https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm en-us 2017-01-17 14:52:17 UTC 2017-01-17 15:08:10 UTC hello@padlet.com esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147555087  Web site a “virtual assistant named Jenn.” Jenn, it said, responds orally to typed questions ]]> 2017-01-17 14:55:49 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147555087 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147555633  Jenn also has a personality, it said, and “answers many personal questions.” Jenn is not annoying. She is depicted on the Web site as a young brunette with a nice smile ]]> 2017-01-17 14:57:17 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147555633 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147556019  Jenn also has a personality, it said, and “answers many personal questions.” Jenn is not annoying. She is depicted on the Web site as a young brunette with a nice smile. Her voice has proper inflections ]]> 2017-01-17 14:58:22 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147556019 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147556850  I like Jenn. Airline Web sites, which often have clumsy drop-down menus, can be difficult to maneuver, even for simple things like trying to determine what kind of a plane you will be on. But ask Jenn a question on a wide range of topics, and you will get a fast, sensible response that saves you time. ]]> 2017-01-17 15:00:32 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147556850 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147557571  Airlines are becoming more dependent on their Web sites, not just for direct booking, but also for ancillary revenue from bookings for hotels and tours and for retail sales. Jenn was designed by a technology company in Spokane, Wash., the Next IT Corporation (www.NextIT.com), which has a goal of simplifying interaction between people and computers, using natural-language communications to retrieve information and even ask follow-up questions to clarify intent. ]]> 2017-01-17 15:02:25 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147557571 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147558424  While the Next IT voice technology depends on typed questions to elicit oral responses, the field is evolving. In a recent speech at Carnegie Mellon University, Bill Gates said that Microsoft was committed to developing more sophisticated methods that used two-way speech technology to improve the give and take between users and databases ]]> 2017-01-17 15:04:39 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147558424 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147559180  Jenn learns from experience and interaction. “This technology is trained, but it gets smarter over time,” Mr. Brown said. Before Jenn went public, Alaska Air and Next IT asked focus groups to help define what information needed to be available and what type of voice and virtual personality would be engaging. ]]> 2017-01-17 15:06:36 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147559180 esmeosegueda192 https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147559365  Next IT anticipated that people would test the technology. “We built out the personality, aware that people would want to test the bounds,” said Jeff Brown (no relation to Fred A. Brown), the senior vice president for sales at Next IT. “So if they ask questions such as ‘Are you married?’ or ‘Where did you go to school?’ she’s able to answer intelligently, and all of a sudden people’s trust in the overall knowledge goes up significantly. We’re in the business of making her very smart. Basically, besides knowledge, the virtual agent’s image has a past, a current and a future.” With Jenn on the job, the Alaska Air Web site is definitely user-friendly. And Jenn does evolve, including learning when to stay quiet. ]]> 2017-01-17 15:07:09 UTC https://padlet.com/esmeosegueda192/rko67crs16qm/wish/147559365