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Jensen's Technology Glossary
(Starting with "S")



By Bob Jensen,
Trinity University,
New Hampshire, U.S.A.

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/




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Sampling rate = The frequency with which samples are taken and converted in digitizing operations. This is measured in kilohertz (KHz). The MPC standard requires a sound card with a recording sampling rate of at least 11 KHz and an output rate of 11 and 22 KHz.

SAP  = (Acronym for a long German name) SAP is a company from Germany that sells the leading suite of large-scale client-server business software. The US branch is called SAP America. The web site is at http://www.sap.com .  SAP is powerful but very slow and expensive to implement. The following message appears in InformationWeek Online for November 13, 1997:

General Motors has chosen SAP's R/3 software as its global financial application. The decision is part of the automaker's "common platform strategy," a program that aims to reduce costs and complexity by standardizing GM's many businesses on several core IT products. GM says it plans to implement the financial apps in a "phased rollout," beginning with its automotive assembly and components operations in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and later in North and South America. GM's goal is for full deployment by 2002. The R/3 software will replace a mix of applications GM has running in hundred of locations, a GM spokesman said. SAP software isn't new to GM: The automaker already has SAP human resources modules in a handful of places, including its Opel manufacturing operations in Germany and Delphi parts operations in France. The GM spokesman noted, however, that the new deal with SAP doesn't include HR modules. GM will take the lead in managing the R/3 rollout, while former GM unit EDS will "have some role," probably alongside other third-party service providers, the spokesman said. Financials terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Major ERP providers include the following: 

I worry some about business schools that are jumping on the huge commitment to bring SAP or other ERP software to students.  SAP is one of the various alternatives for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).  First SAP is a major commitment of resources, faculty, and students.  Second, there is a legal liability risk that should be carefully cleared through any university's legal department since it is possible for users to find themselves in lawsuits brought against developers of SAP. 

More importantly, I worry about the future of ERPs.  In this context I call your attention to an article by Tom Stein entitled "ERP's Fight for Life," in Information Week, April 12, 1999, 59-66.  The online version is at
http://www.informationweek.com/729/erp.htm

On May 5, 1999 InformationWeek Online reported the following:

J.D. Edwards has hit hard times as the demand for ERP software remains stagnant. The company said yesterday it expects an operating loss of more than $25 million for its second quarter, ended April 30. Company officials blame the anticipated shortfall on lower-than-expected license fee revenue, the impact of headcount additions made in the first fiscal quarter, investments in product development, and a $2.1 million write-off as a result of the acquisition of the Premisys Corp. According to preliminary results, J.D. Edwards expects to report total second-quarter revenue in the range of $215 million to $235 million, which represents approximately a 3% to 12% increase over revenue of $209 million in the same period last year. License fee revenue is projected to be in the range of $60 million to $65 million. The company says revenue was adversely impacted by a general slowdown in demand for enterprise software as companies focus on year 2000 readiness. Final results for the quarter will be released on May 26. Brent Thill, a financial analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., says the shortfall in license revenue is attributable to a slippage of new customer orders in the United States. He adds that J.D. Edwards' win rate against market leaders SAP and Oracle fell to 30% from 50% six months ago.

From InformationWeek Online May 6, 1999

SpeechWorks International Inc. yesterday introduced the first speech-recognition applications that will let employees and customers access SAP applications by speaking over the phone. SpeechWorks unveiled software building blocks that let developers add speech-recognition capability to SAP's Sales & Distribution, HR Employee Self-Service, and Customer Interaction Center modules.

Demand for speech-enabling SAP applications is strongest among customers already implementing other speech-recognition applications, according to SpeechWorks. The sales module lets sales representatives and customers determine the status of customer accounts, product availability and pricing, and sales-order placement. People can also speak to the applications to place and confirm orders. The HR module lets employees speak to access information about benefits, salaries, paychecks, travel expenses, time reporting, and personal information.

SpeechWorks for SAP will be available from SpeechWorks early in the third quarter. SpeechWorks will deliver similar software for PeopleSoft Inc. and other enterprise resource planning vendors around year's end.

Various schools of business have moved heavily into SAP.  One example is California State University at Chico.  It would be interesting to hear from some accounting faculty who are using SAP to give some advice to faculty who are contemplating recommending SAP to their administrators. 

Information Week on May 10, 1999, Page 26 elaborates its notices that SpeechWorks International has speech recognition modules for ERP systems.  For example, these modules can now be deployed in SAP.  See http://www.speechworks.com/ .

From InformationWeek Online on March 16, 2000

ERP vendors are adapting to the new IT environment in which businesses are betting on online exchanges, not enterprise resource planning solutions. Both SAP and J.D. Edwards & Co. made significant moves this week to host and develop online marketplace technology.

SAP on Wednesday revealed the formation of SAPMarkets, a subsidiary that, starting in May, will develop, market, and operate marketplaces using SAP technology. Hasso Plattner, co-chairman and CEO of SAP, will act as interim CEO until a permanent one is found.

The vendor's mySAP.com Marketplace efforts will be consolidated into the new company. One goal is to clear up the confusion the mySAP.com moniker created by encompassing the vendor's Internet strategy, software applications, and hosted applications under one name. "I applaud that SAP is finally resolving the confusion 'mySAP.com' brings to customers," says Byron Miller, VP at Giga Information Group. "But before they compete head-on with other companies in a new market, they need to resolve some functionality problems."

J.D. Edwards on Tuesday created a unit to focus on business- to-business solutions and expand development of its online- exchange technology. Michael Schmidt, former VP of worldwide sales and marketing, will head up the unit. - Elisabeth Goodridge with Alorie Gilbert

"Spotlight on Midlevel ERP Software," by Roberta Ann Jones, Journal of Accountancy, May 2002 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/may2002/jones.htm 

Years ago, when the personal computer was just coming into its own, accounting software was relatively simple: Its single function was to automate the task of double-entry accounting and produce a straightforward balance sheet. As computers became more robust and integrated databases standardized, accounting software developers added more functions-including cost accounting, manufacturing resource planning (MRP), customer resource management (CRM), human resources (HR) and payroll. To differentiate these superproducts from the simple accounting programs, marketing-minded vendors christened the new packages enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Exhibit 1: Software Vendors

Product

Vendor

Web address

Address

Carillon

Pettit & Co.

www.carillonfinancials.com

100 N. Central Expressway, Suite 1300
Richardson, TX 75080

eEnterprise

Microsoft
Great
Plains

www.greatplains.com

One Lone Tree Rd.
Fargo, ND 58104

E by Epicor

Epicor
Software

www.epicor.com

195 Technology Dr.
Irvine, CA 92618

MK Manufact'g

Computer
Associates'
InterBiz

www.interbiz.com

One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia, NY 11749

Enterprise IQ

IQMS

www.iqms.com

4250 Aerotech Center Way, Suite A
Paso Robles, CA 93446

Progression

Macola

www.macola.com

333 E. Center St.
P.O. Box 1824

Marion, OH 43301

ERP Plus

PowerCerv

www.powercerv.com

400 North Ashley Dr.,
Suite 2700

Tampa, FL 33602

Scala 5.1

Scala
Business
Solutions

www.scalaworld.com

300 International Parkway, Suite 300
Heathrow, FL 32746

Solomon

Microsoft
Great
Plains

www.solomon.com

200 East Hardin St.
P.O. Box 414

Findlay, OH 45840

Traverse

Open
Systems
Inc.

www.osas.com

1157 Valley Park Dr.,
Suite 105

Shakopee, MN 55379

Exhibit 2: Service, Support, Price, Implementation

Exhibit 3: Manufacturing Process

Exhibit 4: Core Financials

Exhibit 5: Purchasing and Sales Processes

Exhibit 6: Human Resources Process

Exhibit 7: Tax and International Processes

Many accounting software vendors, while eager to jump on the ERP bandwagon but unwilling or unable to develop their own complete ERP functionality, choose instead to license the very best special modules developed by other software companies. This option has gained popularity as advances in Windows and compatibility tools have made it easier to seamlessly link new modules to existing software packages.

Using such best-of-breed, third-party products was a boon to ERP vendors: It saved them money and made their products more powerful and more competitive. Further, it meant that the customer was getting an already proven (read that debugged) product.

Not all customers agree that plugging in third-party products is a good idea. If the licensed product malfunctioned (and what software product is perfect?), the customer now had to deal with two vendors-the ERP vendor and the third-party vendor. More often than not, when such a problem arose, each vendor tended to blame the other, leaving the customer uncertain where to turn for help. In our reviews, we have not provided separate evaluations of any third-party products.

