Speech recognition

Another technology from Gartner's Hype Cycle - speech recognition. Speech recognition technology transforms sound wave representing natural language sentences into text that may by semantically and syntactically analyzed by appropriate ICT application. Thanks to speech recognition spoken sentences of clerks or PA clients are equivalent to computer text. This technology allows to built professional aid system for PA clients [e.g. call centers] based on solutions searching for answers on queries made in natural language. Application of this technology make enable to foster and partly automate process of providing public services. Just to remind, time to the market according to Gartner of speech recognition was less than 2 years [in 2005].

What about use of speech recognition in Polish PA? We are involved in deployment of speech recognition technology in one small municipality – Sokolow Podlaski. It is being realized within the MAP project. Mobile Adaptive Procedures is a project under the umbrella of eTen programme in the consortium consisted of Siemens Informatica Italy, Vodafone, Livorno Municipality, Sokolow Podlaski Municipality, Kpeople, Italian Ministry of Interior, University of Trento, Lulea University of Technology and Cities on Internet Association as subcontractor. MAP is under validation in a wide environment going from its “traditional” application in CROs (Citizen Relationship Offices), through the use in Social Services to support children security, to a very sophisticated service provided to Fire Brigades supporting them during bio-chemical emergencies [Italian Pilot] and use in Aid Entrepreneurship Centre [Polish pilot]. MAP is a front-end e-assistance system that integrates existing in-house information. It introduces a "skill & case sensitive" environment supporting professionals while citizens contact them (or need support from them), in a seamless way (on the move, on the net, face to face, etc.).While an interaction is going on (face to face, trough a call centre, telephone/fax, an email/web portal).

MAP extracts inputs and performs a semantic analysis on them, immediately providing professionals with shortcuts to solution, reducing the time to answer and increasing the quality of the service. In this way, the employee:

• identifies the correct procedure to be used or transferred to the citizens in an effective way
• exploits at best all the information already present in PA sharing the “best practices treasure”
• capitalises hexogen knowledge through the possibility to store retrieval paths and the tips contributed by other employees.

MAP assures that the procedure suggested or the information given is the answer to the citizen needs, definitely facilitating the citizen “one stop shop” in his relationship with the Public Administration.