The telephone was invented in the 1870s and continues to be a very important means for people to communicate with each other. The Web by comparison is very recent, but is rapidly becoming a competing communications channel. The convergence of telecommunications and the Web is now bringing the benefits of Web technology to the telephone, enabling Web developers to create applications that can be accessed via any telephone, and allowing people to interact with these applications via speech and telephone keypads. The W3C Speech Interface Framework is a suite of markup specifications aimed at realizing this goal. It covers voice dialogs (VoiceXML), speech synthesis (SSML), speech recognition (SRGS, SISR), pronunciation lexicon (PLS), call control (CCXML, SCXML) and other requirements for interactive voice response applications, including use by people with hearing or speaking impairments.
The Working Group concentrates on languages for capturing and producing speech and managing the dialog between user and computer, while a related Group, the Multimodal Interaction Working Group, concentrates on additional input modes including keyboard and mouse, ink and pen, etc.
The Voice Browser Working Group published Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) as a Candidate Recommendation in December 2007. The Candidate Recommendation period is closing on 11 April, 2008.
The group also published the fourth Working Draft of Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1, and its fifth Working Draft is expected in March 2008.
The group is working on the Disposition of Comments document and test assertions of CCXML for the next publication as Candidate Recommendation expected in the third quarter of 2008. SCXML is making steady progress, and the fourth Working Draft is expected in the first quarter of 2008.
The group is also tackling VoiceXML 3.0 as the next generation dialog framework, and is generating the First Public Working Draft and its requirements document. Detailed discussion on its new functionaities, including how to handle profiles and modules, was jointly held with the Multimodal Interaction Working Group at the face to face meeting in Orlando, FL, US on 3-7 March 2008 hosted by Voxeo.
The Working Group expects next to transition PLS to Proposed Recommendation and VoiceXML 3.0 to First Public Working Draft in May 2008. The fifth Working Draft of SSML 1.1 will be shortly published in March 2008, and its Last Call Working Draft should be published in the second quarter of this year. The fourth Working Draft of SCXML is also expected to be published in the first quarter of 2008, while the Candidate Recommendation of CCXML is planned in the third quarter.
The next face to face meeting will be held on 9-13 June in Saarbruecken, Germany, hosted by DFKI and collocated with the Multimodal Interaction Working Group face to face meeting.
| Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice Browser Working Group (participants) | Jim Larson, Scott McGlashan | Matt Womer, Kazuyuki Ashimura | Chartered until 31 January 2009 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for the April 2008 W3C Advisory Committee Meeting (Members only) per section 5 of the W3C Process Document. Generated from group data.
Kazuyuki Ashimura, Voice Browser Activity Lead
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