From The Wall Street Journal Accounting Educators' Reviews on January 14, 2004

TITLE: Large Software Customers Refuse to Get With the Program 
REPORTERS: Kevin J. Delaney and David Bank 
DATE: Jan 02, 2004 
PAGE: A1,6 
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB107300003323708100,00.html  
TOPICS: Accounting Information Systems

SUMMARY: Delaney and Bank report that business software giant SAP blinked in its confrontation when one of its customers refused to upgrade to a newer version of their software. During the economic downturn, SAP, as well as other application software providers, had increased their revenues not so much through new sales, rather they insisted their current customers upgrade their previously purchased software packages. The related article from one year ago reflects that trend.

QUESTIONS: 
1.) How does an ERP impact the relationships in the financing, manufacturing, and other business processes?

2.) Briefly outline how a customer relationship module (CRM) is expected to influence performance for a purchasing firm. Do the same for a supply chain management (SCM) module.

3.) Given the conclusion from Delaney's related article about SAP's return to dominance one year ago, what do you think this bodes for the future of SAP?

Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island 
Reviewed By: Benson Wier, Virginia Commonwealth University 
Reviewed By: Kimberly Dunn, Florida Atlantic University

--- RELATED ARTICLES --- 
TITLE: Germany's SAP Regains Edge in U.S. 
REPORTER: Kevin Delaney 
PAGE: B5 
ISSUE: Jan 31, 2003 
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043914959248254464,00.html 

See Database and CRM.

Scalability = how well a system performs as it grows. For example, a central server of some kind with ten clients may perform efficiently. It has a scalability problem if it fails with an increasing number of clients. If the average response time probably scales linearly with the number of clients, it has a complexity of O(N) ("order N"). The October 1997 issue of Application Development Trends (ISSN 1073-9564) on Page 13 describes the IBM DB2 "Web-enabled database which potentially lets customers scale from desktop or laptop systems to massively parallel processors." See Database .

Scan converter = A hardware device for converting the digitized monitor signals of a computer into analog signals that can be played on a television set. For a detailed review of options and comparison of products see Waring (1994c). Some projection devices such as three-beam projectors for computers in classrooms have built in scan converters. (See also Analog and Video)

Scanner = Both hand-held and flatbed hardware and software for copying graphics images and text into computer files. Both color and black and white options are available. We have never had much luck with hand-held versions, but flatbed scanners do a terrific job. Text scanned as graphics must be converted into computer text via specialized software such as Omni Page Pro from Caere (800-GO-CAERE).   (See also OCR)

Leveraging ScanSoft's world-leading optical character recognition (OCR) and PDF conversion technology, the OmniPage Search Indexer creates index data from your document images, without changing the original. The ScanSoft OmniPage Search Indexer includes an OCR engine that is very fast and accurate, as well as a lightning fast PDF indexing engine - both tuned for search applications.

ScanSoft is the OCR behind the world's largest book scanning projects, and has been selected by nearly 100% of commercial vendors delivering imaging solutions, including AnyDocs, Autodesk, Avision, Brother, Canon, Captiva, CardScan, Dell, HP, Hummingbird, FileNET, Kofax, Verity, Visioneer and Xerox --- http://www.scansoft.com/OmniPage/Search/

SCMS = Serial Copy ManagementSystem circuitry in digital recorders that allows copying from a source program but blocks making copies of copies.

SCO Open Desktop = Santa Cruiz Operations' GUI operating system that is compared with other 32-bit operating system alternatives in PC/Computing Special Report (1994). This is a UNIX-based system that runs on Intel and MIPS hardware. (See also Operating system)

Scopeware = File arranging softare invented by David Galernter from Yale University.

"The Next Computer Interface," by Claire Tristram, Technology Review, December 2001 --- http://www.techreview.com/magazine/dec01/tristram.asp 

The desktop metaphor was a brilliant innovation-30 years ago. Now it's an unmanageable mess, and the search is on for a better way to handle information.

Game, set, match: Chief scientist David Gelernter of Mirror Worlds Technologies says the desktop metaphor is over. (Photos by Timothy Archibald and Jonathan Worth)

"The desktop is dead," declares David Gelernter. Gelernter is referring to the "desktop metaphor"-the term frequently used for the hierarchical system of files, folders and icons that we use to manage information stored on our home or office computers. At the annual gathering of technophiles at TechXNY/PC Expo 2001 in New York last June, he told the rapt crowd attending his keynote speech that the desktop metaphor is nothing more than virtual Tupperware. "Our electronic documents are scattered by the thousands in all sorts of little containers all over the place," he said. "The more information and the more computers in our lives, the more of a nuisance this system becomes."

For the past decade or so Gelernter has been campaigning for a new metaphor to overthrow the desktop-first in research he carried out at Yale University, where he is a professor of computer science, and now as chief scientist of his new company, Mirror Worlds Technologies, with offices in New Haven, CT, and New York City. In March, Mirror Worlds announced a novel metaphor called Scopeware, software that automatically arranges your computer files in chronological order and displays them on your monitor with the most recent files featured prominently in the foreground. Scopeware is far more sweeping than a simple rearrangement of icons, however: in effect, it transfers the role of file clerk from you to the computer, seamlessly ordering documents of all sorts into convenient, time-stamped files.

Score = A sequence, either time-based or frame-based, that determines the timing of a presentation and the synchronization of its objects.

Screen capturing = The "capturing" of images on a computer screen onto a clipboard or into a graphics file so that they can be imported into other software. Screen captures are analogous to photographs of screen images. Captured text is normally in graphics mode such that it must be run through a text converter (e.g., OmniPage text conversion software) that translates graphics text back into word processor text. In PC World, February 1994, p. 224 it is shown how Windows screen capturing can be accomplished using the Windows Recorder utility in the Program Manager. Doyle (1994a) provides useful tips for QuickTime video capturing. Screen capturing software options are reviewed in the NewMedia 1995 Tool Guide (p. 34). (See also OCR)  It is important to also go to Video.

Screencasting = (See Resource Descriptive Formating )

Scripting = (See Authoring, HTML, and RDF)

ScriptX = A somewhat revolutionary and failed authoring and scripting hypertext and hypermedia language. ScriptX from the defunct Kaleida Labs (in a joint venture with Apple and IBM corporations) was and early option designed to cross between various operating systems (e.g., Unix, Windows, DOS, Apple/Mac, OS/2, and PowerOpen). ScriptX was intended compliment the failed Taligent (Pink) multi-platform operating system.  (See also GainMomentum, Kaleida, Taligent, Cross-platform, and Authoring)

SCSI = Small Computer System Interface, is a set of interfaces that allow personal computers to communicate with peripheral hardware such as disk drives, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, CD-RW drives, printers, and scanners faster and more flexibly than previous interfaces. SCSI interfaces often cost a bit more than IDE controllers, but there are some advantages to SCSI interfaces.  See IDE.

Search engine = WWW sites that allow users to type in a word or phrase and then search for other WWW sites linked to that word or phrase. Bob Jensen' search engine helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm 


Thank you Curtis Brown

Chances are many of you know about this already, but I thought I'd mention that the search engine I now go to first for most purposes is Google (https://www.google.com/). This search engine rates a site higher the more links there are to it from other highly rated sites. Don't know exactly how they manage that, but in my experience the results are remarkable-if I'm looking for one particular site, it's usually the number one-ranked result.

I suppose it wouldn't be so effective for very new or very esoteric sites that no one (yet) knows about. But for sites that have been around long enough for word to get out, it's very effective. It may not find things that Alta Vista or HotBot or whatever wouldn't find, but it does a much better job of putting what I'm looking for at the top of the list. The web site describes it as a "Beta" version, but it looks ready for prime time to me.

(example: type "thomas" into Google and the number one result is the library of congress site with information about the US Congress. This site isn't in the top 50 results for HotBot, Alta Vista, or Lycos (though it is #1 on HotBot's top ten most visited sites for that search string). Similarly, a search for "Phil Gramm" on Google turned up his Senate homepage as the number one link. This wasn't in the top 20 on HotBot or Alta Vista; a subpage of his Senate site was around number 10 on Lycos.)

Another nice feature of Google is that they cache the pages: if your search results include a broken link, you can still bring up Google's cached copy of the page to see what used to be there. The cached pages are text only, but they use the URL for the original page as the base for relative links so that if images are still there they will load properly.


Thank you Neil Hannon

For people who search the Web frequently and want to use it more efficiently, Infoseek Express is a next-generation desktop search product which brings multiple search and information sources together in one place. With Express you can find, explore, and do anything on the Internet faster and easier than before.

