Voicesites: Talking Web

In the era of multimedia, plain text staring out of the screen can be
extremely boring. In spite of all the technological renaissance in the
telecommunications space, voice has not lost its sheen. A consumer now wants to
use all applications on a mobile phone, what could be better if consumers can
enjoy the goodness of web through voice.

Industry pundits believe that five years from now, spoken web will become a
game changing technology. In India, many operators and media companies are
already running their voice portals that are equivalent of web portals, giving
access to content and information through the voice channel on a mobile phone or
landline.

Interestingly, these voicesites can be created by an investment of about Rs 1
lakh or even lesser. A voicesite has a brand name and an access number like
02218181818. In case a user wants to access a voicesite, he needs to dial the
number from his mobile/phone and listen to the content of his choice available
on that voicesite.

IT giant, IBM Research India has developed a technology called the 'Spoken
Web' that has the potential to bring the power of the Internet to the masses
through their phones. The basic principle of the 'Spoken Web' is to create a
system that is analogous to the world wide web using the ability that most of
the users have in common-speech. This technology helps people create voicesites
using a telephone-be it mobile or landline. Web technology from IBM supports
both hosting and browsing voice enabled and voice controlled mobile sites.

To create a voicesite, a mobile or telepone user needs to dial a specific
number and at that point IBM's software called VoiGen helps the user to create a
new site. The user gets a unique phone number which is analogous to a URL; and
when other users access this voicesite, they get to hear the content uploaded
there. Interlinked voicesites, similar to hyperlinked websites, create a
parallel infrastructure for the world wide web.

The researchers working on this technology have been inspired by the
increasing number of mobile phone users worldwide, especially India. The company
believes that in countries such as India, talking to the web is like
leapfrogging all other interfaces; and the mobile phone is outpacing the PC.

These voicesites will come to the rescue of the people who do not have access
to a personal computer and the Internet, or those who are unable to read or
write. The web will become more accessible by using voice, all the users will be
able to take advantage of the benefits and convenience that the web offers.

According to IBM, the voicesites can also exploit data and services in the 3G
IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). For instance, voicesites and services available
through them can be configured so as to adapt based on the presence and other
information available from appropriate IMS components.

Heena Jhingan

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in