bellhead.net

I was trying to enjoy the last remnants of Canadian fall in the urban forest of Kanata across from my hotel, when my one click VPN set up was rudely interrupted and required my full attention - so much for window gazing. After a little debugging (I read the label on the ethernet cable), I discovered that you need to start a browser first. This seemed strange for a free service, but the hotel wanted to ensure that I read their policy and clicked the EULA, complete with entering my room number for validation. Quite a bit of juggling just to use what is supposed to be the most ubiquitous form of access - physical ethernet. But it did not end there.

My home page now read http://www.google.ca. Apparently through autodetection somewhere in the network my .com got switched out for the more geographically specific country designation for Canada. Thankfully Google uses text based ads since my jetlagged and queasy stomach would have not done too well if presented with graphical banners for the national favorite snack food poutine. To some this is an example of where the network enhances the users experience by adding context, in this particular case location. Others have had similar experiences as mine and make a compelling case that if not done right it will only frustrate the user.

Context as defined by Dey, Abowd and Salber [2001] “is any information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity – person, place, object – considered relevant to the interaction between a user and an application, including the application and user themselves.” For voice, context makes the communication experience more relevant and meaningful, not just an isolated event. So what else contributes to this ultimate communication experience? According to Martin Geddes in his break-out session during the Voice2.0 conference there are eight categories to consider of which I will discuss a few and their implications (for the complete list contact Telepocalypse).

People

How socially aware is the device you are using? Are you making/receiving that call as a spouse, a parent, or an employee? If it does not reflect the appropriate persona there could be an emabarrassing situation in the making. Furthermore, if it is not integrated into a social network the Millenial generation will not even consider it.

Time

Does your device always get the right message (to include appropriate format for the situation) to the right person at the right time? Have you ever been frustrated with a call center that starts you over at the first level even though you made significant progress at establishing a repertoire with the supervisor the day before? Or why can’t the conversation be established/continued automatically when both parties are available instead of playing phone tag. As a matter of clarification it is important to distinguish ones availability, i.e. ones willingness to have a conversation with a particular party at a given time in a certain mode (voice, text, etc…), from ones presence, i.e. the device/s and modes of communication that one can be contacted through at a given time.

Location

This is more than just the geographical information I started with. Location includes the verb - locate - knowing how to find the other party. How easy is it not only for you find the people or institutions you wish to converse with, but also to discover what modes they can converse with? Is the list presented in a geographically relevant order? How easily does your device make known that you are in a place that a particular mode of communication may be inappropriate (my vote for voice != wash closet goes here)?

The real fun begins after you analyze what you want from communications and then start to compare the results with what is available on the market - more on that soon.