TECH858 Old News

This page contains information that was listed in the News section of the unit home page, but which is no longer news. The information is retained here for historical purposes.

[2002-03-28] The overheads for Session 4 have been updated to include the comments on Assignment 1 and to reflect what we actually covered in class. They are also provided in two-slides-per-page format. Earlier sessions will be converted to this format as time allows. See the class schedule page.
[2002-03-27] We can confirm that the second assignment will now be due on May 14th. The assignment specification has been updated accordingly.
[2002-03-27] You can view the overheads for a lecture on prompts.
[2002-03-26] The overheads for Session 4 on 26th March are now up: see the class schedule page.
[2002-03-26] If you are having problems using VoiceGenie, use the Motorola SDK instead, or use the online resources at one of the US voice portals listed on the resources page. Note that the Motorola SDK uses VoiceXML 1.0 whereas the VoiceGenie SDK uses VoiceXML 2.0: code samples in the lectures are VoiceXML 1.0, and you need to change at least the header line
<vxml version="1.0">
to run the lecture samples under VoiceXML 2.0.
[2002-03-23] The overheads from Session 3 have been updated to reflect what we actually covered in class. You may want to pick up a fresh copy from the class schedule page.
[2002-03-23] Toll-free access to US 1-800 numbers: You'll recall we discussed accessing US VSPs via 1-800 numbers. Nasim reports 'We dial 1-800-881-011 and then dial the US 800 number in the usual manner, eg 1-800-555-1212, and it will get us there. However, there are some 800 numbers in the US which are not accessable from overseas.' I haven't tried this yet; if you have a go, let us know how you get on.
[2002-03-22] Course assessment: assessment for TECH858 will work as follows:
- 40% of the marks for the course are allocated to the assignments; 60% is assigned to the examination.
- There are two assignments: Assignment 1 is worth 5%, and Assignment 2 is worth 35%.
- The exam will take place from 6pm-9pm in E6A131 on Tuesday May 7th 2002.
- For the exam, you will be assumed to have read and understood all the material in the lectures and in the assigned readings.
- Some time will be spent in the final session on 23rd April briefly reviewing the key concepts you need to be comfortable with for the exam.
[2002-03-22] The specification for Assignment 2 is now available.
[2002-03-20] The readings for Session 4 on 26th March are now up: see the class schedule page.
[2002-03-20] We're obviously having significant problems getting the course software to run in the labs. This is being looked into. In the interim, please let me know whether you are having more success with the software at home. In some cases you may want to consider downloading fresher copies of the relevant software from the vendors' sites: see the Resources Pages for pointers. If you are having repeated problems, sign up with one or more of the voice server providers listed there and experiment with VoiceXML using the tools they provide.
[2002-03-20] The specification for Assignment 1 is now available. Note that this assignment is worth 5 marks, is due by 6pm Monday 25th March, and that no late assignments will be accepted. If you have any queries about the assignment or feel that something needs clarified, indicate this as soon as possible.
[2002-03-19] The specification for Lab 2 is now available. You can also get to this, and all the other class-related materials, via the class schedule page.
[2002-03-18] The overheads for Session 3, 19th March, are now available.
[2002-03-16] The online copy of the overheads for Session 2, 12th March, has been updated to reflect what we covered during the class. You may want to pick up a fresh copy. There is also a new web page that contains pointers to the overheads and readings for each week.
[2002-03-14] There are two obligatory readings for Session 3, 19th March:
- Peter Wyard, Alison Simons, Steve Appleby, Edward Kaneen, Sandra Williams and Keith Preston [1996] Spoken Language Systems: Beyond Prompt and Response. BT Technology Journal, January 1996. [453k PDF]
- Michael McTear [1998] Modelling spoken dialogues with state transition diagrams: experiences with the CSLU toolkit. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP-98), December 1998, Sydney, Australia, pages 1223-1226. [37k PDF]
[2002-03-12] Using the CSLU Toolkit, please try to complete Tutorials 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16 before next class. Tutorials 18 through 20 are also useful but not so essential. If you want to work from home, the CSLU Toolkit can be downloaded from the CSLU Toolkit site. The minimal download, which is all you really need for the lab work, is 26Mb in size. A CD that you can borrow will be available at the next class. As you will have realised by now, the Toolkit isn't quite as robust as one might like, so expect to restart your machine a lot to clear errors.
[2002-03-12] The slides for Session 2 are available as a 484Kb PDF file.
[2002-03-06] Please check your email account at Macquarie: this will be used for all class communications.
[2002-03-06] In advance of next week's class on Tuesday 12th March, you should read the following background material on SLDSs:
- Susan Boyce [2000], Natural Spoken Dialogue Systems for Telephony Applications, Communications of the ACM, Volume 43, No. 12, pages 29-34 [92k PDF]. Note that you may only legally download this paper if you are a registered student at Macquarie University.
- Spoken Language Understanding, Section 1.8 in the Survey of the State of the Art in Human Language Technology.
These readings will give you a broader perspective on the material discussed in class in Session #1. Come to Session #2 with any questions you have about this material: unless I receive an indication to the contrary, I will assume that you have read and understood the assigned readings.
As preparation for Session #2, you should also read over the material in Sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5 in Chapter 1 of the Survey of the State of the Art in Human Language Technology. You don't need to understand all of this, but you should try to get a sense of what is going on in the techology.
[2002-03-06] The slides from the first class on 5th March are now available as a 1.2Mb PDF file.
[2002-02-19] Note that you must bring along a microphone headset to all classes, including the first session. You will need these for the practical sessions in the labs. You can buy these from any computer store: what you need is something that provides both audio input and output, with a separate 3.5mm jack for each; a headset typically costs $15-$20. You may already have one of these for your computer at home.

Last updated 12th April 2002. Please send any comments on these pages to Robert Dale.