First Words – VoiceXML Resources Redux

Welcome to “First Words” – the VoiceXML Review’s column to teach you about VoiceXML and how you can use it. We hope you enjoy the lesson.

We’ve just finished a series of articles where we have beaten the subject of VoiceXML 2.1 into the ground.

This time around, we’re going to update our listing of VoiceXML resources.  We last did this in March 2002, so we’re due for an update!  It is certain that I’ve missed some, but this should get you started.

Portal/Information Sites

Here are a few ‘portal’ sites that will give you a jumping off point for further research.

Here’s one without the hype: http://www.rehor.com/voicexml/
Ken Rehor is one of the authors of the original VoiceXML specification, and continues to be heavily involved in the evolution of the specification.

Developer.com has a rich selection of tutorials and articles on VoiceXML.
http://www.developer.com/voice/

The Open Directory Project: (http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=voicexml) has a great collection of VoiceXML links.

This site has a number of articles and resources related to VoiceXML.
Palo Wireless VoiceXML Resource Center (http://www.palowireless.com/voicexml / )

This site has a browseable VoiceXML reference: http://www.zvon.org/xxl/VoiceXMLReference/Output/

Here are a few conferences that now have a fairly significant VoiceXML component.  In the past few years, VoiceXML has grown to be very visible at each of these.  Conferences related to mobile and wireless technologies often have many VoiceXML vendors (applications, platforms, and tools) in attendance.

Telephony Voice User Interface (TVUI) by TMA Associates (http://www.tmaa.com) has now merged with SpeechTek West (http://www.speechtek.com), held on the West coast each winter.  This conference is combined with the Advanced Voice Input/Output Society (AVIOS) conference (http://www.avios.com).   AVIOS publishes a refereed journal as well as having an annual conference.  The conference includes a refereed papers track, and many useful presentations.

SpeechTek East (www.speechtek.com), typically held in New York City, is a venue where the entire speech industry shows its wares, and you will have access to both companies and users of these technologies.

There are many conferences related to Voice over IP (VoIP), a set of technologies that match very well with VoiceXML.  VoiceCon (http://www.voicecon.com/) and VON (http://www.von.com/) are among these.

Europe is an extremely active VoiceXML marketplace as well, with a number of conferences, among them VoiceDay (http://www.voiceday.de/).

There are several standards bodies related to VoiceXML.

The VoiceXML Forum is really an industry body supporting VoiceXML, rather than a standards body.  The VoiceXML Forum produced the original VoiceXML specification, and passed the torch to the W3C.   The Forum remains responsible for education, marketing, tools, and conformance efforts.  In addition to this, the Forum acts as a liaison between the W3C and the IETF (www.ietf.org) SpeechSC working group, and has recently chartered an Accessibility committee.

The Forum web site is also a great resource center for VoiceXML, and includes pointers to many useful bits of information.

W3C (http://www.w3c.org)

The W3C Consortium has chartered the Voice Browser Working Group (http://www.w3c.org/Voice) which is responsible for the evolution of VoiceXML and other speech-related standards.  The VBWG has completed standards for the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification, Speech Synthesis Markup Language, and VoiceXML 2.0 and Semantic Interpretation. The VBWG is currently working on a number of additional specifications: VoiceXML 2.1, Call Control XML, the Pronunciation Lexicon Specification, as well as a number of efforts related to ‘v3’ or VoiceXML 3.  Visit the W3C site for more information (there is a wealth of data there).

The W3C maintains a public mailing list for VoiceXML issues.  See http://www.w3c.org/Voice for details.

A Yahoo Groups mailing list related to VoiceXML is relatively active.  See for details.  This is a relatively active mailing list, with good responses.

The VoiceXML Forum maintains a set of community forums that are a great place to ask questions.  Many Forum members monitor these bulletin boards, and are eager to help people with simple or complex problems. There are also forums regarding conformance, developer certification, and other topics.

http://www.voicexml.org/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi

Many of the VoiceXML vendors also maintain mailing lists.

Books on VoiceXML continue to appear.  Here are a few that I’m aware of:

The VoiceXML Handbook: Understanding and Building the Phone-Enabled Web (Bob Edgar)
Voice Application Development with VoiceXML (Rick Beasley, Kenneth Michael Farley, John O'Reilly, Leon Squire)
Early Adopter VoiceXML (Stephen Breitenbach, et. al.)
VoiceXML: Developer's Guide with CD-ROM (Chetan Sharma, Jeff Kunins)
Voice Enabling Web Applications: VoiceXML and Beyond (Kenneth R. Abbott)

When you’re buying a book, make sure it covers the version and features of VoiceXML in which you’re interested.

The following companies provide VoiceXML tools (either on-line, or standalone).  Check out the e-zines and other sites (such as http://www.ctlabs.com) for reviews.

BeVocal  (http://www.bevocal.com)
Voxeo (http://www.voxeo.com)
IBM (hey, you can guess this one, right?)
Tellme Studio   (http://studio.tellme.com)
VoiceGenie Technologies (http://developer.voicegenie.com)
Voxpilot (http://www.voxpilot.com)

There are a few on-line ‘e-zines’ that you might find useful.  You are, of course, reading one of them now.

VoiceXML Review
http://www.voicexmlreview.com
The VoiceXML Review is a monthly publication that provides columns and feature articles addressing issues such as the evolving VoiceXML Specification, related specifications (for example, the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification, and others that are used by VoiceXML)

XML Review
http://www.sys-con.com/xml/
The XML Review covers all things XML (both on-line, and in a print edition).  This magazine has published quite a number of articles that address VoiceXML, including developer and tool site reviews, and some introductory material.

Here’s a category we didn’t have the last time around.  But there are a bunch of these, including:

PHP VoiceXML Magazine: http://voicexml.phpmagazine.net/
VoiceXML of the People : http://www.voiceingov.org/blog/
RJ Auburn: http://www.rjauburn.com/
The Spkydog Koop: http://spkydog.blogspot.com/

And many more.

It gets easier and easier to find information regarding VoiceXML – there is a lot of information to draw upon, so get at it!

What’s Next?

Next month, back to the grindstone.  We’ll tackle a new VoiceXML problem, soon to be determined.

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