Voice-Activated Telematics or Text-to-Voice Technologies Used in Cars - Assignment Example

Information consultant report Client Consultant: Consultant ID: Report Date: Lecturer: Subject: Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0 Introduction 3 1.1 Background 3 2.0 Client Interview Synopsis 4 3.0 Assumptions 4 4.0 Search objectives 5 5.0 Analysis of Key concepts and synonyms 6 6.0 Online Search tools selected 7 7.0 Initial Search strategies for online resources 9 7.1 Internet search 9 7.2 Database search 13 1.0 Introduction This report presents the findings on the voice telematics and text-to-voice translators that are often used in cars to facilitate communication for drivers such as reading emails and responding to them. The report, thus, presents the finding of the above information as requested by company executive, Camille Careerminded. The crux of the report is about how this technology is implemented in car and how drivers use them while driving. The report reviews some of the technologies that deliver real-time mobile data services focusing on the standards behind these technologies. More specifically, this report outlines some of the firms that have implemented voice-activated telematics or text-to-voice technologies in the car they manufacture. In a nutshell, the report aims at providing Camille Careerminded with an opportunity to choose the best vendor of these technologies that she can recommend for adoption in the company’s fleet. 1.1 Background This report is a response to the needs of Camille Careeminded, a commuter. Camille is interested in finding information on the following. The quality of sound that voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators produce when use to read emails while she is on the road Camille would like to have a report on various reviews of the products that offer voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators Most important, Camille is interested in knowing which car manufacturers provide voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice products technologies in their cars. 2.0 Client Interview Synopsis The success of the information consultant report rest on understanding the clients requesting and meeting her needs. After the review of the information Camille had provided, an informal interview was done to clarify some information regarding her request. The interview conducted yielded vital information, which is appended in Appendix C of this report. The interview process help clarify the following information about Camille request The primary focus of the report is to provide Camille with information regarding voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators that could be mounted in cars. Camille wanted to know more about Whether these technologies could help someone read emails without manipulating gadgets while driving The quality of sound produced by these technologies when used to read emails The cost of implementing and servicing voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators in care Car manufacturers who install voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators in their cars ready for use The informal interview revealed that information on substitutes of these technologies were of secondary importance to Camille 3.0 Assumptions This report was written with emphasis on some assumptions. The assumptions made in the writing of this report are: Camille has access to a computer and has the understanding of reading email and browsing various websites. Camille was interested in getting general information about voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators rather than a technical presentation The report presents information that are recent and those that are being updated over time on the use and development of voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice technologies Camille is interested in getting the most effective technology that would require little physical manipulation for it to work when she is driving the car. The emphasis of the report if determining whether voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice translators can work in cars and who are the manufacturers Camille can approach to supply cars with these technologies 4.0 Search objectives Based on the need of the client, Camille, this report outlines three search objectives that are critical in the realization of the client’s information needs. The three search objectives below guide the research process this report outlines. Find articles that review voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice technologies Identify standards of voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice technologies and report on their effectiveness Identify companies that provide vehicles that have voice-activated telematics and text-to-voice technologies The search process in this report focused on the above search objectives since they were critical in meeting the information need of Camille. Most significantly, these search objectives are the key in the formulation of keywords necessary for conducting the search in all online resources selected for this task. 5.0 Analysis of Key concepts and synonyms The success of the search process rests on the identification of correct concepts and synonyms. The table below shows several key concepts and synonyms that are essential in implementing an effective and successful search strategy Key Concepts Key Concepts Key Concepts Key Concepts Key Concepts Key Concepts Voice-activated Telematics Text-to-voice Translators Email Car Synonyms Synonyms Synonyms Synonyms Synonyms Synonyms Voice-activation Vehicle telematics Text-to-speech interpreters e-mail Vehicle Voice command Information and Communications Technology Read aloud software Electronic mail Automobile Speaker recognition M2M communication Speech synthesis synthesizer email truck Virtual Assistant Synthetic speech converter Motorcar speech-to-text Voice fonts tool auto speech recognition Voice software engine Sound monitoring reader VOX Application program 6.0 Online Search tools selected For the purpose of searching for information on the topic identified, two online search