11:35am - 12:15am
Gretchen McNeely + Scott McCall
Accenture / IBM
There are many considerations when designing for voice interfaces, as well as tools that streamline and simplify the process. Among other things, designers must take into account:
Vocal timbre
Gender: what do we connote when we select a specific gender for voice?
Ways that "uncanny valley" manifests in voices
Appropriate metaphors as we think about interface capabilities and limitations
Accent and dialect
Syntax: words matter
Humor
Cultural references
Inclusion of non-binary pronouns for the singular third person
Empathic elements
The technology that enables it -- how we access it, how it's supported over time, and how it interacts with other info environments
Scott and Gretchen will walk through the importance of sensitivity to these elements, as well as introducing the audience to tools that help designers "meet people where they are" as voice interfaces become more ubiquitous in our field.