William G. Harless

Timeline

1. 1960s

   A natural language patient simulation

   He holds a PhD in psychology and learning theory. In the early 1960s, as a professor at the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago, he develops the first natural language computer patient simulation model.

2. 1985

   The TIME Project at NLM

   In 1985, he is director of the National Library of Medicine's Technological Innovations in Medical Education (TIME) Project. There he creates the first voice-activated interactive videodisc patient simulation model in the mid-1980s, and the clinical simulation "The Case of Frank Hall" works through voice-recognition technology.

3. 1986

   NLM Regents Award for Scholarship

   As director of the TIME Project, he receives the 1986 NLM Regents Award for Scholarship for the development of voice recognition technologies.

4. 1986–1992

   Interactive Drama Inc. and Conversim

   He founds Interactive Drama Inc. in 1986, and as a professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine he integrates his patient simulations into the medical school curriculum. In 1991, he is awarded a patent for his voice-controlled video simulation model, Conversim, an audiovisual system that outputs stored dramatic scenes in response to spoken input. He leaves academia in 1992 to focus on the Virtual Conversations programs.

5. 1998

   A dynamic prompting patent

   In 1998, he is awarded a second patent, assigned to Interactive Drama Inc., for an audiovisual simulation system with dynamic intelligent prompts. The system runs in the Virtual Conversations programs.

6. 1999–2005

   Simulated dialogue over a network

   In 1999, he and coinventors Michael G. Harless and Marcia A. Zier file a patent, granted in 2005 to Interactive Drama Inc., for simulated dialogue over a computer network. The programs it describes include virtual interviews with Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg and with Iraqi native speakers for Arabic students. NIH and DARPA fund his work through grants and contracts.

7. 2003

   The Virtual Conversations article

   In 2003, he coauthors "Virtual Conversations: An Interface to Knowledge" with Marcia A. Zier, Michael G. Harless and Robert C. Duncan in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

8. 2014

   Death at age 80

   He dies in May 2014 at age 80, having published over fifty articles on natural language interactive simulation as a learning strategy. The "Dialogues in Science" kiosk at the NLM Visitor Center, which features content and technology he created, lets guests conduct virtual interviews with figures such as Joshua Lederberg and Francis Collins.