Speech technology is a curious field that has been on the threshold of "emerging" for many years. In 1960, J.C.R. Licklider estimated we would achieve significant speech recognition by 1965. Indeed, I recall sitting in the plush offices of a true industry guru well over a decade ago as he demonstrated the latest in speech-to-text. […]
September 2000 - Vol. 43 No. 9
Features
An increasing number of companies are creating a new position—”chief privacy officer”—to prevent legal or marketing disasters and help gain the trust of online customers, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Government scrutiny is a major factor in companies creating the post—the Federal Trade Commission recently filed a lawsuit to block the bankrupt Toysmart.com from […]
I enjoyed Brock Meeks’s column, "Bad Moon Rising" (Jun. 2000, p. 19). I was particularly amused by AOL’s Steve Case’s quoted comments that "all competitors would be welcome on the AOL-Time Warner system." In keeping with Meeks’s grave doubts, Time Warner is already violating these precepts. Many RCA televisions have a built-in feature called the […]
From Washington: Ethics, Schmethics
Many scientists and their sponsoring companies act unethical, partly because of their willingness to reap the first financial benefits of any unethical innovation.
Staying Connected: Body of Technology
It's just a matter of time before a chip gets under your skin.
Viewpoint: Technological Access Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship
Whether searches are human-assisted or computer-assisted, searching any work is fair use.
If you could speak to a computer that answers you in kind, or recognize you based solely on the properties of your voice, would you be happier with the interaction or work more productively?
Natural Spoken Dialogue Systems For Telephony Applications
A friendly "How may I help you?" replaces traditional menus for telephony services.
Speech Interfaces from an Evolutionary Perspective
How does the human brain react when confronted by a talking computer? Answers from psychological research and its design implications help define the limits of what computers should say and how they might say it.
Taming Recognition Errors with a Multimodal Interface
More modes are better than one when it comes to comprehending human speech, especially when speakers are accented or interacting in noisy natural environments.
Voicexml For Web-Based Distributed Conversational Applications
VoiceXML replaces the familiar HTML interpreter (Web browser) with a VoiceXML interpreter and the mouse and keyboard with the human voice.
Conversational Interfaces For E-Commerce Applications
These e-commerce shopping agents are knowledgeable, patient, and affable during their conversational interaction with shoppers—while helping generate sales for site owners.
The Limits of Speech Recognition
To improve speech recognition applications, designers must understand acoustic memory and prosody.
Who are you? Your voice alone can be used to verify your personal identity—unobtrusively and invisibly.
Embodied User Interfaces For Really Direct Manipulation
Treating the body of the handheld device as part of its user interface.
Global Software Piracy: You Can't Get Blood out of a Turnip
Any strategy created to combat global piracy rates must focus first on price discrimination.
Supercharging the audience through simultaneous discussions during presentations.
An Integrative Framework For IS Quality Management
Considering issues relating to multiple stakeholder groups, product, service, and process quality is important for managing IS quality.
Thinking Objectively: The Problem with Scalability
In software, very few projects remain of constant magnitude.
For evaluating the proposed U.S. missile-defense shield, President Clinton has outlined four criteria relating to strategic value, technological and operational feasibility, cost, and impact on international stability. Strategic value is difficult to assess without considering the feasibility; if the desired results are technologically infeasible, then the strategic value may be minimal. Feasibility remains an open […]
