New Media Awards 2005 Weblog

A Scottish firm, CEC Systems, has developed a new search engine that speaks aloud its results. Named Speegle, it allows users to select one of three voices which will then read the results of a query. The system is intended for those with visual impairments, or, according to its founder Gordon Renton, “those that just want to search for something in the background while they do something else". However, it has proved popular with those learning English, particularly from China and Japan (which raises the troubling spectre of these users learning to speak English with a gruff Scottish accent, as those found on the site).

The first impression, on visiting the site, is its similarity to Google (apart from just the name) - the layout and colours are very obviously based on those of Google, despite denials from CEC. The site also feels amateurish, due to the somewhat crude design and various spelling mistakes.

There are also question marks over its usefulness. Julie Howell, digital policy manager at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, expressed doubts over whether Speegle and similar sites really enhance the browsing experience for the visually impaired: “Blind people have specialised screen readers available to them which will do the job these technologies do in a more sophisticated way". In view of this, Speegle would appear to be an example of worthy sentiment, but misdirected execution.

10-year-olds will be disappointed to learn that the engine has banned most naughty words (though, experimentation reveals, not all).

The national rollout of Xhibit, a network linking 101 Crown Courts and criminal justice agencies, began on 15 December 2004. The scheme, designed by EDS will allow people to track court proceedings online, by SMS or by pager; the intention is to reduce the time spent waiting to give evidence. The system will also link to the Police National Computer, which will receive information from Crown Courts such as case results, bail orders and bench warrants.

The development has been hailed by the Courts minister, Christopher Leslie, who said: “We estimate that some 80,000 extra days of policing a year will be a huge benefit from this new technology. The national rollout of Xhibit is a clear example of courts using technology to improve the reality and perception of the criminal justice system.”

The system had previously undergone an 18-month pilot at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London, after which a full rollout was approved. The network is expected to be complete by 2006.

According to a private survey for Visa on 15 December 2004, a fifth of the estimated 25 million people with chip and pin cards are still signing their names instead of entering the pin number when they make purchases. Several reasons have been mooted for this reluctance - some customers cannot remember their PIN number, others blamed lack of enthusiasm from shop staff, and some said that they didn’t understand the system or it ‘made them nervous’. From January 1st, retailers can refuse to accept signatures if the customer has a chip and pin card.

Three-fifths of UK cardholders now have a chip and pin card. The scheme was introduced in 2004 to combat credit card fraud - a similar programme in France resulted in an 80% drop in card fraud.

This unwillingness on the part of some customers to adapt to the new system is demonstrative of a difficulty inherent in the introduction of any new technology - there will always be some elements of the public that refuse to accept it, whether it be chip and pin, internet access or digital TV.

You know that word you’ve always thought should be in the dictionary? Well, Collins have introduced an online Living Dictionary, through which users can submit new words and their definitions for possible acceptance into the print version. All submissions are discussed (and frequently argued over) by users - the intention is to select those words on which greatest consensus is reached. Some of the terms currently being debated are fluffle, cromulent, assmosis, humphle, pwned, tairist and chavalanche.

So, does this herald the democratisation of the dictionary via the internet? Dr. Johnson’s famous early dictionary was both deeply opiniated ("EXCISE.n.s. A hateful tax…levied by wretches") and somewhat patchy ("ETCH.n.s. A country word of which I know not the meaning"). Perhaps, at the other extreme, the unlimited number of contributors made possible by technology will result in a dictionary that truly captures English as it is spoken today? Jeremy Butterfield, the editor-in-chief of Collins Dictionaries, thinks so: “We felt it crucial to reflect language that is really used. One of the key ideas is to get real language-users actively involved in getting words into the dictionary.”

However, it remains to be seen how the project works in practice, and how many of the suggested words actually make it to the print edition. Regardless of the hype, the decision on whether or not to accept a new word ultimately rests with the editors, so in reality the process isn’t any less subjective than previously.

