation in Programming Tutors and its Evaluation Amruth KUMAR Proceedings of AIED-2005

Expertise, Motivation and Teaching in Learning Companion Systems Jorge Adolfo Ramirez Uresti, Benedict du Boulay

Integrating Machine Learning Methods throughout the Temporal Extent of a Web-based Student Model Victoria Tsiriga, Maria Virvou

MultiAgents Systems for Virtual Environment for Training Application to fire-fighting Ronan Querrec, Cedric Buche, Eric Maffre, Pierre Chevaillier

Implications of Shared Representations for Computational Modeling Dan Suthers ITS 2004 Workshop on Computational Models of Collaborative Learning

Communication, Technology and Education — The Role of the Discussion Group in Asynchronic Distance-Learning Courses as a Beneficial Factor in The Learning Process Tali MARCUS

Disseny D’Agents Pedagògics Intelligents Per Millorar Les Competències Estratègiques De L'alumnat En La Resolució De Problemes De Matemàtiques Pedro Cobo Lozano (PhD Thesis)

Towards a New Knowledge Elicitation Algorithm Esma Aïmeur, Gilles Brassard and S´ebastien Gambs In: Knowledge Representation and Automated Reasoning for E-Learning Systems Peter Baumgartner, Paul A. Cairns, Michael Kohlhase, Erica Melis (Eds.)

Software Patterns in ITS Architectures Vladan Devedzic, Andreas Harrer International Journal of the AIED (IJAIED)

Development and Evaluation of Multiple Competitive Activities in a Synchronous Quiz Game System Li-Jie Chang, Jie-Chi Yang,Tak-Wai Chan, Fu-Yun Yu IETI-2003

MASCARET: Multi-Agents System for Virtual Environment for Training Cédric Buche, Ronan Querrec, Eric Maffre, Pierre Chevaillier, Pierre DeLoor VRIC-2003

PERSO: A system to build dynamically personalized courses in an e-learning environment Henda CHORFI, Mohamed JEMNI, Esma AIMEUR ITHET 2003

Modelling a Versatile Mathematical Curriculum for Low-Attainers Katerina Georgouli Proceedings of the 8th Panhellenic Conference in Informatics (2001) 463-472

Using Pedagogical Agents In a Multi-strategic Intelligent Tutoring System Frasson, C., Mengelle, T. and Aimeur, E. Proceedings of the AI-ED workshop on Pedagogical Agents, Kobe, 1997. http://www.info.uqam.ca/~nkambou/DIC9340/frasson97using.pdf

Wikipedia Pages Created
In Wikipedia EN: In Wikipedia FR:
 * Emily Young (a British sculptor)
 * Sloche (a frozen beverage) (+photo)
 * Urinette