Author: Mathe

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Last Steps of the Journey: Part I

It is has been a while since I blogged. So I will break down what I have been up to over a few blog entries. This particular blog will focus on the overall picture of my work.

My work is underpinned by a need to have an architecture that is flexible and standard based for supporting development of IVR (Interactive Voice Response) applications. As it stands, despite providing unsatisfying user experience in the past, IVR technologies are still seen as pivotal in realising a new generation of self-service voice systems. There are a number of reasons for this including the fact that telephones and mobile phones are ubiquitous (just go to http://www.ametw.com/ and download the Africa Mobile Factbook for statistics on the mobile phones penetration in Africa). This means that there is, for example, a strong “market” for IVR applications – not just in the commercial sense but also for use in supporting social innovation 😉 .

With the above providing part of the motivation, the goal is to use IVR technologies (specifically VoiceXML) to propose an architecture for building IVR systems with high configurable dialogs to improve user experience. The premise is that the effort to customise (configure) each dialog to suit each users’ goals will bring intelligence to IVR systems – a component that is possibly a source of much user frustration.

In a nutshell, the proposed architecture builds IVR systems by generating dialogs using VoiceXML and a rich backend. The backend comprises of a specially built interface that allows a reasoner to interact with any ontology-based knowledge base in order to generate dialogs. In the context of AI, the interface can be regarded as some sort of an inference engine.

Architectural Design Considerations

An overarching consideration is to ensure that the architecture is flexible. Another important consideration is to ensure that the generated dialogs do not violate any principles of user interface design. This translates into ensuring that:

  • Menu options do not exceed five options. Otherwise this is will result in an overload on the short-term memory of the user. Consequently, the user will have problems remembering the presented options.
  • Break content into small chucks to enhance memorability by introducing rhetorical questions or using quiz type questions. However, the number of dialogs generated should be kept at a minimum.

Case Study: Service Directory for Locating HIV Test Providers

As part of the methodology, a case study is included to act as a proof of concept for validating the proposed architecture. This proof of concept case study is a service directory for locating HIV test providers.

The case study is built from a service provider ontology, which together with individual facts about specific service providers forms a knowledge base. This is strictly in the context of defining a knowledge base as an entity made up of a terminological box (TBox) and an assertional box (ABox). In simple terms, TBox refers to the definitions of various concepts and how they relate to each other within an ontology while ABox refers to the individual facts associated with the definitions in the TBox.

Below is a quote from good old Wiki to provide another angle to the definitions of TBox and ABox:

Tbox statements are sometimes associated with object-oriented classes and Abox statements associated with instances of those classes.

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"Memento mori"

This is Latin and translates roughly to “don’t forget one day you will die”. This may sound a bit depressing but it is not. This is but a reminder that we need to enjoy every moment of life for life is too short. Today, is my mother’s 55th birthday. She never thought she will live to see this day but despite cancer and all that life threw at her, she is alive!

So when I say “memento mori”, I am simply saying we need to recognise that each day is precious. Therefore, we should remember to tell those we love how much we do love them. We should forgive those who have hurt us knowingly or unknowingly. We should put on a smile everyday because even in a stormy weather the sun can shine. Most importantly, we should stand up to any obstacle and believe that if anything must break; it will be the obstacle and not us.

Memento mori, I declare! And to all I say, let us celebrate the gift of life whilst we still have it. Memento mori, memento mori!

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Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Let me put it out there that I am a feminist of sort. However this should not be a red herring. Chimmamanda Adichie is a lady with a powerful message to be shared. The message put succinctly is be weary of a single story for not only is it apt to be incomplete; it can create perceptions that can be dehumanising.

She is a story teller and a good one at that. Therefore, I urge all to watch this video : http://vodpod.com/watch/2303869-chimamanda-adichie-the-danger-of-a-single-story. I hope that after watching it, we will all be inspired to seek the other stories that exist for people, events and everything else. I truly believe that if “we reject the single story” as she aptly puts it, then we will for example begin to see people for who they are and not what they do! It really drives me mad that I live in a society where it matters most about what you do and not who you are and what you believe in.

