The World Wide Web is perhaps the greatest technology innovation the world has seen in the last few decades. It has created the largest repository of information, opened new streams of businesses, and transformed the way people communicate. The World Wide Web has helped eliminate geographical barriers and paved the way for global collaboration and integration. All done with a few clicks on our computers.
Unfortunately, a majority of the population on this planet does not have computers or connectivity to the Internet. And the chances of that changing any time soon is probably a distant dream.
The basic principle of Spoken Web lies in creating a system analogous to the World Wide Web using a technology most of us all have in common - speech. Spoken Web helps people create voice sites using a simple telephone, mobile or landline. The user gets a unique phone number which is analogous to a URL and when other users access this voice site they get to hear the content uploaded there. Interestingly, all these voice sites can be interlinked creating a massive network, which can work like the World Wide Web.
When a user wants to create a voice site, he or she needs to call a number and a software called VoiGen helps the person create a new site. The user can upload voice content according to his or her needs and is given a unique phone number, analogous to a URL. When other users access the VoiceSite, they get to hear the content given there. These VoiceSite, linked like Web site, creates a parallel of World Wide Web.
Spoken Web will supply people in emerging countries without reliable computing infrastructures, as well as those who are handicapped, or who are unable to read or write, with all the benefits and conveniences the Web has to offer. From buying food to cars, to researching how weather patterns will affect crops, the Spoken Web offers people from all different backgrounds and societies the chance to take advantage of all the Internet has to offer.
Researchers: Sheetal K. Agarwal, Anupam Jain, Arun Kumar, Priyanka Manwani, Sougata Mukherjea, Amit A. Nanavati, Nitendra Rajput, Aaditeshwar Seth
|
