Conversational Writing – Defined

April 24, 2012 By

We’ve always referred to our platform as “conversational…” – Which has lead to discussions about how we define (primarily) mobile text based engagement.  Our apps are “conversational writing” based.  i.e. “conversation” does not require voice/speech.

It was terrific to read a NY Times story about “Conversational Writing” here:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/talking-with-your-fingers/

Where the author defines “Conversational Writing” as being different from “writing.”  There are some great quotes, one take-away is:

 Not surprisingly, then, the earliest writing was based on the way people talk, and that meant short sentences with a direct logical throughline. Researchers have found that even educated people today speak in word packets of 7 to 10 words a pop.

 

How does this related to “connected TV” experiences?

Nearly 1/2 of the Audience are engaged in “conversational writing” on their 2nd Screens while consuming television.

http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/9685-the-five-cs-of-connected-tv

So, how about directing their “conversational writing” to include the on-screen characters?

Filed Under: AI conversation, Conversational AI, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mobile & Responsive Experience Design (Emphasis on Experience)

April 12, 2012 By

Yes, everyone needs a technically responsive web design or a dedicated mobile site, in order to reach the ever-increasing percentage of consumers who find you on mobile and tablets.

But, after listening to numerous developer and developer service discussions on this topic, the over-emphasis on the technical tends to diminish the heart of the issue:  Mobile experiences are DIFFERENT than desktop.  I’d include the expanding ultrabook engagement format in this as well…

When someone finds you on a smaller screen, even if 50% of the prospects do this from their home (on the couch, while watching TV; see blog posts below), that consumer inherently has a different ENGAGEMENT FORMAT they are expecting.  They don’t need to access 100% of your data…they need to quickly pull up the data they want…

The experience needs to be controlled by the User…and responded to by the data/design (the User’s in control).

Small screens — Even medium screens (and virtual keyboards) — Are increasingly reducing “time on site” for Consumers.  Delivering ONLY the desired “experience,” quickly and efficiently, is paramount.

Therefore, the phrase “responsive experience design” – Where the User’s input shapes the data/content experience (intuitively, not through complex navigation) seems to be the Holy Grail of mobile design…Let the User define “context,” and then let the data flow specific to that context.

Obviously, we believe that natural language processing plays a big part of allowing the User to shape their content experience…Navigating and acquiring content through a User’s input…not forcing pre-set navigation…results in “responsive experience design.”

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, mobile marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mobile Web and App Testing – The contentAI Toolbox (partial)

April 11, 2012 By

We’re frequently asked about how to check both responsive design as well as page-load time for mobile web.  And, “how can you test on the hundreds of Android devices)?

Here’s a partial list of what’s in our toolbox to address these issues:

In no particular order:

http://tools.pingdom.com    (General speed tests and breakdown of problem areas)

http://www.howtogomo.com/en/d/    (Go at least 2x levels deep for in-depth reporting; this is from Google)

http://www.laurencegellert.com/software/css-responsive-design-testing-tool/  (New responsive design emulator)

http://quirktools.com/screenfly/

http://responsive.is/

This  just came out for testing Android (additional OS support pending), on real devices and emulators with one click – It’s extraordinary:

http://www.appthwack.com/

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Hey, contentAI, where’s that Voice Recognition?

April 3, 2012 By

We get that question alot (though phrased in a variety of ways).

Today’s New York Times story HERE  reminded us to bring up the topic in this post.

We could readily integrate our platform with server-side voice recognition or within native-apps – But, we don’t feel that the majority of mobile applications we produce really require it.  In fact, we believe that text-based engagement (private, personal) is preferable in most “mobile” situations.

That said, as we review the presentation slides from IgnitionWEST and other places, we are struck by how 50% or more time with mobile and tablets is concurrent with television viewing.  In general, internet connectivity also runs concurrent with the evening hours of television viewing.

One place we see a real opportunity to incorporate voice-recognition with our applications is specific to the emerging space of “television to mobile” content and ad extenstions.  When someone is in the privacy of their own home (on the couch), the ability to speak may be better than or equal to text (we’ll always offer the option for both).  From a technical standpoint, this also means the user will be in an environment with less ambient noise (traffic, etc.)…

So, it’s something we’re starting to tinker with.  It’s pretty straight forward — We just want to apply it to the “right” application, not do it for the sake of adding something that doesn’t really add value to the End User.

Look for updates on this in Q2 2012 (soon!).

