Providing question answering responses to how-to procedural questions

A computer system for selecting an instructional video, the computer system comprising:

• a bus system;
• a storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device stores program instructions;
• and
• a processor connected to the bus system, wherein the processor executes the program instructions to:
• determine that a query is requesting information on how to perform a procedure;
• access a set of instructional videos corresponding to the information on how to perform the procedure;
• retrieve information regarding a user of a client device that submitted the query requesting the information on how to perform the procedure, wherein the information regarding the user of the client device is retrieved from at least one of a set of databases and a set of monitoring devices located on the user via a network;
• predict physiological changes in the user's current cognitive state based on the information regarding the user retrieved from the set of databases and the set of monitoring devices located on the user;
• select an instructional video in the set of instructional videos corresponding to the information on how to perform the procedure based on the user's current cognitive state indicated in the retrieved information regarding the user of the client device;
• analyze the instructional video selected for the user that corresponds to the information on how to perform the procedure;
• decompose the instructional video selected for the user that corresponds to the information on how to perform the procedure into a set of procedural steps based on the analysis;
• determine whether a selected procedural step includes a sub-procedure in response to selecting the procedural step in the set of procedural steps on how to perform the procedure;
• determine whether the user requires a different skill to perform the sub-procedure in response to determining that the selected procedural step does include a sub-procedure;
• and
• select an instructional video corresponding to the different skill required by the user to perform the sub-procedure based on the retrieved information regarding the user of the client device in response to determining that the user requires the different skill to perform the sub-procedure.

A computer program product for selecting an instructional video, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

• determining, by a computer, that a query is requesting information on how to perform a procedure;
• accessing, by the computer, a set of instructional videos corresponding to the information on how to perform the procedure;
• retrieving, by the computer, information regarding a user of a client device that submitted the query requesting the information on how to perform the procedure, wherein the information regarding the user of the client device is retrieved from at least one of a set of databases and a set of monitoring devices located on the user via a network;
• predicting, by the computer, physiological changes in the user's current cognitive state based on the information regarding the user retrieved from the set of databases and the set of monitoring devices located on the user;
• selecting, by the computer, an instructional video in the set of instructional videos corresponding to the information on how to perform the procedure based on the user's current cognitive state indicated in the retrieved information regarding the user of the client device;
• analyzing, by the computer, the instructional video selected for the user that corresponds to the information on how to perform the procedure;
• decomposing, by the computer, the instructional video selected for the user that corresponds to the information on how to perform the procedure into a set of procedural steps based on the analyzing;
• responsive to the computer selecting a procedural step in the set of procedural steps on how to perform the procedure, determining, by the computer, whether the selected procedural step includes a sub-procedure;
• responsive to the computer determining that the selected procedural step does include a sub-procedure, determining, by the computer, whether the user requires a different skill to perform the sub-procedure;
• and
• responsive to the computer determining that the user requires the different skill to perform the sub-procedure, selecting, by the computer, an instructional video corresponding to the different skill required by the user to perform the sub-procedure based on the retrieved information regarding the user of the client device.