Our latest quarterly (!) newsletter has just been published, with feature articles on ReaderBot - our web accessibility solution - and NewsGlobe.
You can either read the newsletter in PDF, or click on the more link below to read it in TEN text format.
+++ DADEN LIMITED NEWSLETTER NOV 05.
++ Section one: Editorial.
+01: Another late issue – time to
reset the schedule!
As you'll see we've had a busy
summer getting involved with
a wide range of different
projects. Recent wins have
included a business game for
a German university, and a
chatbot for a London based
management consultancy and
business information
company.
+02: Make sure you take a look at
our NewsGlobe project. What
with tsunamis, hurricanes,
earthquakes, bird flu and our
very own Moseley tornado a
global perspective is
becoming increasingly
important. If you want to know
where it might all lead, check
out “Epic 2015” on the web.
If you're in the Midlands be
sure to come to the Regional
ICT Conference on 18 Nov.
Peter Rigby is the keynote
speaker, there'll be the first
regional ICT awards, and
we're hosting one of the
seminars. For details go to:
www.wmictcluster.org
David Burden
Managing Director
[Section one ends].
++ Section two: Talking Web Sites for Visually Impaired Users.
+03: When we first started getting involved with text-to-speech the application
of the technology for visually impaired users wasn't lost on us. In fact we
had our first meeting with the RNIB almost 5 years ago!
With chatbots we thought that we had an innovative new way for VI
users to interact with web sites. But talking to blind users and related
organisations it soon become clear that chatbots might be a step to far.
The standard approach at the moment is through screen-readers,
software that reads what's on the screen, word by word, top to bottom.
Looking at the current state-of-the-art in screen-reader technology we
thought that we could probably do just as well, if not better. So we took
the components of our chatbots, rearranged them, and have come up
with ReaderBot.
+04: ReaderBot is a web-based screen-reader. This means that all the
software sits on our servers. The site being read needs no special
software, and neither does the PC doing the reading (beyond having
Flash installed). Whilst a VI user is still likely to have a dedicated
screen-reader such as JAWS installed on their PC (for all their non-web
applications for a start), we see three major opportunities for ReaderBot.
First web site owners can use it to make audio described versions of
their web site available to VI users regardless of where the VI user is,
second libraries and other community centres can use it as an easily
managed voice browser, and third VI users themselves can use it
whenever they are away from their “home” PC.
+05: ReaderBot was previewed at Sight Village, and is now in the final stages
of user testing with a local charity for blind people and a local university.
But.... In discussions at Sight Village and elsewhere it was apparent
that there is an appetite for a new approach to the web for visually
impaired users. Our concept is of a software agent which can “read” the
web site on the users behalf, and the blind user then has a chatbot type
dialogue with the agent to gather the information from the site. We have
had a paper on the idea accepted into Techshare, the RNIB's annual
technology conference, and we're talking to a variety of organisations,
commercial, academic and charitable about how to progress the
concept. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime you can check out
Readerbot at:
www.readerbot.com.
[Section two ends].
++ Section three: GoogleEarth and NewsGlobe.
+06: In July Google launched GoogleEarth. This gives you
with a whole-globe view of the Earth built up from satellite
imagery. Nice, but then you zoom in, and in, until you get
to house and car level detail! Want to check out Number
10's garden, or that air-base in Iraq? It's all here, even if
the images aren't real-time, and can be a few years old.
Needless to say we got very excited by GoogleEarth and
particularly by the fact that we could write our own
applications for it. First out the box was NewsGlobe - the
first application in the world to take RSS feeds and plot
the stories they contain on the globe. It has been used
over 50,000 times in the last 3 months. Described as
“spectacular”, one PR guru said “this is the first use of
Google Earth that has made me go wow.” Another noted
that “every story also includes a link back to the authors -
Daden Consulting. Smart business move!” You can
check out NewsGlobe for yourself at:
www.daden.co.uk/newsglobe.
+07: Stop Press: We've just added a Bird Flu RSS feed to
NewsGlobe, - details on the NewsGlobe page.
[Section three ends].
++ Section four: Tech Watch.
+08: Download a Tech Brief from the web site for more
details of these and other new technologies, and
learn how they could help your business.
+09: RDF and the Semantic Web: The semantic web
(also called Web 2.0), is a web which contains
information, rather than pages of nicely laid out,
but dumb, text and images. It is one of the key
ways by which we'll be able to make sense of all
the information we are bombarded by, as well as
tailoring that information to our needs. Resource
Descriptor Framework (RDF) is a key enabling
technology, and is built on the idea of triples –
every piece of data represented as subjectpredicate-
object. RDF and triples are ideal for
any information or knowledge management
project, and we are combining the triples
approach with topic maps (see last issue) for the
next release of our chatbot engine.
+10: We're more than happy to come and give you a
FREE briefing on RDF or other emerging
technologies to see if they can be of benefit to you.
Just give us a call.
[Section four ends].
++ Section five: Toby the Virtual Marketeer.
+11: One recent project tested our knowledge of both
marketing and chatbots when we were asked to build
a virtual marketeer for Your On-Line Marketing
Agency, an innovative web-based virtual marketing
company. Toby was the result. Looking, admittedly,
like a member of Jack Bauer's CTU he is now working
on the YOMA web site 24 x 7 answering visitor
questions. You can see Toby at:
www.youronlinemarketingagency.com
[Section five ends].
++ Section six: Daden in the Press.
+12: Here's the things we've been sounding off about in
the Birmingham Post and elsewhere.
- BBC Backstage, in the Birmingham Post
- GoogleAds, in Marketing
- The Web – Have it Your Way, in the Post
You can read the articles on our web site at:
www.daden.co.uk/articles.
[Section six ends].
++ Section seven: Models of the Month
+13: This quarter we've put the spotlight on the following
models:
- Information Economics
- The SIVA Marketing Model
- Quality Curves
Visit:
www.dadenconsulting.com
to read about any of these models and techniques.
[Section seven ends].
++ Section eight: This quarter we've also ...
+14: Introduced a Government agency to the wonders
of the Balanced Scorecard
- Carried out a communications survey for a
leading regional IT association
- Helped sell a virtual newscaster package to a US
TV station
- Built a talking TV Times for BBC Backstage
- Revived a talking game system for blind users
[Section eight ends].
++ Section nine: About Us.
+15: Daden Limited is a consulting and venture organisation
focused on the identification, analysis, understanding
and communication of information. We use models and
meta-models to provide a powerful approach to our
analysis, and develop leading-edge technology ranging
from games and wireless to Artificial Intelligence to
communicate information in original ways.
[Section nine ends].
++ Section ten: Contacting Us.
+16: On the web: www.daden.co.uk
By Email: info@daden.co.uk
By post: 103 Oxford Rd, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 9SG
By phone: 0121 247 3628
+17: We’re always keen to have a chat about life, business,
technology, or even how we can help your business grow.
[Section ten ends].
++ Section eleven: Subscription Info.
+18: Our Newsletter is sent out
three to four times a year to
customers, prospects and
friends of Daden Limited and Advanced Chatbot Solutions.
To subscribe email:
subscribe@daden.co.uk
To unsubscribe email:
unsubscribe@daden.co.uk
Daden Limited
0121 247 3628
info@daden.co.uk
www.daden.co.uk
+19: Written using the Text Electronic Newsletter Standard:
http://www.headstar.com/ten
[Section eleven ends].
[Newsletter Ends]
