資訊服務的延伸─以VoiceXML”聲援”圖書館

Abstract

網際網路資訊環境已朝向資料單一化、介面多樣化、檢索多元化的複合溝通模式發展。新的科技應用服務不斷產生，而圖書館卻面臨預算不斷萎縮、支出費用增加，但又極力維持服務水平的兩難，甚少圖書館有足夠的經費與技術來提供讀者創新的服務管道。以目前盛行的語音服務而言，早已在商業領域運作多年，但卻少見應用於圖書館領域，最主要就是受限於傳統語音應用服務建置的龐大成本與語音技術的藩籬等因素。本研究主要探討如何在圖書館經費困窘，以及不因廠商的技術保密而無法整合於圖書館既有系統的情況之下，利用既有或最少的資源，並以VoiceXML標準來設計、開發出屬於圖書館的語音應用服務，藉以擴展、提昇圖書館之資訊服務範圍。

本研究利用程式語言所搭配而成的動態VoiceXML，運用HTTP協定的交互回應，可以很容易地與原有資料系統結合，甚至原資料系統認證的機制都可以克服，不必變更任何原系統的內容或架構，即可以快速地從原有應用服務中延伸，開發出圖書館專屬的語音應用服務，讓使用者與原系統資料，能透過電話或語音的管道，做正確的交互動作。

The Internet information environment is developing into a compound communication model with multimodal access, various interfaces and single data source. New technologies are continuously employed to construct new services. Facing a predicament of budget shortage, libraries still endeavor to sustain qualified service level; however, few libraries have enough budget and technique skill to provide their reader with new and creative services. Self-service voice systems are popular nowadays and have applied in commerce for many years, but rarely in the library domain. Tremendous investment and difficulty of the traditional voice technology is the main obstacle for libraries to implement self-service voice system. In view of this, this thesis attempts exploiting the VoiceXML standard to develop a low-cost voice service in libraries for expanding the scope of library information service This thesis aims at proposing a method that integrates VoiceXML with an existent WebPAC system to provide a voice service in a library. With the application of dynamic VoiceXML programming for capturing necessary information from HTTP responses, developers can overcome many mechanisms that are protected by vendors of the WebPAC system, including its authentication mechanism, without changing its data or architecture. In this manner, libraries can develop an appropriate voice service quickly and integrate it into the underlying WebPAC system easily and safely. Furthermore, libraries can provide their users a new channel to interact with WebPAC systems by a telephone or a voice interface.