Filed Under: 2nd Screen, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, NFC, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mobile – Where the Growth and Eyeballs Are…

March 29, 2012 By

There is an excellent Deck, presented by FLURRY, during IGNITION WEST last week  HERE

The two slides that really stand out — Specific to contentAI — Are related to 2-screen engagement times (when the television AND the mobile device are BOTH in use) and the ratio of ad dollars to consumer time (mobile spending will increase exponentially over the coming years to play “catch up”):

 

Those two slides tell a remarkable story with regard to opportunities for extending television content, both programming and ad-units, to mobile experiences.

After all, 50% of “Location” is the couch.

UPDATE (5 MAY):  From VentureBeat and a similar Nielsen Report on 2-screen experiences:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/05/tablets-and-tv/

“Device owners also seem to engage with content related to the TV as well, either by looking up information related to the show or looking for deals and general information on products advertised on TV,” Nielsen said in its report.

Filed Under: 2nd Screen, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Mobile, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Version 1.2 of our Platform Now In Release — HTML.5 Audio

February 24, 2012 By

Over at our subsidiary mLearning venture:  http://eslAI.com, the first release of our Ver. 1.2 of the platform’s enhanced UI is now available to kick tires and also LISTEN to the sound of tires being kicked!

We’ve added pre-recorded Audio to the applications which is cross-browser and cross-device compatible (OK, there are some lingering platforms we’re still tweaking to achieve playback on), but, in general, most mobile devices are testing Positive (Android, iOS, Windows/Mobile).

Where this gets really interesting on the mobile marketing and mobile entertainment front is where we extend this to be a Sound design and audio story design to accompany the interactive text chat.   We love sound FX.  Now we can add them into the chat.

At some point we’ll also incorporate text-to-speech, but the upside of pre-recorded audio is that it carries more emotion and style to it.  So, not all segments of the ESL apps (where there is personalization) include audio; but, an awful lot of them do (nearly 100 clips are included in ESL1)

Easy listening…

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Conversational AI, mobile english, mobile marketing, Transmedia Content and AI, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Origami Towel Creatures, Toys, Personalized Mobile Experiences & Delight

February 22, 2012 By

It was nice to see Portland, OR host last evenings talk:

Jared Spool Presents: Mobile & UX – Inside the Eye of the Perfect Storm – Portland, OR

Last night at the UoO building in Old Town.

We’ll post Links to his Deck when it’s available (Now available Here).

He’s been giving this talk for the past year, and a video is here:  http://vimeo.com/25547105

While there were 4x elements in Spool’s presentation that create this “perfect storm,” the over-riding metaphor for much of the presentation was a SIX FLAGS v. DISNEYLAND:  ”activity” v. “experience” paradigm.

Basically, SIX FLAGS offers a pretty straight forward activity-based flow, while DISNEY’s design encourages a more “experiential” flow for the End User.  The parallel was basically how online web sites are data/feature driven, while mobile (when successful) is more experience driven.

The natural extension of this, while not discussed, seems to us to be how a DISNEY-experience is “personal,” while a SIX FLAGS-activity laden day is more generic (everyone has nearly the same experience).

One slide in the presentation Deck were pictures of the origami towels that magically appear in someone’s “resort room” at the end of the day — sometimes surrounded by the visitor’s children’s toys (Toy Story with Origami towels).

The illusion is that this is a deeply personalized, memorable touch (even if 20,000 other rooms are nearly the same), in part, by adding the visitor’s toys to the tableau does make it “personal.”

Let’s extend this to “mobile thinking and UX.”

Mobile is a far more “personal” engagement format than “online.”

It’s in someone’s pocket, purse or bag.  It’s in someone’s hand.  It’s a one-to-one EXTREME CLOSE UP engagement.

It’s not just “experiential.”

It’s personal.

And, the UX, along with the programming, needs to fulfill “personal” engagement — Whether that is through deeply complex algorithms or smoke-and-mirrors fancy tricks (User’s will suspend disbelief and go along for the ride if you do it well), “personalization” of mobile experiences is what delivers:

Delight.

Which was another theme of the evening.

The contentAI studios conversational mobile platform is predicated on personalizing each and every engagement. Sometimes deeply, sometimes lightly.  But, it’s been a Prime Directive in the development of the platform since our focus went to Mobile, nearly 2 years ago.

We’ve been thinking about personalized mobile experiences for a long time.  Which is why the idea of putting someone’s children’s toys around a bunch of origami creature shaped towels, resonated so deeply.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Interactive Fiction – An Emerging Market

December 7, 2011 By

Nice story over in GigaOM today:

http://gigaom.com/2011/12/07/interactive-ebooks-take-on-fiction-novels/

While our interactive narrative is a unique branch of “interactive fiction,” seeing this as an emerging topic is terrific.