Express is different from other search engines because it runs within your Web browser, searches multiple search engines simultaneously, and provides an easier to use, faster interface. In addition, Express has an open architecture that allows for mass distribution, easy updates, and extensive personal customization.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html


Probably the most interesting of the "search engines" are those that use natural language and artificial intelligence.  The best known illustration is the "Ask Jeeves" web site at http://www.ask.com/ .  The software commenced with David Warthen in Berkeley in 1996.  The following is a quotation from "Ask Jeeves," NewMedia, June 1999, p. 54:

Warthen tapped into artificial intelligence research at Berkeley and Stanford, hired "computational linguistics" experts, and brought in editors to link standardized question templates to Web sites with the right answers. The editors are critical to Ask Jeeves' power. "Humans are very good at cognitive decision making," says Warthen. "When we designed our system we were very conscious of how to get human value added."

They created software that can examine a question for its semantics (word meaning) and syntax (grammar and sentence structure). Their system parses it, rearranges it into a template, and searches for a "best-match" template tied to a collection of Web sites, or scroll-down menus that give the user a chance to further refine his query.

Over time the site has expanded its "knowledge base" to more than seven million question/answer connections.

On Page 55, the above article states the following:

Ask Jeeves now licenses its technology for corporate online tech support. Dell Computer's Ask Dudley site (using the name and likeness of their head tech-support guru) "took off like wildfire," according to Manish Mehta, Dell's senior online support manager. It already accurately answers more than 60 percent of all questions, and provides valuable feedback. "It's a nifty mechanism to learn exactly what customers are asking as soon as a new system launches."

Toshiba America receives 380,000 tech-support calls a month. It launched its Ask IRIS (Instant Response Information Service) in mid-March and hopes to see a 20 to 30 percent reduction in calls by year's end. "We're hoping IRIS will be as smart as our very smartest technician," says Dan Ludwick, Toshiba's director of service marketing.

Ask Jeeves customizes its corporate clients' existing tech support database to match the question/answer template format. In addition, Ask Jeeves maintains and monitors the system software and knowledge base, plus handles data mining and analysis. Initial costs range from $400,000 to more than $1 million, depending on the depth of the data. Licensees pay a fraction of a penny to Ask Jeeves for each good question/answer match.

Yahoo is still my choice if you have a particular category.  However, my first choice in general is now Ask Jeeves because of the neat way I can merely type a natural language query.  I suggest that you ask Jeeves a question just for kicks and then see how fast you will get hooked on Jeeves. http://www.ask.com/ .

(See also Smart agent,  XML  Resource Description Framework (RDF), Webcasting, Knowledge Management, and World Wide Web)

Search Extractor and Wrapper = (See Wrapper.)

SECAM = SEquential Couleu AvecMemoire sequential color and memory television standard adopted by France and the USSR in 1967. This has some phase and amplitude integrity (skew-symmetry) advantages over NTSC and some line flicker (Hanover bars) disadvantages. Having France and some parts of Eastern Europe on a different standard than PAL for the rest of Europe and NTSC for North America and Japan is somewhat frustrating for manufacturers of hardware and developers of videotapes. (See also NTSC and PAL)

Security = Protection against error and fraud. In computing and networking this includes firewall protections (e.g., passwords) for entry and encryptions for messages that contain protected data such as credit card numbers. A computer virus is one of the most serious problems.  A virus hardware/software infection designed intentionally to corrupt a computer, computer files, and/or networks.  For virus updates and news, two good web sites are Network Associates at http://www.nai.com/vinfo/ and Mcafee at http://www.mcafee.com/ .  (Also see ActiveX.)

The main computer security site is probably CERT --- http://www.cert.org/ 

One of the main systems and security sites is at http://www.isworld.org/ 

The U.S. Department of Justice Cybercrime Website --- http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ 

Bob Jensen's threads on security --- http://www.trinity.edu/ 

Nearly the entire April 2004 issue of Syllabus Magazine is devoted to computer and network security.  This is a useful reference with lots of links --- http://www.syllabus.com/mag.asp 

You should also know about this site when you have a computer security question --- http://www.alw.nih.gov/Security/security.html 

Bob Jensen's computer security bookmarks are at --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#200503Security 

An Innovative Cookie Jar 

The big question is whether Microsoft will adapt to StealthSurfer or introduce a competitive product for Internet Explorer.  My guess is no!  We may have to install Netscape once again just to keep pesky cookies off the main hard drive.

"Furtive Surfers Find a Way to Keep Their Travels Secret," by Howard Millman, The New York Times, March 4, 2004 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/technology/circuits/04quie.html 

A new thumb-size U.S.B. drive from a company called StealthSurfer aims to guard your privacy by keeping the records of your Web activity close to the vest. When you plug in the StealthSurfer and use its customized version of the Netscape browser, the device stores the cookies, U.R.L. history, cache files and other traces of your Web browsing that would ordinarily accumulate on your computer's hard drive. When you're done surfing, you unplug the drive and take the records of your travels with you.

StealthSurfer's name is a bit of an overstatement. It does keep your Web-hopping and file-sharing activities away from prying eyes after the fact. But since it uses your computer's Internet connection, the Web sites you visit can still track your Internet protocol address as you move around online.

The StealthSurfer comes in four capacities, ranging from 64 megabytes ($70) to 512 megabytes ($299). You may experience a slight reduction in performance when you use the device because its flash memory writes data at slower speeds than a full-size hard drive does.

On the other hand, installation is a breeze - computers running Windows Me, 2000 and XP recognize the StealthSurfer as a drive when it is plugged in. (If you're running Windows 98, you must download a driver

The StealthSurfer home page is at http://www.stealthsurfer.biz/ 
Don't you hate it now that some businesses now use biz instead of com in their URLs?

You can read more about cookies at "Cookies."

Examples of available (or possible) IW weapons 
From a document entitled "An Introduction to Information Warfare" by Reto Haeni at  http://www.seas.gwu.edu/student/reto/infowar/info-war.html  

Computer Viruses

A virus is a code fragment that copies itself into a larger program, modifying that program. A virus executes only when its host program begins to run. The virus then replicates itself, infecting other programs as it reproduces.  Viruses are well known in every computer based environment, so that it is not astonishing that this type of rough program is used in the Information Warfare. We could imagine that the CIA (or Army, Air Force ....) inserts computer viruses into the switching networks of the enemy's phone system. As today's telephone systems are switched by computers, you can shut them down, or at least causing massive failure, with a virus as easy that you can shut down a "normal" computer. An example what the damage a virus could cause exists. We can compare it with the system crash of AT&T long distance switching system on January 15, 1990 [10].

Worms (Also see Worm)

A worm is an independent program. It reproduces by copying itself in full-blown fashion from one computer to another, usually over a network. Unlike a virus, it usually doesn't modify other programs.  Also if worms don't destroy data (like the Internet Worm,  they can cause the loss of communication with only eating up resources and spreading through the networks. A worm can also easily be modified so that data deletion or worse occurs. With a "wildlife" like this, I could imagine breaking down a networked environment like a ATM and banking network.

Trojan horses

A Trojan horse is a code fragment that hides inside a program and performs a disguised function. It's a popular mechanism for disguising a virus or a worm.  A trojan horse could be camouflaged as a security related tool for example like SATAN (Security Administrating Tool for Analyzing Networks). SATAN checks UNIX system for security holes and is freely available on the Internet. If someone edits this program so that it sends discovered security holes in an e-mail message back to him (lets also include the password file? No problem), the Cracker learns much information about vulnerable hosts and servers. A clever written trojan horse does not leave traces of its presence and because it does not cause detectable damage, it is hard to detect.

Logic bombs

A bomb is a type of Trojan horse, used to release a virus, a worm or some other system attack. It's either an independent program or a piece of code that's been planted by a system developer or programmer."  With the overwhelming existence of US based software (e.g. MS Windows or UNIX systems), the US Government, or whomever you would like to imagine, could decide that no software would be allowed to be exported from that country without a Trojan horse. This hidden function could become active when a document with "war against the USA" exists on the computer. Its activation could also be triggered from the outside. An effect could be to format the computers harddisks or to mail the document to the CIA.

Trap doors

A trap door, or a back door, is a mechanism that's built into a system by its designer. The function of a trap door is to give the designer a way to sneak back into the system, circumventing normal system protection."  As I mentioned in the last section, all US software could be equipped with a trap door that would allow IW agencies to explore systems and the stored data on foreign countries. This could be most useful in cases of military strategic simulations and plans and would provide the DoD's intelligence with vital information.

