Voice UIs
Promises and Challenges of a "New" Technology
Alan Harnum
aharnum@ocadu.ca / @waharnum
Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University
2018 Guelph Accessibility Conference
Introducing Myself and This Talk
Senior Inclusive Developer
idrc.ocadu.ca
I Am Not An Expert About Voice UI
But I’ve Got Some Thoughts About It Anyway
What I Think Might Be Going On
I’m Sorry I’m Going to Use the Phrase “Inflection Point”
Cheaper! Better!
Invasive! Insecure! Surveilling!
The Path Forward
What Are Voice UIs?
Voice-Based Controls
Wide Range of Devices
Science Fiction (Double Voice UI Feature)
Excluding Some Voice-Based Technologies
Several Things Are Happening at Once (As Though This Is Ever Not the Case)
Why Are They of Interest for Accessibility and Inclusion?
www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/380-phantom-traffic-jams-catfishing-scams-and-smart-speakers-1.4482967/smart-speakers-make-life-easier-for-blind-users-1.4482978
Briefly (I Promise) Bringing Up Some Things from My Talk Last Year
www.alanharnum.ca/post/2017-06-01-multimodal-design-for-inclusion/
In the Space of Hopeful Potential
How New Is The “New” Technology?
Live Tech Demos of Experimental Work : Good Idea, or Great Idea?
github.com/colinbdclark/transcribingRecorder/tree/componentization
Voice UI Work Is Easier Than You Think, I Promise
Of Course There Are Some Problems (Even Before We Get Into Privacy and Security)
If You Don’t Speak Certain Languages, You May Be Out of Luck
Even If You Speak Those Languages, You May Have to Speak Them in a Certain Way
www.wired.com/2017/03/voice-is-the-next-big-platform-unless-you-have-an-accent/
Like Everything Else These Days There’s Machine Learning, and Therefore Algorithmic Discrimination
What Are the Privacy and Security Concerns?
“The FBI Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny Wiretapping Your Amazon Echo”
paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-fbi-can-neither-confirm-nor-deny-wiretapping-your-a-1776092971
“Amazon refusing to hand over data on whether Alexa overheard a murder”
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/amazon-wont-disclose-if-alexa-witnessed-a-murder/
“How an Amazon Echo ended up recording and sharing a private conversation”
www.vox.com/2018/5/25/17393870/amazon-echo-alexa-privacy-recording-conversation
“Voice assistants can be hacked by commanding them with inaudible ultrasonic speech”
boingboing.net/2017/09/07/flipper-faster-than-lightning.html
It’s Also Embarassing I Was Talking to Google Past Midnight
“The Privacy Threat From Always-On Microphones Like the Amazon Echo”
www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/privacy-threat-always-microphones-amazon-echo
This All Feels Very Personal?
What Are Some Potential Directions for the Future?
You See Me Now, A Veteran, of the 90s Browser Wars
Open Source Possibilities
Mozilla Common Voice
voice.mozilla.org
Jasper
jasperproject.github.io/
Snips
snips.ai
Questions and Discussion