Mike,
While I agree that smart speakers might provide a truncated version of certain types of material compared to what you will find using a Web browser to me it's not an Alexa versus the Web issue. Smart speakers are collecting this data from the same sources you're accessing with a browser. The speakers may be distilling and summarizing it a bit but it's from the same Web. Some people might want to seek out more detailed information and they will need to use additional devices, such as a computer or smart phone, to do it. For others knowing the general forecast for today and tonight is sufficient. I'm sure there are many library archivists as well as those who engage in a lot of research in physical libraries who bemoan how people who are solely dependent on the Internet for their information are missing out on so many more books and periodicals which may not be archived online. If only those poor Web-obsessed people would just open their eyes, they might say, they would be astounded at just how much they are missing. As another example People like me purchase all of their media from online sources. However, I'm very well aware of how much more is available on DVD and CD that isn't available to instantly download and we haven't even talked about all of the vinyl that never got converted over into digital media. . People have their own preferences for how they obtain the information that they need. If they're content with how they're receiving it as well as the amount they are receiving I'm fine with that.
David Goldfield,
Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist
NVDA Certified Expert
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-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Mike Pietruk
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 8:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] Alexa?
David
Thanks for posting this. After seeing it on your list, I was just about to post a link here for this as it seems to give a nice synopsis of the state of the smart speaker industry.
There has been something which has been troubling me as related to devices such as the Echo and its role in the lives of many blind users.
I love its convenience and use my stable of Echo devices in many of the ways described in this thread; in fact, I can thank the Echo for getting me into the world of Sirius-xm which I otherwise would have never have gotten hooked on.
It's one thing to use Echo devices when it allows one to do things better and more efficiently.
But I also sense some have gotten so dependent on their devices that they have abandoned their use of the web.
Everything has a place; but, in no way, can an Alexa replace a JAWS, NVDA, whatever.
Moreover, screen readers such as JAWS has become easier to use thanks to something that you and I use daily, namely Brian Hartgen's Leasey script package which is about to go into version 8.
One of the things I have tried in using Alexa is discovering what it can and cannot do better for me.
It's simple to ask her for a score or 2 (sometimes it takes her several attempt to get it right, btw) but if I want to see a whole of scores at the same time, going to pages, whose links I have saved, makes a whole lot more sense.
Alexa is nice for a cursory look at the weather; but a complete forecast is far better gotten on the web.
Force fitting a smart speaker to do everything in one's life hardly makes sense in my view.
BTW, every JAWS user owes themselves to take a look at Leasey even if they are a skilled user.
I'm saying it; and I know you have said it also in other places and situations.
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