Chipping

Just as software can contain unexpected functions, it is also possible to implement similar functions in hardware. Today's chips contain millions of integrated circuits that can easily be configured by the manufacturer so that they also contain some unexpected functions. They could be built so that they fail after a certain time, blow up after they receive a signal on a specific frequency, or send radio signals that allow identification of their exact location - the number of possible scenarios exceeds, by far, the scope of this paper. The main problem with chipping is that the specific (adapted) chip be installed in the place that is useful for the Information Warrior. The  easiest solution is to built the additional features into all the chips manufactured in the country that is interested in this type of IW.

Nano machines and Microbes

Nano machines and Microbes provide the possibility to cause serious harm to a system. Unlike viruses, we can use these to attack not the software but the hardware of a computer system. Nano machines are tiny robots (smaller than ants) that could be spread at an information center of the enemy. They crawl through the halls and offices until they find a computer. They are so small that they enter the computer through slots and shut down electronic circuits.  Another way to damage the hardware is a special breed of microbes. We know that they can eat oil, what about if they were bred for eating silizium? They would destroy all integrated circuits in a computer lab, a site, a building, a town.......

Electronic jamming

In the old days (and even today) electronic jamming was used to block communications channels at the enemy's equipment so that they can't receive any information. The next step is not to block their traffic, but instead overwhelm them with incorrect information. This type of disinformation can also be combined with the possibilities described in the section "soft war"

HERF Guns - EMP Bombs

HERF stands for High Energy Radio Frequency. HERF guns are able to shoot a high power radio signal at an electronic target and put it out of function. The damage can be moderate (e.g. that a system shuts down, but can be restarted) or severe (e.g. the system hardware has been physically damaged). Electronic circuits are more vulnerable to overload that most people would suspect.  This mechanism uses HERF guns with big success. In essence, HERF guns are nothing but radio transmitters. They send a concentrated radio signal to the target. The target can be a mainframe inside a business building, an entire network in a building, or as today's planes and cars are stuffed with electronic equipment, the target can even be a moving vehicle with all the inherent dangers for the people who are inside. EMP stands for electromagnetic pulse. The source can be a nuclear or a non-nuclear detonation. It can be used by special forces teams who infiltrate the enemy's and detonate a device near their electronic devices. It destroys the electronics of all computer and communication systems in a quite large area. The EMP bomb can be smaller than a HERF gun to cause a similar amount of damage and is typically used to damage not a single target (not aiming in one direction) but to damage all equipment near the bomb.

Also see Authenticated Payment Program (SET)Clipper Chip, Cookies, Cryptolope, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Encryption Firewall, KerberosSecure Socket Layer (SSL), and WebLedger.

Bob Jensen's main documents on e-Commerce e-Business (including security) are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

I added a Special Section to the document entitled "Opportunities of E-Business Assurance:  Risks in Assuring Risk" at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/assurance.htm 

For more information about fraud, information warfare, and security, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm 

Sega = (See Games)

Senses  = Bob Jensen's threads on computing technologies for sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/senses.htm 

Sequence = A combination of events executed in a predetermined order.

Server = A computer that shares its resources, such as printers and files, with other computers on the network. An example of this is a Network File System (NFS) server which shares its disk space with other computers.   Especially see the concept of a shell.

Set-top box = A digital device that will sit on top of or inside a television set and provide the digital processing necessary to support interactive network services (video-on-demand, network placing of purchase orders, database access, etc.) in the early phases of the information highway. Eventually PCTVs will probably replace set-top box processors. (See also CD-Stand Alone and Information highway)

SGI = Silicon Graphics, Inc., 2011 North Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA, 94039-7311. This company manufactures high-end graphics work stations such as its Indy line for hypermedia, video, and 3-D graphics rendering. Some software vendors such as Information International write software for SGI workstations. These are among the best of the professional options for generating videographics and virtual realities, but they come at a high price for hardware, software, and technical help to obtain and maintain an SGI workstation. Software for SGI and other Unix-based workstations costs much more, "often 10 times the price of equivalent software for high-volume platforms like MPC---and much of it is extremely vertical in nature" says Spanbauer (1993b), p. 42. SGI now has a low-end multimedia workstation starting at under $5,000, The Sun Microsystems SPARClassic M (under $5,000) and 10SX (over $15,000) are designed to compete with the SGI Indago line for multimedia computing. Beware that buying an SGI computer such as the Indy for less than $5,000 is analogous to buying an automobile without a transmission, wheels, and other essential components. For example, the hard drive and monitor are not included at the $5,000 price. Lindy (1994) says the price of a complete Indy system rises to $27,600. He compares features of the Quadra 840AV with the more expensive and faster SGI Indy and finds that the Quadra 840AV performs as well or better in most instances for a lot less money for hardware and software. The SGI Indy competes with NewTek's Video Toaster and Apple AV competitors, but should not be confused with the more extensive concept of network video server. (See also Video server, Amiga, Apple AV, PowerPC, SUN and Unix)

SGML = The abbreviation for Standard Generalized Markup Language, SGML is an international standard for the publication and delivery of electronic information.

Shared Memory =

"Before Going to Buy High-Tech Devices, Learn the New Terms," by Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal,  November 16, 2006; Page B1 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/personal_technology.html

Shared Memory: A computer configuration in which the video circuitry lacks its own dedicated memory and must share, or drain off, a portion of the computer's main memory. This is common in lower-price computers. It's fine, but it reduces the amount of memory available to the nonvideo functions of the computer, so you may want to add extra memory to a PC of this type.

Shareware = This term refers to software that is available on public networks and BBSs. Users are asked to remit a small amount to the software developer, but it's on the honor system.

Shel  = web server/client software focused on storage, delivery, and course management.   This software facilitates server/client networking that allows for student record keeping, test grading, etc.  Unlike high-end authoring software, courseware shells have utilities for creating network listservs, bulletin boards, chat rooms, electronic forums, telephony, etc.  These shells also facilitate lesson authoring in virtually all of the high-end authoring software listed above.   Some courseware shells have more authoring capabilities than others, although none have the full authoring capabilties of the high-end authoring systems.

Silent Meeting = (See Virtual.)

SIMM = Single In-line Memory Module plug-in memory module containing all the chips needed to add blocks of RAM to a computer. At the present time, it is not uncommon to pay in the neighborhood of $200 for each 16mb of RAM added to computers. (See also RAM)

Simulation = Computer generated or enhanced emulation of real world happenings. In the early days of computing simulation was largely a numerical modeling of factory operations, weather systems, planetary movements, etc. The advent of flight simulation ushered in physical reproductions of reality that gave the look and feel of being in a real world happening such as landing an aircraft at night in simulated airports around the world or simulated combat situations. Modern day multimedia computing has ushered in countless applications of visual as well as numerical modeling simulations. The high end technology for simulation today is virtual reality. (See also Virtual Reality)

Single-session recording = The older CD-ROM standard, where all data you intend to put on a disk must be recorded in one session rather than in several different sessions over time. (See also CD-R)

Skype --- see Instant Messaging

SLIP = Serial Line Internet Protocol that allows users in selected parts of the world to access the Internet via modems and phone lines if they are not directly connected to the Internet system of worldwide networks. There are specialized SLIP firms plus some of the more general firms such as Delphi and CompuServe. Unlike direct connections, however, SLIP interfacings normally have usage fees based upon timing and extent of usage. (See also ISP, PIP, and Modem)

Smart agent = A utility for scanning Internet resources and collecting files pertinent to selected interests. This also includes screen savers that collect information (e.g., news is downloaded at assigned intervals on the Pointcast screen saver at <http://www.pointcast.com/>). (See also XML and Search engine)

Smart card = a credit card with an embedded microchip that contains extensive information. Smart cards are presently used for telephone cards, health cards, pay TV, banking, GSM Global System for Mobile communications, and other cellular/satellite telephones. Smart cards can hold encrypted secure data transferred in from a personal computer. The future appears to be unlimited for secure smart cards.

SMIL = (See HTML)

S/MIME  = (See Internet Messaging).

SMS = (See Below)

Question
What are the meanings of the terms SMS and Zlango

The newest language for mobile text messaging looks like hieroglyphics and sounds like a caveman. The language is Zlango, and its creators aim to inject whimsy and emotion into text messaging while reducing the number of keystrokes needed to get the point across. "SMS is the driest of all forms of communication," Zlango founder and Chief Executive Officer Yoav Lorch told UPI. "SMS," short for "short messaging service," is how much of the rest of the world refers to text messaging.
"Me little late meeting sorry sorry," PhysOrg, June 28, 2006 --- http://www.physorg.com/news70640782.html

SMITS = Self-Monitoring Intelligent Tutoring System for computer-aided instruction of accounting information systems. SMITS was developed with an NCAIR grant by Professors Glen L. Gray and L. Richard Ye at California State University at Northridge. See Gray (1994).

