What is HANDS?

The Helping Answers Decision Service (HANDS) is an online communication service offered by Public Bodies to their citizens and other users. The service is based on advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques.
Thanks to the use of NLP-based applications, cities can reduce the barriers of online communication between citizens and the Public Administration. With NLP-based applications, citizens can type in questions in their own language and in everyday speech on Public Bodies web sites, and they will obtain relevant answers in their language, with all necessary documentation!

How to use HANDS?

Users will access HANDS through Public Bodies web sites and by simply typing their questions in using everyday language, they will immediately receive the answer or a notification that the question has been forwarded on to the relevant office.

HANDS background

The starting point of the work is a set of operational prototypes developed by the IST 20230 Project EDEN ("Electronic Democracy European Network").
The EDEN Project has developed and tested five applications designed to improve online communication between citizens and public administrations based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies.
The HANDS project:

• Takes up two of the five NLP components developed within the EDEN project, and integrates them into a fully marketable platform.
• Brings together an Address Guesser (an automatic email message dispatcher to the relevant offices) and the Answer Tree (a tool for the management of FAQ lists).
• Organizes pilot schemes where real users will validate the proposed platform

HANDS' main objectives

The main goal of the HANDS Project is to "market-validate" the HANDS online communication service by:

• Investigating administrative and economic viability of HANDS
• Identifying the conditions for its future deployment on a European scale.

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