Voice Agent Interoperability Workshop

An online workshop by invitation to discuss the interoperability of voice applications.

Thank you to our participants! Workshop Session Videos and Manifesto are now available. Please find the available resources below.



Perceived problem: voice applications on different platforms cannot easily communicate and share data. For example, a shopping application on platform A cannot invoke a payment application on platform B, provide it with billing information, and then receive results of the payment application before continuing with fulfilment processing.

Workshop goal: to explore various approaches for implementing interoperability of voice applications within and across platforms.

The Open Voice Network will use knowledge from this workshop to assist in designing a standards-based approach to voice application interoperability.

Thank you to our selected presenters and moderators. Each talk will be 15 minutes + 5 minutes for Q&A. Recordings will be available following the workshop.

Workshop Program | June 15-17, 2021 | 7:00-9:00 AM PST

JUNE 15 | THEME: UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM | Host: James A. Larson, Speech Technology Conference, US

7:00 PSTWelcome and workshop challengeJon Stine, Open Voice Network, USA
7:10 PSTConversational interoperability: the need and approachesShyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, USA and James A Larson, SpeechTEK Conference, USA
7:35 PSTThe future of interoperable conversational agents – and why this is so importantIan Utile, CEO, Attn.live; Susan Bearden, Director of Digital Programs at InnovateEDU; Bradley Metrock, CEO, Score Publishing; Moderated by Jon Stine, Open Voice Network
8:00 PSTBreakout rooms (40 min) \\*\*What are the opportunities?\*\*Breakout Room 1 Moderator: Shyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, USA
Breakout Room 2 Moderator: Chris Parker, ebullient.com, The Netherlands
Breakout Room 3 Moderator: David Attwater, Talkmap Inc., UK
8:40 PSTBreakout reports & peaking points for The Voice Agent Interoperability ManifestoMaarten Lens-FitzGerald, Project Zilver, The Netherlands
9:00 PSTOptional break out rooms for Special Interest Groups

JUNE 16 | THEME: IDENTIFY CANDIDATE SOLUTIONS | Host: Shyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, US

7:00 PSTVoice user interfaces for interoperable voice agentsMichael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland
7:20 PSTKey IssuesDavid Attwater, Talkmap Inc., UK
7:40 PSTISO compatible standard for voice agentsTobias Martens, Whoelse.ai, Germany
8:00 PSTBreakout rooms (40 min) \\*\*What are the technical and standards challenges?\*\*Breakout Room 1 Moderator: Michael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland; Scribe: Emily Banzhaf
Breakout Room 2 Moderator: John Trammell, Target, USA; Scribe: Oita Coleman
Breakout Room 3 Moderator: James A. Larson, Speech Technologies Conference, USA; Scribe: Jon Stine
8:40 PSTBreakout reports and update wording of voice agent manifestoMaarten Lens-FitzGerald, Project Zilver, The Netherlands
9:00 PSTOptional breakout rooms for special interest groups

JUNE 17 | THEME: MOVE FORWARD | Host: David Attwater of Talkmap Inc.

7:00 PSTWhat we can learn from Amazon ViiMichael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland
7:20 PSTMagenta: our journey, and the future of voice assistanceBernhard Hochstätter, Deutsche Telekom, Germany
7:40 PSTAreas of IPA standardizationDirk Schnelle-Walka, Modality.ai, Germany
8:00 PSTThe danger of digital whispers: understanding the dimensions of trust in interoperable voice agentsLeigh Clark, Swansea University, UK
8:20 PSTInteractive Conversational agents at the BBCChris Dix, Head of Architecture at BBC, UK
8:40 PSTAccept manifesto, next steps, and review of workshop challengeJon Stine, Open Voice Network, USA

Program Committee:

James A. Larson, Program Co-chair, Speech Technology Conference
Deborah Dahl, Principal, Conversational Technologies
David Attwater, Senior Scientist, Enterprise Integration Group
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, Consultant, Author, Podcaster
Chris Parker, Technical Architect, Entrepreneur