SMTP  = (See Internet Messaging).

Socket = This is a communication mechanism originally implemented on the BSD version of the UNIX operating system. Sockets are used as endpoints for sending and receiving data between computers. A SSL (secure socket layer) is a secured security socket that controls data flows into and out of a socket for security purposes. (Also see Security and Internet Messaging).

Solaris = (See Unix)

Sonet = Synchronized Optical Network that is now operational on 155 Mb per second fiber optic cable between major cities in the United States. This forms the AT&T Corporation backbone for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching and transmission of voice, video, graphics, and data. (See also Information highway, Fiber optic, and Networks)

Sound Blaster compatible = (See MCI)

Sound board = A hardware insert for computers that allows mono or stereo audio (e.g., from cassette players, microphones, and television audio tracks) to be sent to computer speakers "on the fly" and/or to be captured as computer files such aswav and voc files for PC computers. The wav file extensions run on Microsoft MCI standards and the voc files run on Soundblaster sound boards from Creative Labs. Hardware options are reviewed in the NewMedia 1996 Tool Guide. Software (audio editing) options are reviewed in the NewMedia 1996 Tool Guide. When available, it is often better to have audio hardware on the motherboard rather than as a board added to a computer's expansion slot. (See also DSP)

Sound recording  = (See Sound board)

Sparc = A class of Unix-based workstations from Sun Microsystems, Inc., 2550 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, CA 94305. These are common in Unix-based networks. (See also SUN)

Speech recognition  = The ability of the computer to interpret speech or other audio commands along with keyboard, mouse, and joystick commands. Bob Jensen's Threads on Speech Recognition and Conversations With Computers (Audio Portals) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/speech.htm

Mac Voice Recognition

"Talking to Macs," Walter Mossbert, The Wall Street Journal,  January 13, 2005; Page B4 --- http://online.wsj.com/ 

Q: I have been a longtime user of voice-recognition software on my Windows PC and would like to use this type of program if I switch to a Mac. Does anyone make a worthwhile speech-recognition product for Mac?

A: Every Mac comes with built-in speech-recognition features that allow users to issue certain commands to the computer verbally. In addition, there are speech-recognition programs for the Mac that allow users to dictate text to the computer as well as issue verbal commands. For instance, there is a Mac version of the IBM ViaVoice speech-recognition program, familiar to Windows users. More information is at scansoft.com/viavoice/mac/. And a small software company, MacSpeech, makes a speech-recognition program called iListen. More information is at www.macspeech.com. There may be others as well. However, I haven't tested any of these, so I can't say how well they work or which is best.

How good are cell phones that automatically convert speech into text?
 Phone makers have tried to solve this (cell phone text entry) problem by squeezing little keyboards into the bodies of some phones. But these keyboards usually make phones bigger and bulkier than normal, and often show up only on costlier models, like the Treo or BlackBerry. This week, my assistant Katie Boehret and I tested a new phone that attempts to solve the text-entry problem in a novel way that doesn't involve typing, and can be used on a small, inexpensive phone with just a numerical keypad. This new phone lets you dictate your text messages by just speaking into the phone. The Samsung p207, $79.99 with a two-year contract from Cingular Wireless, has built-in "speech-to-text" technology: It turns what you say into text on the screen. This technology, called VoiceMode, was created by a small Massachusetts company called VoiceSignal Technologies Inc. If it works properly, VoiceMode should make composing a text message as simple as dictating a voice-mail message. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well. In our tests, the system made so many errors requiring tedious corrections that it might have been faster for us to peck out our messages the old-fashioned way -- especially if we used the abbreviations and shorthand phrases so common among text-messaging fans.
 Walter Mossberg, "A Phone That Takes Dictation: Testing Voice-to-Text Function," The Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2005; Page D4 --- http://online.wsj.com/

"Just talk to me," The Economist, December 6, 2001 --- http://www.economist.com/ 

Speech recognition: At long last, speech is becoming an important interface between man and machine. In the process, it is helping to slash costs in business, create new services on the Internet, and make cars a lot safer and easier to drive

In the early days of computing, information was put into computers by flipping switches. After this came the relative sophistication of loading programs and data by means of punched cards or punched paper-tape. These were followed in their turn by such devices as the keyboard, the mouse, the trackball, the joystick, the touchpad and the touch-sensitive screen. Throughout all this, speech-the most natural, and perhaps the most effective, interface between people and computers-has remained largely neglected. Apart from some modest developments in software for desktop dictation in the 1990s, the only time most people have talked to their computers has been when cursing them.

All this is changing. Already, speech recognition is a not-uncommon feature at the call-centres of telephone companies, financial-service providers and airlines in the United States. In Japan and Europe, meanwhile, speech recognition is being adapted for use as a hands-free input device for motor cars.

Technologies such as automatic speech recognition (ASR), speaker verification and text-to-speech generators (see article) are catching on fast. They promise to deliver access to information and services anytime and anywhere that there is telephone. With more than 1 billion phones in the world and new subscribers being added to the global networks at double-digit rates, the enthusiasm is understandable. What is really driving the enthusiasm for the technology is not just that people are used to talking over telephones and so need little encouragement or training. They have also proved themselves willing to pay a premium for such services.

Continued at http://www.economist.com/ 


From SyllabusNews on August 16, 2002

DePaul Develops Sign Language Translator

A team of faculty and students at DePaul University's School of Computer Science has created a computer-generated synthetic interpreter capable of translating spoken English into American Sign Language (ASL). The program, dubbed "Paula," uses speech recognition and sophisticated animation. Using the system, a hearing person speaks through a headset connected to the computer. The animated figure of Paula then translates intoASL through hand gestures and facial expressions on the computer screen. The project required four years and more than 25,000 hours worth of work by the project team. "Most people are not aware that ASL is not simply a signed form of English," said Rosalee Wolfe, professor of computer science at DePaul and one of the leaders of the research team. "It is a series of hand configurations, hand positions, body positions and movement and facial expressions that are used in certain specific combinations. Hence, creating an animated translator is a very intricate and detailed process."

For more information, visit: http://asl.cs.depaul.edu 


To date, vocabulary limitations and other problems make this a less than perfect option for authoring at the moment. However, technology seems to be adequate for major companies like American Express, UPS, Schwab & Co., and other companies to move from "curious novelty to strategic technology" according to Mary Thyfault in "Voice Recognition Enters the Mainstream" in Information Week, July 14, 1997, p. 20. These companies intend to have computers respond to customer voices. For example, using technology developed by Nuance, Scwab & Co. introduced the "Voice Broker" that responds to telephone requests for market price quotations and other investment information. American Express uses voice recognition for travel services. The ability to talk directly with a computer was anticipated years ago in Star Trek television shows and with the supercomputer named HAL in the popular film "2001 Space Odyssey". Eventually speech recognition will be commonplace when using both large and small computers. Apple Corporation led the way in speech recognition, but the gap has been closed between Mac and PC users. The latest excitement in software that will recognize normal (continuous) speaking speeds is Dragon's Naturally Speaking fromhttp://www.dragonsys.com/. Other options such as Voice Assist from Creative Labs (800-998-1000) are available for PCs. However, the leading and most reliable PC software at the time of this writing are Naturally Speaking from Dragon and VoicePlus ViaVoice Simply Speaking Software from IBM Corporation. VoiceType sells for less than $100 and had 94% accuracy rate in tests reported in Consumer Reports, July 1997, p. 6. Another competitor (Kurzweil VoiceCommands) only had a 72% accuracy in the same tests, although VoicePad did receive the Software Publishers Association's Award for the "Best New Software Program of the Year" in 1997. Older links for discrete (non-continuous) speaking recognition include IBM's VoiceType and AVRI's SpeechCommander. Microsoft has Speech Dictation software. Siemens Business Communication also has products on speech recognition. One product from Siemens is ComManager telephony and call accounting software. Microsoft Agent can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/agent/agentdl.asp    (See also Text reading and Disabilities products)

For applications of speech recognition see TRACI Talk: The Mystery and Let's go Read! An Island Adventure. Islip Media Inc. in Pittsburgh offers a speech recognition search engine for video libraries. It is costly, howver, at $50,000 for a 50 user license. The Islip web site is at http://www.islip.com/

Probably the most exciting thing this week is the featured speech recognition software on the PBS television show called Computer Chronicles.  This show was a summer re-run of the Computers Without Keyboards show summarized at http://www.cmptv.com

There were various demonstrations, including almost flawless letter dictation using Dragon's Naturally Speaking.  You simply say "new paragraph," "comma," or other accepted commands, including correction comments such as a command to change "two" to "too."  The Dragon Naturally Speaking software and other leading speech recognition websites are given at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Speech1 

But everything else on the show paled in comparison to the BeVocal demonstration of how you can call a free long distance number and interact by phone with a virtual woman at http://www.bevocal.com/index.html 

It's the only way to get FREE driving directions, traffic reports, weather forecasts, business locations, flight information, stock quotes, and more by phone. Just call 1-800-4-BVOCAL, speak up, and get what you need.

