Spotlight Project

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Spotlight Project
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Spotlight Project

• Two central goals
• Create advanced spoken language applications
• Demonstrate them to other companies
• Partners are
• User organisations who will define applications
• Technologists who will create them

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Spotlight Partners
CCIR
Lloyds TSB
British Midland Airways
Deutsche Bahn DB RT Periphonics
Periphonics
EC
Advance Bank
CSELT
Comune Di Roma Saritel
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Spotlight Demonstrators

• Financial services and travel sectors
• English, German, Italian
• Informational services (balances, times)
• Transactional services (loans, seats)
• Personalised services (advice, members)
• Series of project demonstrators
• Four phases of demonstrators
• Usability trials with customers

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Spotlight Technology Goals

• Rapid prototyping tools
• Library of re-usable, proven dialogue objects
• Fluency models for spoken NL
• Usability trial results
• New dialogue design methods
• Design Guide and Case Studies

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Spotlight Benefits
TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIER BENEFITS
DIALOGUE OBJECTS (TESTED)
SPOKEN NATUAL LANGUAGE CAPABILITY
CASE STUDIES
FLUENCY MODELS
STYLE GUIDE
USER ENTERPRISE BENEFITS
INFORMATION SERVICES
INDUSTRY SOCIETY BENEFITS
PERSONALISEDSERVICES
TRANSACTIONAL SERVICES
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Spotlight Approach

• Identify the services
• Define user requirements
• Develop series of demonstrators
• Subjective and objective evaluations
• Socio-economic studies
• Publicise and demonstrate the results

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Spotlight Plan

• Five work packages
• WP0 Co-ordination (c/o CCIR)
• WP1 Fluent speech modules (c/o CCIR)
• WP2 Customisable speech modules (c/o CSELT)
• WP3 Prototype services (c/o Periphonics)
• WP4 Usability trials (c/o CCIR)
• WP5 Spotlight actions (c/o Periphonics)

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Spotlight Operation

• Four main committees
• Co-ordination committee - 1 person per partner
• quarterly meetings, project control changes,
  reports
• Technical committee - 1 person per language
• dialogue design methods, software releases, Style
  Guide
• Quality committee - 1 person per language
• all deliverables (documents) for EC
• Dissemination committee - 1 person per country
• seminars, Web site, video, visitors, press
  coverage

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Spotlight Operation

• Web site
• http//www.spotlight.ccir.ed.ac.uk
• Public area html, hyper-links, demos, media
• email - spotlight_at_ccir.ed.ac.uk
• Project area (EC) password, deliverables,
  reports
• Partner area password, work files, records
• Document exchange - Office97 formats

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Spotlight Operation

• Reports
• Management Reports
• Monthly (private) 100 words per partner
• Technical work by tasks, visits and visitors
• Quarterly to EC compiled by CCIR
• Issues and solutions, effort used
• Annual (public version)
• Financial Reports
• Semestral - EC format per partner

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Spotlight Operation

• Budgets
• Advance payment (30) January 2000
• Stage payments (semestral) by cost statement
• Equipment - follow depreciation rules
• Travel - non-EU travel requires prior EC
  permission
• Project meetings - dates and persons involved
• Sub-contracts and Assistant contractors
• Final payment of 15 with-held pending reports

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Spotlight Operation

• Deliverables
• Key technical and management task
• Intention is to avoid delays
• Quality control process
• T-6 weeks authors circulate to relevant readers
• T-4 weeks authors incorporate comments, edits
• T-2 weeks authors submit to Quality Control
  Committee
• T-0 weeks Co-ordinator submits to EC, posts on
  Web page

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Spotlight Project