We are releasing the 2001 MySantaTalk mobile web (and some native app versions) tomorrow!

The URL:  http://m.MySantaTalk.com will redirect to the new app as soon as it’s “live.”

Our new UI is featured — While the UI is still undergoing upgrades and responsive design enhancements, this is a true Ver. 1.0 release as we move out of Beta.

We’re looking forward to the “App of the Week” status from our friends at INTEL’s AppUP…We’ll post links there next week too.

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

And, have a chat with Santa while you’re out and about, from your mobile!

Oh, right, yes, all of our web properties are undergoing a makeover the next few days…so, that’s our final year-end clean up…

See you at CES?

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, holiday mobile marketing, mobile marketing, Transmedia Content and AI Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Virtual Personal Assistants, SIRI, Hype and Reality

October 16, 2011 By

It is great to see the “personal digital assistant” hype go into full gear this past week with Apple’s inclusion of SIRI at the OS level.

SIRI is a smart technology. After all, it’s $150 million of taxpayer funded DARPA research.  Even if it’s a bit dated.

Apple was very smart to integrate SIRI within the REALLY IMPORTANT embedded communication apps on the iPhone 4S — The previous “app version” of SIRI could barely handle integration with six APIs and could draw upon very limited data pools to get you a Taxi or a Restaurant reservation (from within it’s limited list).  The illusion of intelligence continues with it’s access to Wikipedia headlines (an old chatbot trick), but it feels intuitive, which is important.

The real issue comes with “cross talk,” where an AI engine cannot parse between similar phrases or words that have different meanings.  i.e. “I need to find Sam Adams.”  Are we talking about the beer, the mayor of Portland, an historical reference or a friend with that name?

What’s the solution?

AI-based virtual agents that are tailored for a specific set of data; brand information and narrow-focused engagement; i.e. one agent per application.  The dream of having a single agent who can access data from dozens of apps simply isn’t in the cards, not in the near future.

So, create a personal agent for each application. For each mobile brand engagement.  It’s quick.  It’s affordable.  It’s what we do.

Of course, we do really enjoy seeing the enthusiasm for virtual agents that SIRI has brought to the forefront.  For that alone, SIRI is a wonderful thing.

ASIDE:  Let’s not forget, the voice recognition feature is from NUANCE, not SIRI.  We can integrate with cloud based voice recognition platforms very easily.  But, we’re wary of the issues these systems still confound us with, where a 10% failure rate can create incomprehensible user input.  People type on their phones all day long.  It’s the #1 form of written communication in the World.  It’s private.  It’s quiet.  We still like typed conversations.

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile is Personal — Really Personal…it’s called Love (Maybe)

October 1, 2011 By

While the study was small in scope, the take-away from the New York Times article here

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/you-love-your-iphone-literally.html?_r=2&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all

Addresses not just an “addictive” nature to mobile engagement – But it goes further — To a “love” of our mobile devices.

The subjects’ brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member.

Virtual characters and agents designed for mobile engagement fulfill the 2-way communication needs associated with the devices — the raison d’etre they have evolved to evoke such deep emotion.  We’re 99.9% certain that this “love” has not come into being due to GPS sensors, mobile banner ads or even “push” notifications.

To fulfill and make “love last,” emotionally compelling mobile content experiences matter!

I’d posit that mobile devices have evolved to evoke “love” because they’ve become our most important communication channel with friends and family (other than face-to-face).

While the article focused on iPhone users and implies that it is a more “loved” device than others, we’d challenge that assertion and suspect it is a cross-device phenomenon.  Simply, iPhone users like to express their affection a little louder than the rest of us!

For those in the mobile content business, we hope the take-away here is that to keep the love flowing, you’ve got to deliver emotionally rewarding content – not just click-throughs — this is NOT the static web.

 

CAVEAT:  Some really smart people have taken issue with the study (not just the thinness, but detail level) and that should be noted:  http://www.talyarkoni.org/blog/2011/10/01/the-new-york-times-blows-it-big-time-on-brain-imaging/

While the technical aspects are worth questioning, the underlying notion that mobile devices are held to be extremely personal by their owners remains fairly solid.  Just try taking one away from someone…or, see how they fare when they lose their device?  It doesn’t take an MRI to tell you that you are touching on emotions, not just rational thought.

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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