What is impressive is the fact that you can interrupt the virtual woman and ask her to repeat herself or spell words like names of city streets.  You can also ask for current delays due to construction or traffic at the moment.

  • You can "barge in" by saying commands anytime; you don't have to wait until the end to speak.
  • Some BeVocal commands can be said anytime. That is, they can be used in any BeVocal service. Voice commands you can say anytime are: BeVocal Home, BeVocal Tips, BeVocal Driving Directions, BeVocal Traffic, BeVocal Flight Information, BeVocal Weather, BeVocal Stock Quotes, Pause, Repeat, What Are My Choices?, and Goodbye.
  • Other commands are specific to individual BeVocal services.

What is important to educators and librarians is not this particular virtual woman and this particular application with a knowledge base on the above topics.  What is important is that this demonstrates the future of education and training of the 21st Century.  Suppose you really do not know how to account for a cross-currency swap using a EURIBOR index.  Someday it will be possible to dial up (from a hand-held phone which will also be a wireless computer) and listen to a detailed interactive tutorial that walks you through your particular problem (where you feed in your own particular parameters).  You will be able to "barge in" when you don't understand something, ask for definitions, ask for diagrams, ask for history, ask for examples, ask for current index levels, etc.  One day in the future you will also be able to do the same thing when trying to understand passages from Hamlet or Bob Jensen's muddled up theory paper at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/315wp/315wp.htm 

As educators, we have a responsibility to begin to organize the academy to design speech-recognition knowledge bases for BeVocal types of education and training. 

The flip side of "speech recognition" is "text reading" conversion of written text into audio. The pioneer in this technology is Bell Labs at http://www.islip.com/. That Bell Labs web site has some wonderful demonstrations of this technology. (See Text reading.)

Information Week on May 10, 1999, Page 26 elaborates its notices that SpeechWorks International has speech recognition modules for ERP systems.  For example, these modules can now be deployed in SAP.  See http://www.speechworks.com/ .

Added on March 5, 2001
Send voice messages.

Impress and freak out your friends, family, or business associates by sending mass robotic phone messages (you choose the voice, male or female!) to up to fifty people via email, your PDA, or your WAP-enabled phone -- courtesy of ImBot, "your Internet messaging robot." Just sign up for the demo, and send up to three messages, free. --- http://www.imbot.com/ 

Added June 27, 1999 --- The June 27 broadcast of the Dynamic Duo had some helpful information to pass on to the world.  I like the way the Duo is willing to tell it like it is from the standpoint of user friendliness and reliability.  The web site for the Duo is at http://www.digitalduo.com/ .

The lead segment was on the state of speech recognition.  Speech recognition has come a long way in a short time.  It is especially wonderful for persons who cannot use keyboards for one reason or another.  Dragon Systems Naturally Speaking Mobile is an award winning pocket-size recorder --- see http://www.dragonsys.com/products/naturallyspeaking/mobile/index.html

A major advantage of speech recognition is that audio files are recorded on the fly.   This would be great product for me since I usually videotape conference presentations and student presentations.  My beleaguered secretary spends over half her time transcribing the audio into text.  It would be wonderful if I could bypass her by recording directly into my Dragon Mobile.  The Dynamic Duo, however, reports that this will probably not be possible until speech recognition gets much better.   Although the time it takes to "train the system" on a particular voice such as my own voice has been reduced from two hours to 30 minutes, it is not likely that each speaker at a conference will want to speak into my recorder for 30 minutes prior to his or her presentation.  Even when the Dragon Mobile is properly trained, the Dynamic Duo found an average of one error in 20 words ---  and that is an average number.  When there is ambient noise the error rate explodes.  Recording from a distance such as 15 feet greatly increases error rates.  I think I will wait for a while before going Dragon Mobile.  You can find links to other speech recognition vendors at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosf.htm#Speech1

L&H Voice Xpress Professional has some key advantages over leading voice recognition software according to Jeff Angus in "Balanced Skills Make Voice Xpress a Winner," in Information Week, August 23, 1999, pp. 56-59.  The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/749/voice.htm.  One of the advantages is that voice training is only takes about a third as much time as the training required for Dragon Systems.  Another advantage is integration with Office 2000 products, especially Internet Explorer 5.0.  You can dictate Office 2000 instructions by voice.  Jeff Angus states the following

With about eight hours of use, Voice Xpress worked well enough for me to prefer it to typing. With 12 hours of use (work and training) it's a hands-down winner.

Voice Xpress still requires more help from me than I'd like recognizing Windows and application commands. Even going to the Voice Xpress toolbar and clicking the button that tells the utility to expect a command doesn't guarantee it will recognize my command every time.

In terms of desktop applications, Voice Xpress works best with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, both text-intensive processes. I struggled a little bit to have it work with my spreadsheet, and while it occasionally pulled the correct set of format and numbers ($1,287, for example) out of a string of spoken input, this complex task requires more training. Users who work extensively with spreadsheets may find the payback time quick enough.

The web site for Voice Xpress is at http://wemark.com/oivl.html.  The base price is $149.  Beware that you should not even think about this product without 96 Mb of RAM with Windows 98 and 128 Mb of Ram with Windows NT.  I think I will wait for this product to be a bit more user friendly.  When there's a Voice Xpress for Dummies I will be the first in line.

December 1999 Update Update on speech technologies --- http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2409293,00.html 

Dragon Systems Inc. has begun previewing its new AudioMining speech technology, which will enable users to search and retrieve audio and streaming media content on the Web.

The AudioMining technology converts audio data into text, which can then be accessed by keyword searches, company officials said. That saves time and helps users be more productive because they don't need to listen to entire recordings to find information, they added.

Dragon demonstrated the technology for the first time at the Giga Showcase for Innovative IT Solutions earlier this month (December 1999)  in Palm Desert, Calif., and conference participants voted it Best Overall Winner, Most Innovative Product, Best Business Application Potential and Highest-Quality Demonstration.

From New Media on July 19, 2001
SpeechGenie --- http://www.voicegenie.com 

Gateway Platform Allows VoiceXML Based Access To Web Info

SpeechGenie is a turnkey deployment platform that allows corporations or service providers to enable their customers to access their applications and Web data via phone; i.e., customers can dial phone numbers, and by speaking commands into their phones, can access Web information and perform transactions, or manage their e-mail or personal information.

SpeechGenie is composed of a combination of hardware and software technology from both VoiceGenie and SpeechWorks. The product provides for the corporation and its developers a VoiceXML-based platform allowing them to create voice-activated (both speech recognition and TTS - Text-To-Speech - responses) interfaces to their Web applications or information.

VoiceGenie provides the VoiceGenie VoiceXML Interpreter (a 100% VoiceXML compliant tool that allows for the processing of VoiceXML scripts), and the VoiceGenie Telephony Software, which manages the ASR/TTS call channels.

SpeechWorks, on the other hand, provides the SpeechWorks OpenSpeech DialogModules, which provide developers with a collection of common reusable components for the creation of speech recognition interfaces; the SpeechWorks SMARTRecognizer ASR Version 7 for speech recognition chores; and the SpeechWorks Speechify TTS engine.

A key feature of SpeechGenie noted by the vendor is "...extensive OA&M (operations, administration and maintenance)..." capabilities through support for SNMP, Web and console interfaces, etc., allowing admins to monitor the status of the system and identify and diagnose faults or performance problems.

SpeechGenie is available now, with introductory pricing (through September 15, 2001) of $20,000.

"Software Called Capable of Copying Any Human Voice," by Lisa Guernsey,  The New York Times, July 31, 2001 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/technology/31VOIC.html 

AT&T (news/quote) Labs will start selling speech software that it says is so good at reproducing the sounds, inflections and intonations of a human voice that it can recreate voices and even bring the voices of long-dead celebrities back to life. The software, which turns printed text into synthesized speech, makes it possible for a company to use recordings of a person's voice to utter things that the person never actually said.