That said, thank you sister for a lovely and inspiring message.

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Friendship and dark days

What indeed is friendship? And what is the measure of good friendship? I may not ever be able to answer the former but the latter I can 😉 .

True measure of friendship is in the dark days when there is but little sunshine in your life. The days when one fears to get out of bed and thinks burying their head under the duvet covers beats the ostrich burying its head in the sand. But get out of bed one must! For the dark days are the days of the truth and with the truth comes the light. Sadly, one such enlightening truth is “when days are dark, friends are few”!

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"Trade winds of our time …"

What is a Sunday without good music? I don’t know how many times I have listened to Randy Crawford, but today as I listen to her sing Trade Winds it feels like I have never heard her voice before. I feel shaken to the core perhaps because I had never realised how profound that song is.

She says the world is filled with hatred, brotherhood (and I dare say sisterhood) are dying, and the good people are turning bad. Whilst the children of all race, poor or rich are in search of the truth, which if they don’t find will lead to even darker days. Days without hope and love! Is this really what we want? If not, then realise that:

The choice is all up to you
[otherwise] We’re caught in the trade winds
The trade winds of our time

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Tsedu on how current leadership can benefit from Moshoeshoe I leadership

Today Google is providing me with answers relating to what Mathatha Tsedu said. I am not sure if I should just compile quotable quotes of what he said – even though I am yet to read the full speech.

Anyway from the news articles, Tsedu says the attributes that have been left by King Moshoeshoe as legacy of leadership include understanding that leadership:

is about concern for others and for self. It is about compassion in leadership and in society, it is about caring beyond [our] own concerns. It is about being involved and engaged.

By involved and engaged, he meant beyond mouthing socialist slogans. As he put it:

The poorest of the poor and our affection for them extends only to public meetings where we mouth socialist slogans. But in reality we want nothing to do with them and they have to fend for themselves.

In order to heed Tsedu’s advice, leadership and the general public as a whole needs to show true involvement and engagement in order to move away from poverty and live prosperous lives. As he says:

we as citizens have to say this is not the country we want to live in. For as long as we don’t say that, corruption will continue.

I certainly agree with him! We as citizens need to flex our democratic muscles. We also need to show compassion for each other and engage with some of the problems facing our own brothers and sisters. I therefore pledge to do my best to help make this world a better place. (At the moment, however, all I can do is help one person at a time…but I guess that is a good start 😉 .)

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Second King Moshoeshoe I Memorial Lecture

Yesterday was the second King Moshoeshoe I memorial lecture. It was hosted by the University of the Free State. The topic of the lecture was:

When globalisation ties the fate of the Maluti to that of the ice caps on the Alps, what does Morena Moshoeshoe teach us about leadership today

The lecture was delivered by Mathatha Tsedu. I have tried to Google the contents of the lecture but it is not yet available:/ However, I bet a lot was said on what the world could learn from Moshoeshoe I. He was afterall one of the greatest diplomats to walk on planet Earth. This is no exageration on my part 😉 .

Not only was he a diplomat, he strongly believed that true leadership came from the heart and was rooted in love. I have no doubt therefore that Morena Moshoeshoe will tell us that today’s leadership needs to use the heart more. Because it is the heart that can ultimately lead us to a path of social capitalism – a path that has been well articulated by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus when he was delivering the seventh Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture some few week ago.

There are other paths to follow, but in my mind, capitalism is here to stay. I have made peace with this fact and now I simply advocate for social capitalism. Capitalism that is not centred on just profit-making but on the welfare of others… May be I am too much of a romantic to think love can solve the problems of the world but I am unabashed in this believe!

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Debugging: Joys and Pain

I have spent hours trying to figure out why my ontology is suddenly inconsistent. That was not a trivial exercise though the mistake itself was trivial. I guess it is true that sometimes one spends a huge portion of their time on seemingly trivial tasks… Oh well I now that I have that sorted out, it is time to move on. 🙂