1. "On Automated Message Processing in Electronic Commerce and Work Support Systems: Speech Act Theory and Expressive Felicity," Steven O. Kimbrough and Scott A. Moore, Transactions on Information Systems, 15:4 (October 1997), 321-367. Electronic messaging---whether in an office environment or for electronic commerce---is normally carried out in natural language, even when supported by information systems. For a variety of reasons it would be useful if electronic messaging systems could have semantic access to, i.e., have access to the meanings and contents of, the messages they process. Given that natural language understanding is not a practicable alternative, there remain three approaches to delivering systems with semantic access: electronic data interchange (EDI), tagged messages, and the development of a formal language for business communication (FLBC). We favor the latter approach. In this paper we compare and contrast these three approaches, present a theoretical basis for an FLBC (using speech act theory), and describe a prototype implementation. PDF
2. "Formal Language for Business Communication (FLBC): Sketch of a Basic Theory" (Steven O. Kimbrough), forthcoming in International Journal of Electronic Commerce. DVI file.

   Earlier version, published at HICSS: PDF file.

3. "Towards a Methodology for Analysis and Design of Messages for Communicating Agents," Steven O. Kimbrough, bled-1999-flbc-sysanal.doc. MS Word document.

Presentations

1. "EDI, XML, and the Myth of Semantic Transparency," Bloomington, IN, October 23, 1999. PDF
2. "Towards a Design Methodology for Messaging in Electronic Commerce" Rotterdam, June 2, 1999; Bled June 7, 1999. PDF .