The software, called Natural Voices, is not flawless - its utterances still contain a few robotic tones and unnatural inflections - and competitors question whether the software is a substantial step up from existing products. But some of those who have tested the technology say it is the first text-to-speech software to raise the specter of voice cloning, replicating a person's voice so perfectly that the human ear cannot tell the difference.

"If ABC wanted to use Regis Philbin's voice for all of its automated customer-service calls, it could," said Lawrence R. Rabiner, vice president for AT&T Labs Research.

Potential customers for the software, which is priced in the thousands of dollars, include telephone call centers, companies that make software that reads digital files aloud, and makers of automated voice devices.

From Syllabus e-News on October 9, 2001:

U. Texas Med Center Institutes Speech Recognition

The University of Texas's Southwestern Medical Center is offering a speech recognition service enabling callers to say the name of the employee, physician, department, clinic, or study they are trying to reach and connect to an appropriate number. The service uses SpeechSite speech recognition technology from SpeechWorks International, Inc., and helps university operators, who field calls for about 75,000 patients annually, work with callers with more complex needs. The Center said more than 60 percent of all calls are now automated using the system, which resides on server in the data center and uses employee information from its human resources management system. In the near future, the system will be expanded to recognize Spanish-speaking callers.

For more information, visit: http://www.speechworks.com 

See Also Text Reading that translates written text into voice audio.

Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-semantic-interpretation-20011116/ 

This document defines the process of Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition and the syntax and semantics of semantic interpretation tags that can be added to speech recognition grammars to compute information to return to an application on the basis of rules and tokens that were matched by the speech recognizer. In particular, it defines the syntax and semantics of the contents of Tags in the Speech Recognition Grammar Specification.

Semantic Interpretation may be useful in combination with other specifications, such as the Stochastic Language Models (N-Gram) Specification, but their use with N-grams has not yet been studied.

Although the results of semantic interpretation are describing the meaning of a natural language utterance, the current specification does not specifically generate such information in the Natural Language Semantics Markup Language for the Speech Interface Framework. It is believed that semantic interpretation can produce information that can be encoded in the NL Semantics Markup Language, but this is not ensured or enforced.

"The Last Word in Dictation. Period," by David Pogue, The New York Times, January 24. 2002 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/circuits/24STAT.html 

Copytalk is a glorified dictation service. From any phone, you dial Copytalk's toll-free number. At the tone, you dictate, for example, an e-mail message. Between 3 and 20 minutes later, the message you dictated is sent on its merry way across the Internet (with or without your review, at your option), looking exactly as if it came from your desktop PC.

The system relies on the world's most sophisticated speech-recognition system: a person wearing headphones. Because you're simply leaving a message for a transcriptionist, the results are far more accurate, and the system far more flexible, than you would get using speech-recognition software like NaturallySpeaking.

You might say, for example: "O.K., this e-mail's going out to Bill G., that's B-I-L-L G, at Microsoft.com. The subject is Windows XP, and the body is, let's see: `Dear Bill, Thanks for Windows XP.' No wait, make that, `Thanks a bunch for Windows XP.' Then, going on: `It's incompatible with my virus software, my printer and my wife. Can you fix it? Sincerely, Frank.' Oh, and also CC it to Steve B. at Microsoft.com. And I'd like to review it before you send it."

In other words, you dictate precisely as you would to a personal assistant. Copytalk says that its transcriptionists even try to correct spelling, grammar and muddled ZIP codes, which they check against the city information in addresses that you dictate.

If you have a Palm-based organizer, Copytalk gets even more interesting. You can dictate anything you can store on your organizer: datebook appointments, to-do items, memos, expense-report items, addresses and phone numbers and so on. In the process you can exploit the full range of Palm software features. You might say, for example, "I want a new appointment, called `Gadget-obsession therapy,' repeating every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:30 p.m., through May 30. Give me an alarm 20 minutes in advance. Oh, and attach a note to this appointment that has the phone number: Technophiles Anonymous, (212) 555-4433."

A Palm-savvy transcriptionist at Copytalk takes all of this down. The next time you sync your organizer with your Windows PC, the Copytalk software connects to the Internet and downloads the freshly transcribed material. A minute later the new appointment appears on the appropriate days, as though you had scratched it in yourself.

If your cellphone is your organizer (because it's a hybrid from Samsung, Handspring or Kyocera), or if you have equipped your organizer with some kind of modem and Palm's Mobile Internet Kit, life is even better: the new entries are entered into its calendar, address book, to-do list and so on, computerlessly.

If you're calling from a number that the service doesn't recognize or from an office whose phone system uses extension numbers, you have to plug in your phone number and password to prove that you're you.

But when you dial the service from your cellphone or home, the service immediately recognizes you and prompts you to begin dictating. That's when Copytalk begins to take on a life of its own, turning your phone into something like a magic voice recorder. You press Copytalk's speed-dial number on your phone, the call is answered before even one ring, and you're ready to dictate - all within five seconds.

On your cab ride back from a conference, for example, you can rattle off the contact info from the business cards that rained on you - and then throw them away. Recording business-travel expenses is another big payoff: it's hard to forget to bill your boss for some expenditure if you record it by voice while you're still expending.

The Copytalk Website is at http://www.copytalk.com/index.htm 

A new breed of customer service agents will be so attentive to your needs that you'll never guess you're talking to software.

"Are You Being Served?" by Joe Nickell, MIT's Technology Review, March 15, 2002 --- http://www.techreview.com/articles/nickell031502.asp 

Somehow it seems the more businesses cater to customers through the use of new technologies, the harder it is to get good service. It's hard to find a company of any size today that answers its phone or e-mail without first sending customers through a maze of touch-tone menus or voice prompts-"voice hell" always a 1-800 number away. Then there are online customer support centers: soulless lists of frequently asked questions, hyperlinked conceptual puzzles and unintuitive search engines that never quite answer the question at hand. "What customers very often end up wanting is an F-U button," jokes Dr. Rosalind Picard, an associate professor at MIT whose research examines the role of emotions in human-computer interactions.

Undaunted, technology providers and their corporate clients are pushing toward a future in which an increasing percentage of customer inquiries can be handled automatically and, hopefully, with better results. They aim to build so-called "service bots"-software-hardware hybrid systems that understand spoken or written English (or any other dialect or language preferred by the customer), interpret vague or broad queries, possess a thorough understanding of both the company's products and the customer's past interactions, and speak or write answers in an intelligible, context- and emotion-sensitive fashion. The necessary skill set for the perfect service bot demands several interdependent layers of technology: voice recognition modules, natural language understanding engines, artificial intelligence for data extraction and text-to-speech synthesizers.

Customers should like these new bots because they would be faster, more accurate and more consistent than live service agents, providing personalized interactions managed across any medium, available any time of the day. Companies will line up for the new technology in order to fend off ever-rising customer service costs and catastrophic call-center employee turn-over rates.

That's the premise, anyway. It may all sound pie-in-the-sky, but numerous technology companies, as well as research centers at leading academic institutions, are hammering away at the challenges of building a better service bot. The first generation is already here. Ford Motor Company employs a chatty online bot named Ernie, built by San Francisco-based NativeMinds, who helps technicians at its network of dealerships diagnose car problems and order parts. IBM's Lotus software division employs a service bot from Support.com that can examine a user's software, diagnose problems and fix them by uploading patches to the user's computer-without any necessary intervention by human tech support personnel.

And in an odd twist, Electronic Arts has built an entire game, called Majestic, around service bot technology built by San Francisco-based developer eGain. Majestic carries players through a complex, multi-media episodic mystery. Players receive clues and information via pager, fax, e-mail, Web sites and even telephone calls. eGain's service bot keeps track of player information such as what clues they've collected and how they have reacted. The software can handle 100,000 simultaneous player interactions.

But given the lousy track record of automated customer service so far, consumers have reason to be skeptical of this new generation of talking machines. Confusing or insufficient menu choices, lack of personalization, outdated or insufficient responses and failure to carry over punched-in account information to conversations with live reps rank at the top of consumer complaints about automated customer service systems today. Almost 40 percent of Americans press zero whenever they encounter an automated answering system, rather than waiting to hear the menu options, according to a study conducted in 1998 by the Center for Client Retention.

So will service bots truly give us better service, or will they simply allow companies to reinforce the walls between themselves and customers? Can we really hope for a better-than-human service bot? And, is it realistic to expect companies to deploy tomorrow's automated systems any better than they deploy today's?

"I don't think it's possible to even imagine a generic customer service [bot] that can handle any kind of question in any industry," says Joe Bigus, leader of the Agent Building and Learning Environment (ABLE) project at IBM Research. Bigus' research group has recently produced a toolkit that allows developers to build small software agents-programs that gather information and perform duties automatically-in Java. The toolkit consists of software code that provides baked-in machine learning capabilities and a set of instructions for customizing the software agents with specific domain knowledge. This allows developers to design any number of discreet agents that possess specialized knowledge and problem-solving capabilities; the agents can even interact with one another when faced with a complex problem.

