David Lee King

social media | emerging trends | libraries

Smart Audio Report from NPR and Editor Research

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I just read this report from Edison Research about smart audio.Here are some interesting stats from the report:

  • 35% of Americans 18+ own a smart speaker
  • 62% use a voice assistant on a variety of devices, including things like smart speakers, smartphones, tv remotes, in-car systems, a computer or laptop, tablet, etc.
  • 57% of voice command users use them daily
  • People request an average of 12.4 tasks on their device each week from smart speakers, and 10.7 tasks from smartphone voice assistants.

Why? Well … 86% of smart speaker owners say the devices “allow for a more convenient living.”

Check out the report for anything I left out!

Do you use a smart speaker or voice assistant? I do, just a bit:

  • I own an Amazon Echo Dot and have played with a Google Nest Mini (the photo included with this post show both of them off!). I bought the Amazon smart speaker, and one of my kiddos was given the Google speaker, I think with her Spotify subscription. I mostly use it to stream music.
  • I use Siri a bit – mostly for texting when I’m driving (so I can keep my hands on the wheel!).
  • I hooked my tv remote up to Google Assistant, but haven’t used it other than to verify that it works.

That’s pretty much it. But I know that some of you use smart speakers and voice assistants a LOT more than I do!

I think it’s important for libraries to be familiar with smart speakers and voice assistant technology. Here are some reasons why:

  1. Your customers use both, and they might need help with them!
  2. You can teach classes about voice technology (and help those people from #1).
  3. Your website really needs to use conversational language, because that’s what voice technology works best with. So make sure you type like you talk.
  4. It’s an easy way to keep up with technology changes. Most everyone reading this post owns a smart phone. So start purposefully using a voice assistant to see what it does (I’m talking to myself here, too).
  5. I know of a couple libraries that are creating (or purchasing) Amazon Skills (voice apps for Amazon Alexa devices), and have also read about a library or two experimenting with language translation at the reference desk, using smart speaker technology.

Give it a try – you might like what you hear!

Conversational Systems and Libraries

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This is my continuing series on emerging technology trends and libraries. This week’s trend is all about conversational systems.

What is a Conversational System? For starters, there are a TON of names and related technology that goes along with them, including: smart speakers, voice assistants, personal assistants, voice computing, conversational systems, conversational platforms, and conversational interfaces.

There are different types of conversational systems. You have probably heard of smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo, Google Home, or the Apple HomePod. You probably have Google Assistant or Apple Siri on your phone. And I’ll guess that you have talked to a chatbot before. For example, I’ve been having problems with my AT&T uVerse DSL internet. So I called AT&T, and talked to a bot first, who wanted to know what the problem was, who I was, etc in order to direct me to the right department. Honestly, I just say “customer service” a bunch of times until the bot says “ok, it sounds like you want to talk to a person…” Works for me 🙂

Who owns Voice Assistants? Techcrunch recently shared some research about this – 32% of US consumers own a smart speaker. That’s up from 28% a year ago. According to the article, it’s predicted to hit about half of US consumers after Christmas.

How do people use Conversational Systems? Here are some popular tasks associated with voice assistants:

  • ask it to play music
  • get the weather forecast
  • ask questions
  • do an online search
  • check the news
  • make a phone call
  • ask for directions
  • get recent sports scores
  • use smart home commands (i.e., turn up the AC, turn off lights, etc)
  • send and answer text messages
  • do some shopping

How can libraries incorporate Conversational Systems?

Here are a few ideas. I’ll bet you have more (please share if you do)!

  • Learn it. Hey – it’s new technology. Figure it out so you can help customers with it.
  • Teach it. Show customers how to use their app-based voice assistants. Hold a class on setting up and using an Amazon Echo.
  • Make it. Some libraries are creating Amazon Alexa Skills and Google Assistant Actions. Why not see if you can do the same thing?

More reading:

Making Skills and Actions: