Talk to the Web

Citation

(1999), "Talk to the Web", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948daf.005

Talk to the Web

Mannesmann Arcor and CyberLab Interactive Productions have launched a system to access the Internet via the telephone without computer. TalkingWeb - the voice browser developed by both companies - allows users to call a number and access the Internet using voice commands. The browser connects to the desired web page and reads its content back to the user. The browser can also play and record audio files making audio-on-demand services possible. A developer's version was demonstrated at CeBIT at the Mannesmann Arcor stand back in March.

"TalkingWeb" - as the browser is called - is the interface between the Internet and the telephone. Callers are able to reach any web page via one single telephone number. The speech recognition system used by TalkingWeb listens to voice commands and links the caller to the desired web page. The content of the page is read to the user using speech synthesis. Navigation and user-input are all done by voice only allowing the caller to navigate the page and use the interactive capabilities of the different services.

Behind the scenes: the voice services are perfectly standard HTML 4.0/CSS pages located on any Internet server in the world. The voice browser is capable of reading the text of the pages, asking questions to fill out forms and following links as well as playing and recording audio files. All types of Internet content from news to chats can be converted to the demand of voice navigation with little effort and thereby made available to anyone who has a telephone.

And this is just the beginning: personalised services, where users can configure their audio-on-demand systems, chats via the telephone, memo services, stocks quotes, music and radio-on-demand systems are being developed by the community of developers who have already downloaded the Developer's kit on http://www.talkingweb.net Elmar Huelsmann, Senior Vice-President Marketing and Sales of Mannesmann Arcor said: "TalkingWeb brings together the worlds of voice and data communications. With this technology, a world of new ways of fast and efficient information gathering opens itself for the users."

Jean Paul Schmets, Managing Director of Cyberlab comments: "Because TalkingWeb is based on open standards (HTML and HTTP), only the creativity of the developers will limit the possibilities of the system."

Schmets encouraged content providers as well as hobbyists to register their homepages at TalkingWeb and download the Developers' Kit at www.talkingweb.net in order to experiment with the system. TalkingWeb is a cooperation between Cyberlab Interactive Productions (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burda Media Group) and Mannesmann Arcor.

Cyberlab Interactive Production GmbH is a professional services firm that helps clients profit from the opportunities created by Internet technologies. Its different units assist businesses and organisations in adapting to the new demands of the electronic economy. Its production units provide full outsourced management of network based networked applications. Clients include the Federal Republic of Germany and Heidrick and Struggles worldwide. Cyberlab is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burda publishing group.

Mannesmann Arcor AG & Co. is Germany's second-largest supplier of telecommunication services. As a private fixed-network operator, with its own full-coverage network over 40,000 km in length, Arcor offers its customers a broad spectrum of services for the transmission of voice, data and images, based on the latest technological developments.

The shareholders in Mannesmann Arcor are the Deutsche Bahn AG and a consortium headed by Mannesmann AG whose members include, in addition to Mannesmann the Deutsche Bank AG, AT&T and Unisource. Arcor has over 6,500 employees, and posted sales of around 1,8 billion Marks in 1998.