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People-Centred Technologies

Voice and Multimodal Access to Web Services

In the Voice and Multimodal Access to Web Services project, prototype applications are tested to develop Voice and Multimodal User Interface usability guidelines for voice and multimodal applications for mobile users and workers.

Current project partners in this ongoing NRC-IIT collaborative research project include the University of New Brunswick’s Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Technology Centre Atlantic (CTCA), and a New Brunswick IT company. The project, which began in 2002, makes use of such special facilities and equipment as the VoiceGenie VoiceXML Gateway Platform and various mobile devices in the state-of-the-art Voice and Multimodal Technologies Laboratory at IIT e-Business.

Aim of the Project

The aim of this project is to investigate all facets of using VoiceXML and multimodal technology to provide access to Web services over the phone and phone-enabled mobile devices. This opens the Internet to people who cannot use a computer keyboard or a touchpad, including the visually impaired, people who don't own a computer or have an Internet connection, or mobile workers with a wireless phone / mobile device.

A key project has been VIMS, a Voice Inventory Management System prototype, used for experiments in benchmarking performance over large formatted and unformatted product databases and for improving Voice User Interface design and navigation. Several other proof-of-concept e-work and e-government VoiceXML and multimodal applications are currently under development.

Opportunities

Research opportunities
Research collaborations related to this project could involve such research areas as:

e-work and mobile use of technology where speech and multimodal interfaces would be appropriate
voice commerce and mobile commerce
access to government services
citizen engagement
access to health services
emergency response services

If interested, please contact the research contact listed below.

Technical transfer opportunities
Technical transfer opportunities related to this project could include licensable technologies in such sectors as:

e-government
e-health
e-manufacturing
e-infrastructure
mobile service providers
call centres
service and resource industries

Please contact the Business Development Officer listed below to discuss these opportunities.

Research Contact

Dr. Irina Kondratova
Group Leader
People-Centred Technologies
NRC Institute for Information Technology
46 Dineen Drive
Fredericton, NB E3B 9W4
Telephone: +1 (506) 444-0489
Fax: +1 (506) 452-3859
E-mail: Irina.Kondratova@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Business Contact

Marc-Alain Mallet
Business Development Officer
Business Development Office, New Brunswick
NRC Institute for Information Technology
46 Dineen Drive
Fredericton, NB E3B 9W4
Telephone: +1 (506) 444-0394
Fax: +1 (506) 452-3859
E-mail: Marc-Alain.Mallet@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca