Speak to the Target Audience – Some Observations and Notes on the Pragmatics of Spoken Dialog Systems

Abstract

In this book, most chapters deal in one way or another, with techniques to build and improve spoken dialogue systems that deliver the best possible service to their users. The sub-title of this collection implicitly assumes that the people who call in to telephone-based services or who use multi-modal interaction with mobile systems are this target audience. And, of course, under scientific, technical and engineering aspects, this is undoubtedly true.

In real life, however, this assumption is not always correct and sometimes even misleading. Rather, under economical, political and practical aspects, the first target audience, and, in some cases the most decisive one, are the people in those organizations who deploy these systems, i.e. make them available for their customers. This chapter is not a scientific contribution. To the best of our knowledge, no scientific examination of the practicalities of deploying spoken dialogue systems exists. This contribution is based on the author’s experience and the exchange with colleagues over a substantial period of time.