SIP in higher education

[(Dennis Baron)]

Here are the notes from last weeks call.  The next call will be
Thursday, June 9, 2:00 EDT.  Please send me any topics that you'd like
on the agenda for future calls.

                Dennis

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SIP.edu Conference Call May 26, 2005

*Attendees*

Dennis Baron, MIT
Ed Guy, Pulver
Candace Holman, Harvard
Don Jackson, Tellme
Jeff Kuure, Internet2
Mark Spencer, Indiana University
Michael Van Norman, UCLA
Dave Zimmerman, Berkeley

*Discussion*

Today's call focused on an overview of VoiceXML, presented by Don Jackson
from Tellme. VoiceXML is a W3C approved markup language used to create
interactive voice dialogs. Documents are stored on a web server, and
are retrieved by a voice browser that associates a dialed number with a
specific URI. The document can specify various interactions and states,
such as the playback of an audio file, or a wait for speech or keypad
response by the user. These responses are received by the browser and
processed according to the grammars in the VoiceXML document, which
then sends the user to the next state. Many states can be contained
in one document, which eliminates return trips to the server, and
voice browsers can be contacted via PSTN or VOIP phones. Existing
web application development models and infrastructure are supported,
as VoiceXML documents simply describe a way of interacting with an
application using a voice or telephone interface.

Tellme offers support for VoiceXML developers via the Tellme Studio
(http://studio.tellme.com). Developers can get an ID and use the site to
test their VoiceXML applications, check syntax, and view logs of state
transmission within their VoiceXML applications.

Using VoiceXML, Tellme has set up an internal voice mail system which is
integrated with their LDAP directory and allows custom voice dialing -
employees can pick up a phone and ask to be connected to someone else
and the VoiceXML application handles the interaction. As a company,
Tellme provides voice dialing and directory assistance services to
various companies.

Following Don's presentation, discussion about voice dialing focuses on
how it could eliminate some of the problems with SIP dialing on 12-digit
keypads - numbers could be centrally stored, and could be accessed by
speaking a name into the phone. The VoiceXML application would be able
to retrieve the phone number. In addition, when peering with service
providers it is currently hard to negotiate longer domain names. A limited
number of .edu domains makes it easier to use voice dialing rather than
having callers enter domains on a keypad. There are, however, issues
with speech recognition which occasionally present problems.

Don sees VoiceXML as a way for independent developers to create
interesting applications and voice-driven ways to access existing data
without having to depend on telephone companies, using the internet as a
testbed for application development. Developers can use text-to-speech to
generate voice prompts, but the user experience can be improved greatly
with actual recorded voice for production applications. Voice usability
and production values are things that voice application developers must
concern themselves with, as VoiceXML development is still in a relatively
early stage.

The next call will be June 9th.

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