By facilitating the deployment of a number of small, specialized software agents-rather than one massively complex agent-this approach mimicks the way human resources are managed: customer service agents at Sony aren't all trained to understand every product from audio cassettes to digital video cameras. Instead, small groups of service agents are given specific products to understand thoroughly.

Continued at http://www.techreview.com/articles/nickell031502.asp 

See Also Text Reading that translates written text into voice audio.

Sprite = An independent graphic object that moves freely across the screen.

SSA  = Serial Storage Architecture, along with its FC-AL Fibre Channel alterative, that offer huge bandwidth networking schemes that operate within an Eithernet network. Shared discs in SSA or FC-AL systems can be operated over networks as fast as hard drives on a local computer. Furthermore, the connecting cables are "thin" relative to traditional SCSI connection cables. Whjile Ultra-Wide SCSI has a 40Mbps maximum bandwidth, SSA offers 80 MBps and FC-AL goes up to 100 MBps. SSA is fully duplex with two cables to devices. One advantage of SSA is that if a connected device fails, the entire loop does not fail since SSA does not require a hub. Over time, SSA systems and FC-AL will probably replace SCSI systems. See also SCSI.

SSL  = (See Socket. Also see Internet Messaging.)

Stand-alone = (See CD-Stand Alone)

Star topology = A network configuration where each node is connected by a single cable link to a central location, called the hub.

Still video camera = (See Dry camera)

Streaming  = (See Web Streaming)

Structured = This adjective describes how data are stored and used at companies. Travel agents, for example, type information into designated spaces on electronic forms on their computer screens that are connected to database programs. That structures, or categorizes, the information so it can be searched and sorted using such criteria as a customer's name or destination. The Web, in contrast, stores data in an unstructured way that limits the kinds of searches that can be performed.

Structured Query Language  = (See Relational database management.)

Student response pads = Hand-held wireless audience response pads which allow individual answers or group frequency responses to be immediately displayed in front of the class. The pads themselves must be separately purchased. HyperGraphics is the only CMS vendor that sells response pads with built in CMS software utilities. Barry Rice at Loyola College in Maryland performs Multimedia ToolBook authoring with student response pads for accounting applications in a Windows environment. See also Remote control and Electronic classroom)

Studio classroom = An application of computer technology pioneered by Jack M. Wilson at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute for replacing large lecture courses with students working in pairs in front of computer screens where they interactively tackle problems and issues rather than listen to or passively watch lectures in front of a mass lecture section. The only lecture comes at the beginning and end of class where the instructor commences or wraps up the learning session. The "studio" is a combination lab and electronic classroom. 

Dr. Wilson serves as the President of the University of Massachusetts system.  He had been serving as the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Massachusetts System and is the founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UMassOnline,  the University of Massachusetts Virtual University.  As Vice president he was responsible for the coordination of the academic programs in research and teaching throughout the five campus system. As CEO of UMassOnline he worked with the five physical campuses, Amherst, Lowell, Boston, Worcester, and Dartmouth to provide online access to the programs of the University of Massachusetts. 

Jack Wilson was one of the early pioneers in education technologies and learning.  He is now CEO and founder of UMass Online .

Dr. Wilson, also known as an entrepreneur, was the Founder (along with Degerhan Usluel and Mark Bernstein), first President, and only Chairman of LearnLinc Corporation (now Mentergy), a supplier of software systems for corporate training to Fortune 1000 Corporations.  In early 2000. LearnLinc merged with Gilat Communications, (GICOF) which also acquired Allen Communication from the Times Mirror group.  The Gilat-Allen-LearnLinc combination forms a powerful "one stop shopping" resource for E*Learning that is now the Mentergy unit of Gilat Communications.  (The LearnLinc Story).

Dr Wilson was the J. Erik Jonsson '22 Distinguished Professor of Physics, Engineering Science, Information Technology, and Management and the Co-director of the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship at Rensselaer.  After coming to Rensselaer in 1990, he served as the 

·    Dean of Undergraduate Education, 

·    Dean of Professional and Continuing Education, 

·    Interim Provost, 

·    Interim Dean of Faculty, and as the 

·    Founding Director of the Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education.  

In these roles, Wilson led a campus wide process of interactive learning and restructuring of the educational program, known for the design of the Studio Classrooms, the growth of the Distributed Learning Program, the creation of the Faculty of Information Technology, and the initiation of the student mobile computing (universal networked laptop) initiative

The Studio Classrooms at Rensselaer replaced large sized core courses taught by traditional lecture pedagogy with student teams responsible largely for teaching themselves using computer-aided and interactive course materials --- http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/WNCTW/ad7.html 

Welcome To Interactive Learning
Roll up your sleeves and take a seat in the Rensselaer studio classroom. Classes of about 60 students are engaged at wired workstations - utilizing cutting edge tools like Web-based technologies, full-motion video, computer simulation, and other laboratory resources. An instructor and teaching assistant move from workstation to workstation observing and coaching. Notes are taken with a simple mouse click, as students download files and class materials onto their required laptops. It's an innovative blend of discussion and skill-building, high-tech inquiry and problem-solving - preparing scholars to succeed in the new business world. It's all part of Interactive Learning at Rensselaer.

More Studios Than Hollywood
Interactive Learning is more than just a concept at Rensselaer; it's a working reality. The approach has been infused throughout all of our undergraduate disciplines in more than 25 studio classrooms with more being built all the time. In the LITEC studio classroom, students build remote-controlled cars in a project-based, team environment. In the Circuits Studio, students develop and test their own circuits. The Collaborative Classroom, funded by the National Science Foundation, serves as a testbed for using computer technology to collaborate on design projects. At Rensselaer, knowledge and application are seamlessly intertwined.

Teaching How We Teach
Rensselaer's revolutionary model for education has been talked about, honored, and emulated. We earned the first Pew Charitable Trust Award for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education and the first Boeing Outstanding Educator Award, among others. Last year, we were named to administer an $8.8 million Pew-funded program to bring educational innovation to other universities in this country: The Center for Academic Transformation. Literally hundreds of institutions have visited Rensselaer to learn how we teach.

No Stopping Now
Of course, the very thinking that enabled Rensselaer to initiate Interactive Learning is the same mindset that keeps us pressing forward. Rensselaer's Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education was founded 11 years ago with the continuing mission of making Rensselaer a leader in innovative pedagogy. More recently, the Rensselaer Academy of Electronic Media has become the spawning ground for highly creative visualization software that enables students to learn scientific and engineering principles in ways never before possible. We continue to look for new and better methods to evolve education - meeting the present and future needs of our students, professors, and global businesses. Because solving real-world challenges is our mission and our passion.

For a summary short summary see http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/News15/text4.html . (See also Electronic classroom)

SUN = Sun Microsystem computers, most of which are network workstations using Unix operating systems. The Sun Microsystems SPARClassic M (under $5,000) and 10SX (over $15,000) are designed to compete with the SGI Indago line for multimedia computing. (See also SGI, Sparc, and Unix)

Surfing = (See Web surfing)

Surfing backwards = (See Web surfing backwards)

SVG = open-standard vector graphics format that lets you add high-quality graphics and animation to Web pages using plain text commands. It's the powerful combination of dynamic two-dimensional vector graphics and Extensible Markup Language (XML). Simply put, SVG creates small file sizes for faster Web page downloads, offers unlimited color and font choices, and that's just the beginning. Find out more about SVG at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Overview.htm8

S-VHS = (See VHS)

Switched network = Is the opposite of dedicated bandwidth on the information highway. It is analogous to having a bridge that opens certain lanes in one direction to accommodate traffic flows in the morning rush hours and then changes the directions to accommodate evening rush traffic. In the case of switched networks, the bandwidth dedicated to flows of data, voice, video, and audio can be changed as needed. For example, video may require a temporary widening that limits data and audio flows. (See also Bandwidth, Information highway, and Video server)

Synchronous = A method of communication using a time interval to distinguish between transmitted blocks of data.

Synchronous connection = An analog to analog or digital to digital connection that is able to perform two or more processes at the same time by means of a mutual timing signal or clock.

Syntax = The rules of construction and terminology of a computer programming language. These rules are analogous to rules of spelling and grammar in a language, except that syntax rules are usually less forgiving. We can read a thousand-page book that has one error in spelling or grammar. Such is not the case with a computer program because it will not usually run if there is a syntax error.



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