Research!

All of us are in heavy research mode and have been sharing research information. Karen has decided to focus on speech systems for her research paper. Edith is focusing on context-aware systems. Lisa is working on conversational systems. She suggested that all play with both Google (SMS and GOOG-411) and Tellme.com systems. Here are some speech transcripts and un-polished notes from her experience.

Google Mobile SMS - 466453
http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/sms/#

- Type the name of the business or service followed by zip or city and state
- Alternatively, "SET LOCATION city/state" and all queries that follow will be at this saved location
- Directions FROM city/state TO city/state

If you send a blank message to Google Mobile, you get back a help message that tells you about all of the searches you can make. Everything is abbreviated. Here is the text:

Text to 466453 to get results, e.g,;
Local: blockbuster sf
(W)eather: w nyc
(M)ovies: m 94114
flights: ua 14
Sports: ny jets
Stocks: goog
More help: tips

When I responded with local I got:
To get business listings, enter what you want to find and include a city and state, or zip (ex: pizza 10013, Blockbuster boston ma)

Entering in an address, I got back one search results. I would have liked to have been able to request more.

1-800-Goog-411
State LOCATION and BUSINESS TYPE
Things you can always say: "Connect", "text message", "map it"

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Goog-411 transcript

Prompt: What city and state
User: Clarksburg, Maryland
Prompt: What business name or category?
User: coffee
Prompt: Searching
Prompt:
Top eight results
Number 1 Myorga Coffee on Stringtown Road
To select number one, you cna press one or say number one
Number 2 Starbucks on Frederick Road, Germantown
Number 3 Starbucks on Frederick Road, Germantown
Number 4 Starbucks Coffee on Germantown Road, Germantown
To start a new search, say start over anytime
Number 5 Starbucks on Frederick Road, Germantown
Number 6 Dunkin Donuts on Wisteria Drive, Germantown
Number 7 Mayorga Coffee on Wisteria Drive, Germantown
Number 8, Aqui Brazilian Coffee on Wisteria Drive, Germantown
Top of the list
User:
Number 1 -
Prompt: Number 8, Aqui Brazilian Coffee on Wisteria Drive, Germantown
Prompt: I'll connect you or say details or go back
User: Text message
Prompt: Hold on, Sending text message
Prompt: Hang on and I'll connect you, or say go back.

Basic dialogue flow:
CITY/STATE
BUSINESS NAME or CATEGORY
CHOICE

Voice - very nice quality. SR very good. System very usable until the end when it expects you want to be connected automatically. Eeek! All alternatives are not provided via the final choice menu. System choices easy to use - top eight listings and street number. Use of keyboard input for number - mixed modal interaction. Some small choice-based interaction on webpage output.

SMS output:
Contact info -> WAP link to a map -> WAP link to driving directions (from default location)

SMS service has a very simple dialogue functionality of "remembering" a default location.

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Tellme transcript
Prompt: Main menu
Prompt: business search, ring tones, stock quotes, news center, sports, entertainment, travel, and popular shortcuts
User: business search
Prompt: hmmm. I didn't get that. Please say one of our categories or say main menu
Prompt: business search
Prompt: I'm sorry, I still didn't get that. To hear all the categories we have, say main menu
User: business search
Prompt: I'm sorry. I'm having trouble understanding. You can also punch the first three letters of one of our categories on the telephone keypad, for instance -- okay, business search then.
User:
Prompt: city and state please
User: clarksburg, maryland
Prompt: okay. what business, or type of business are you looking for?
User: coffee
Prompt: To narrow your search, you can say by intersection or you can say I don't know
Prompt: Alright. When you hear the one you want, just say the number.
Prompt:
1) Mayorga coffee
2) Starbucks, in multiple cities - (There are two. Do you want the __ or the __)
3) Music Cafe, in Damascus
Prompt: You can say repeat, tell me more choices, or new search
Prompt: Sorry I didn't hear you.
User: Tell me more choices.
Prompt: More choices
Prompt:
4) Dunkin Donuts in multiple cities
5) HUUI Brazilian Coffee, in Germantown
User: 5
Prompt: Okay, HUUI Brazilian Coffee at the 12615 Wisteria Drive Germantown Square
Prompt: The number is 301-540-3395. I'll text you that info now.
Prompt: You can say share this listing, you can also say repeat the info or start over.

Voice - very nice quality main interlocutor. 'Choice reader' very mixed... Different voices mixed together. More prompts than Google, but very easy to use. I preferred this interaction since I wanted a text message response and not a connection. Speech recognition not as good, but text input alternative eliminates much frustration. Use of keyboard for input - mixed modal interaction. More efficient response than Google's when there are multiple alternatives of a chain.

Basic dialogue flow:
BUSINESS SEARCH
CITY/STATE
BUSINESS TYPE
CHOICE

Tell Me
1-800-555-TELL
"Business search"
NAME or TYPE
"Text me the info" - set to automatic
"Share this info" - with friend
"Go back" - wheew sound.

Tell Me Text 83556

"Coffee Clarksburg MD"
set default city. "d clarksburg md"
weather. "w clarksburg md"

After message receipt:

"m" to get more results
"map" to map
airport codes instead of city
wm - more results for weather

Downloadable - search using speech. feedback on screen.
Unable to test since none of our phones is supported.