having just read this article with a screenreader it's easy to see the
authors point.


Adrian Higginbotham,
ODL (Open Distance Learning)
tel: 0161 2952555
Email [log in to unmask]
Technology House, Lissadel Street, Salford, M6 6AP.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Alfieri" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 11:55 PM
Subject: Circuits: Speech Recognition Follies


>
> Speech Recognition Follies
> In this column a few weeks ago, I wrote about the futility of trying to
> predict the future of technology. I focused on the limits of
> miniaturization: After a certain point, computers will never be any
smaller,
> because we still need a screen and some way to input information.
>
> Many of you wrote to me suggesting that these are easily surmounted
> problems. We won't need screens on our computers, you said, because we'll
> all wear goggles that project an enormous virtual monitor before our eyes.
> We won't need keyboards anymore, either, because scientists will perfect
> speech-recognition software. We'll just dictate text into our computers,
> palmtops and watches.
>
> Well, I have my doubts about the goggles thing. These virtual monitor
> glasses already exist, but you don't exactly see lines forming outside of
> Circuit City. I've tried these things out at trade shows, and found them
to
> be pretty annoying compared with a nice big flat-panel screen. I'm not
> saying they'll never happen; I'm just saying it's not a sure thing by any
> means.
>
> I will, however, bravely stick my neck out to say this: speech recognition
> will never replace the keyboard. Never - no matter how sophisticated
> software gets.
>
> The problem isn't the accuracy of the transcription. Thanks to a nasty
wrist
> ailment called tenosynovitis, I do most of my writing using ScanSoft's
> NaturallySpeaking 6, which I dearly love. I've been using this program
since
> version 3, correcting each transcription error, thereby continually
> perfecting its understanding of my voice. After all these years, I get 99
> percent accuracy. (I've dictated this entire column so far without a
single
> error.)
>
> But dictation software will never reach 100 percent, and therefore we'll
> always need a keyboard or stylus to correct typos (or "wordos"). Not
because
> the software isn't good enough, but because in the English language, too
> many words sound alike.
>
> I spent my first ten years out of college working as a Broadway conductor
> and arranger. The day I became sure that speech recognition would never
> replace the keyboard was during rehearsals for a show called "The Will
> Rogers Follies." The actress, trying out a new song, sang: "I'm filled
with
> an aimless feeling."
>
> I was sitting next to a stage manager who had the script open on her lap.
> Just for fun, I looked down to follow along with the singer - and realized
> that she hadn't sung "an aimless feeling" at all. What she actually sang
> was: "I'm filled with a nameless feeling."
>
> When spoken at conversational speed (or sung), "an aimless" and "a
nameless"
> sound identical, and no amount of body language or context would ever tell
> you which is the correct interpretation.
>
> Nor is that the only example: over the years, I've kept a log of the
> "mistakes" made by my speech recognition software. These examples are
> hilarious, but they make a very serious point. In most of these cases,
what
> I really said and what the computer typed out are sonically identical.
>
> What I Said -> What Was Transcribed:
> * bookmark it -> book market
> * Motorola -> motor roll a
> * modem port -> mode import
> * a procedure -> upper seizure
> * and then stick it in the mail -> and dense thicket in the mail
> * movie clips -> move eclipse
> * I might add -> I my dad
> * inscrutable -> in screw double
> * hyphenate -> -8
> * suffocate -> Suffolk 8
> * a case we summarily dismissed -> a case we so merrily dismissed
> * or take a shower -> Ortega shower
> * the right or left -> the writer left
> * oxymoron -> ax a moron
> * ArialPhone guy -> aerial fungi
>
> Do you see the problem? Everybody says that speech recognition will
> eventually become perfect, as software becomes sophisticated enough to
> "understand" the context and inflection of our speech. But what about
> situations when even context and inflection are no help? Without reading
my
> mind, how would even you ever determine whether I said "a case we
summarily
> dismissed" or "a case we so merrily dismissed"? In short, how can we
expect
> computers to understand us perfectly, when half the time we can't
understand
> each other?
>
> I'm guessing that keyboards will always be with us. Still, watch this
space
> in 2030. If I'm proven wrong, I'll be the first to celebrate.
>
> Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com <http://www.davidpogue.com>
.
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> THIS WEEK IN CIRCUITS
>  As Gadgets Go to Class, Schools Try to Cope
> With cellphones and other gadgets becoming standard equipment for
students,
> schools are working to devise rules for their use.
>
> Dorm Life: Sharing Space? Share E-Mail First
> As entering freshmen cope with worries about getting a "bad" roommate,
many
> are minimizing their fears with flurries of e-mail.
>
> State of the Art: Packing a Digital Bag
> When it comes to back-to-school shopping, a computer can be both a need
and
> a tool. Some handy products can help college students make the most of
their
> year.
> * Forum: Discuss New Gadgets and Gizmos
> <http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?50@@.f16bec4/436>   Wired
> Collaboration: A Cyber Building in Cleveland
> A building designed by Frank Gehry at Case Western Reserve University
makes
> online networking a pillar of learning.
>
> Sites Unseen: A Web Teaching Tool Languishes
> It has proved harder than expected to turn classroom Web pages into a
> teaching tool.
> * Study Finds That Teachers Fail to Grasp the Web's Potential
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/15/technology/circuits/15STUD.html?8cir>
>
> Online Shopper: The Seductive Call of School Supplies
> Struggling to meet the back-to-school demands of a very picky set of
> consumers.
>
> Basics: A Reference Library on Disc or Online
> Electronic media is making dictionaries, encyclopedias and other
references
> available online and on disk.
>
> * More From This Week's Circuits
>
>
>
> Click Here to Receive 50% Off Home Delivery of The New York Times
Newspaper.
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>
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