| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/J98226/01 |
| Title: |
DIALOGUES 2000 - INDUSTRY STANDARDS FOR DIALOGUE ENGINEERING IN AUTOMATED TELEPHONE SERVICES |
| Principal Investigator: |
Jack, Professor MA |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Engineering |
| Organisation: |
University of Edinburgh |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 May 1994 |
Ends: |
31 October 1997 |
Value (£): |
621,319
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Human Communication in ICT |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The objective of the project is to make recommendations regarding common features in dialogue engineering standards for automated telephone service interface technology. Working exemplars of such technologies will be used in experiments. All companies working in the industry will be eligible to join the project as Associated Partners, to guide the scientific work of the project and critique the research findings. It is expected that the on-going work of the project will have an incremental effect on the commonality of the various market offerings, even before the completion of the project. Progress:The first major experiment involving 280 users was to investigate users' attitudes, preferences and performance with respect to a variety of tone types in automated telephone services. A picture emerges which indicates differences between these user perceptions. Depending upon the nature of the service, selection of the tone type must take into account the differences between three aspects. The experience showed that for user satisfaction in contexts where the role of the tone is not crucial (for example in welcome messages), lower frequency tones (600 Hz) should be given priority use in dialogue engineering. To give the user an appreciation that tones are being used specifically as prompts ( speak now ), higher frequency tones (1000 Hz) and the ISO chime should be given priority in dialogue engineering. For dialogues where efficiency and speed are key issues (for example, where expert users require 'fast-track' dialogues) elimination of the tones is desirable. The Dialogues 2000 Industry Club now has thirteen members from a variety of industry sectors, including Banking and Finance, IVR technology developers and distributors, as well as companies from the retail sector. Two European companies have also joined after it was agreed that invitations should be opened to non-UK companies. The first issue of the Dialogues 2000 newsletter has been published and three hundred copies have been dispersed to over one hundred companies and organisations active in the Interactive Voice Response industry. The newsletter contains articles on the first meeting of the special interest group from the Banking and Finance sector, a short bulletin on the structure and organisation of the project, a membership update, and a report on the Dialogues 2000 Experiment I: Attitudes to Tones in Dialogues.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.ed.ac.uk |