Beth.Hatch-Alleyne@f207.n260.z1.fidonet.org (Beth Hatch-Alleyne) (05/31/91)
Index Number: 15914 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] Dough; thanks for your information on Vocal/ize, it is very timely as I'm shopping around for a better speech program. I have a question for you about vocal/ize. I am working presently as a reporter for a monthly paper where I live, and I edit the NFB of New York. I am having problems with doing typefacing, and ensuring that my two colum pages are even. I can read them with Artic version 3.03, but I am unable to figure out if both columns are even without going into review mode and spending a lot of time figuring out what column I'm on and counting rows from there. I can't begin to tell you how much time I waste by doing this, so I'm wondering if vocal/ize would help me in this. Overall, the program sounds better than what I'm using now, how does one get a demo copy, and what speech boards does your program work with. I would be interested in your response, thanks, Beth. -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!260!207!Beth.Hatch-Alleyne Internet: Beth.Hatch-Alleyne@f207.n260.z1.fidonet.org
Doug.Geoffray@f8.n369.z1.fidonet.org (Doug Geoffray) (06/25/91)
Index Number: 16408 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] LS> Hi Doug. I noticed a message you responded to where you LS> mentioned your view on AI. I was interested to note your LS> (grin) when refering to your views on this subject. What are LS> your ideas on this, and why do you find it funny to make the LS> program do as much as it can for the user. I agree that no LS> program can do all things for all people, but why not combine LS> the most automatic capabilities and let the user taylor from LS> there? Larry, Come on Larry, do you honestly believe I don't like the idea of having a screen reader try and do as much as it can automatically? It would be totally silly to think otherwise. The reason for my (grin) was because of the gross over usages of the term artificial intelligence. (AI). I don't know if this is turning into a 90's buzz word or what. Is it because a program does something that is perceived as "neet" or "difficult" that it is deemed as using AI? At least the definition I was taught in College does not even come close to what any of todays screen readers are doing! Including Vocal-Eyes. There are many things that go in to artificial intelligence. One example would be the ability to learn from itself. To learn from past experiences. For example, if you have the rules: hot things should not be touched and fire is hot, the program could take those two rules and make an intelligent decision - You should not touch fire. Of course this is an extreemly simple example but the idea is AI is capable of learning and becoming smarter. Again, Larry, I am not against screen readers which do many things automatically. I hope Vocal-Eyes version 2.0 will prove this. However, just because more information is being read automatically, does not mean it is better. Getting too much information, getting bits and pieces of information or worst yet, information out of order can sometimes be just as confusing and/or frustrating as not getting anything. Regards, Doug ... GW Micro -- Fort Wayne, IN -- (219) 483-3625 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!369!8!Doug.Geoffray Internet: Doug.Geoffray@f8.n369.z1.fidonet.org