Google has announced an agreement with Stanford University, The University of Michigan, Harvard University, Oxford University and New York Public Library to scan their library collections and make them available online. The venture, expected to take several years to complete, will significantly increase Google’s current database of 8 million web pages. It includes the full libraries of Stanford and Michigan (15 million books in total) plus limited collections from Oxford, Harvard and the New York Public Library.

The project may signal the beginning of the end for the traditional library, at least according to those involved: “This is the day the world changes,” said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. The online pages will not have advertising, but will be linked to online bookstores such as Amazon, as well as Google’s own shopping site, Froogle. Around 90% of the books are out of print, minimising the impact on publishers. Google, which is meeting the full cost of the project, refused to reveal the process by which the books are to be scanned, saying only that the books will remain undamaged.

There are, however, legal restraints. Books published before 1923 are no longer under copyright protection and will be made available in their entirety - for those published later, Google must request the publisher’s permission on an individual basis, and, if permission is not forthcoming, will be limited to providing brief extracts and the book’s bibliography.

In its annual e-government report of 13 December 2004, the Cabinet Office announced that 96% of government services will be available electronically by the end of 2005. “These results show that departments have responded well to the breadth of the online delivery challenge,” said Ian Watmore, head of the e-government unit.

However, the report glosses over the fact that the target of 100% e-government by the end of 2005, set by the Prime Minister, has been missed. This may not be a bad thing, as the goal was somewhat unrealistic and unnecessary - for certain obscure procedures, such as permission to be buried at sea, the costs associated with e-enabling would be disproportionate to the minimal gains.

The report describes the outlook for e-government as “positive", stating that the new government portal, Directgov, is now receiving 600,000 unique hits a month - undoubtedly a substantial improvement on previous uptake. However, this hit count is significantly less than, for example, many online news portals, suggesting that there is considerable room for improvement.

Transport for London has recently introduced interactive posters to help commuters find their way around the city as part of its Safer Travel at Night campaign. Situated at busy underground stations, the posters are fitted with an infra-red port that can beam information directly to mobile phones - when the handset is held beside a glowing red icon, the embedded port then passes on a telephone number that the user can call to receive information about the safest route home.

The campaign, which began Monday 29th November, is intended to help Londoners, especially women, avoid trouble on the way home; in particular it aims to cut the number of sexual assaults by drivers of unlicensed minicabs. Nigel Marson, head of group marketing at Transport for London (TfL), said the posters were useful because they work outside the mobile phone networks. “They can work in previously inaccessible areas, such as underground stations, which is obviously a huge advantage in a campaign of this sort,” he said.

The benefits of the scheme are, however, somewhat undercut by its limited nature: the posters are aimed exclusively at women trying to get home late at night, there are only 25 in total and the campaign is ending on Boxing Day. Furthermore, the posters aren’t particularly striking. A cursory survey by our intrepid reporter revealed a total of 0 ‘interactions’ over a half-hour period. But if a commuter does decide to interact, the infra-red on their phone must first be activated. Quite a hindrance - a process which is certainly more involved than simply manually inputting a number into the phone. All of which renders the advantages of the scheme rather questionable - surely a simple phone number displayed on the poster would have been more helpful?

As we reported in the summer, every one of the 1,650 freshmen at Duke University was given a personal iPod this autumn. The iPods were intended as learning aids, allowing students to record lectures, download scientific data etc. The media immediately questioned the university’s intentions, suspecting the move to be a marketing gimmick designed to attract potential students. The charge was denied by Lynne O’Brien, director of Duke’s Centre for Instructional Technology: “We think [the students] will rise to the challenge of working with their professors and others to develop new ways of learning".

A semester has now passed since iPod’s admission to Duke, and the scepticism would appear to have been vindicated. Contrary to what O’Brien might have hoped, the iPods were not used by students to ‘develop new ways of learning’. Responses from Duke students would suggest that the iPods were mostly regarded as a form of entertainment and not as a means to supplement their studies.

For a school at which financial aid, campus security, and cheaper textbooks are at a premium, the $500,000 invested in the iPods would arguably have been better invested elsewhere.