tools were selected. The first search tool was a search engine—Google—and the second tool was an online database accessed via the QUT library. These online search tools were deemed necessary for conducting search for information relating to the client’s request. The first online resource was Google, a robust and effective search engine. Google is a premier search engine accessed at www.google.com. This is one of the best search engines because it contains massive index of websites that individuals could search. In addition, Google stands out because it can enables search of other features such as images, and news. Being that Google employs comprehensive information gathering, it was deemed necessary to use it as the online search engine of choice. While the ease of use was certainly not the primary reason for choosing Google, it served as a secondary reason why Google was chosen. Most important, Google was chosen because it has superior page ranking giving websites ranks according to various metrics. The implication of this was having rankings that would reflect the effectiveness of the pages. Similarly, Google indexes websites all over the world and this would be a great advantage during the information search. Likewise, Google indexes various resources such as newspapers, conferences papers, journals and other articles. Together with giving users the ability to conduct custom search using search control features search as Boolean operators, and field searching, Google searches are free and users can rank information according to year of publication. These reasons reinforced the choice of Google as the search engine of choice. The second selected online resource is an electronic database— ABI/INFORM Complete. The ABI/INFORM Complete is an electronic database that contains articles in various areas such as business, management, and accounting. This database is an excellent resource because it contains articles from various journals with contributors across the globe. In these articles, the authors often showcase vital report on project or research work. Moreover, the ABI/INFORM Complete offers information that are recent not to mention indexing old articles, as well. This is an essential attribute because it is possible to trace the evolution of a topic. Another strength of the ABI/INFORM Complete database is the peer review articles it indexes. Peer review articles are the best source of information because professional review such articles before they are published. This implies that the articles are most likely to contain correct and relevant information on a given aspect. The ABI/INFORM Complete database was an excellent choice because it did not cost any fee because it was accessible through the QUT library. The resource was an excellent choice among other databases because it was simple and easy to use. This attribute was handy considering the need for effective navigation during the search. Most important, the ABI/INFORM Complete database has filter necessary for carrying advance searches and limiting search results based on certain parameters. In both online tools, there are several factors that guided their selection. The factors are The likelihood of finding accurate information from reputed sources The likeliness of refining the search and narrowing on the search results The ability to limiting search using special parameters like geographical location The likeliness of expanding results using suggested keywords or thesaurus 7.0 Initial Search strategies for online resources For each of the two resources, Google search engine and ABI/INFORM complete database, two searches were done because the Camille request was on two technologies that are distinct. 7.1 Internet search The internet search was done using Google (www.google.com) search engine since it was the more preferred internet search tool for using in the search process. First, the Google advanced website was visited and a search conducted. The search was done using all major keywords with voice-activated and text-to-voice being another distinct keyword. In the first instance, advanced Google search was done with the following keywords entered into the search fields. These keywords below were entered into the all keywords field of the advanced Google search page (http://www.google.com.au/advanced_search). This page was Voice-activated telematics email car Along with the above keywords, the search was restricted to website ending with .au extension. The purpose of this filter was for the search to retrieve website with information touching on Australia because the client reside in Australia. The search engine returned more than a thousand results and most of the results were relevant to the client’s need. The screen shot below shows the first instance of the Google Search In the second instance of the Google search, the following keywords were used Text-to-speech interpreters email car The above keywords were used because the text-to-speech keyword is different from the other keyword (voice activated). In addition, the use of the filter (.au) and region selection (Australia) limited the focus of the search engine to Australia where Camille works for his company. These search results of the above search were many and most of them appeared relevant to the needs of client. These search results were left for use in the second section of the report. However, below is a screen shot with parameters of the search. 7.2 Database search Similar to the internet search, two search instances were done on the ABI/INFORM online database. In the first case, following keywords were entered to the search box. Voice-activated telematics email car The search button was the clicked, which returned 30 results. A preview of the results showed that some of them were relevant while others were not. After the above search, the full text and peer reviwed were selected and Modify Search buton clicked. One search result was returned, but it was irrelevant. The second instance of the research was done on the ABI/INFORM database. The keywords below were entered in the search field and the search button clicked. The search returned two results, all relevant Read More