Keynote talk given at Downscale2012 workshop (http://worldwidesemanticweb.wordpress.com/downscale2012) describing the VOICES project and the RadioMarche use case.

1. Voice-based access to Linked
Market Data in the Sahel
Victor de Boer
With input from
Nana Baah Gyan, Chris van Aart, Wendelien Tuyp, Stephane Boyera, Aman
Grewal, Christophe Guéret, Hans Akkermans, Anna Bon, Frank van Harmelen

2. Web for Regreening in Africa
(W4RA)
• Knowledge sharing issues
– Distances between rural communities in Sahel
– Infrastructure and access
• Commonly: no electricity, no computer, no internet
• But: mobile and radio
– Lack of relevant content
• Literacy and education
– Languages
2

3. Can the Web (be made to) mean
something for knowledge sharing even
under very constraining conditions?
No internet, no computer, no electricity
Multitude of languages, levels of literacy

4. CAUTION!
DIGITAL DIVIDE AHEAD

5. Aim: integrate Web with mobile
access & voice services
• service development toolbox, field deployment
in Africa & make a sustainable business out of it
5

6. Voice-based services in a rural African context
• Integrate local community radios and mobile ICT for knowledge
sharing
• Better support and integrate local languages in voice-based
services
– Development of appropriate speech elements (text-to-speech
and Speech recognition)
• Develop a free and open source toolbox for local developers.
• Investigate self-sustainability
– Develop appropriate business models
– In collaboration with local communities.

7. (adapted) Living Labs
• Involvement of local communities
– trust and ownership
• Rapid cycles
– Use case gathering
– Observation and prototyping
– Test, adapt
• Context-specific issues
– Lack of infrastructure
– Illiteracy, ‘small’ language
– Local ownership and maintainability
– Distance between developer and
user

8. M-agro Use Case
Context: Regreening in Africa

9. Image by Onno Wassenaar

11. RadioMarche: Use web/voice technology to
improve access to market data
Radio broadcast
French
Radio 1
Market info Bambara
Sahel Eco
aggregates
market info
French
Radio 2
Bomu

12. Data management
RadioMarche.com

13. Voice channel: Multiple solutions
HTTP
Netbook
Orange Emerginov Platform
Netbook SIP over
running Ethernet
Prophecy
Officeroute
running Asterix
Netbook Bluetooth
running
Prophecy + Mobile phone
Asterix

14. Audio communiqué
• Audio communiqué generated by
concatenating prerecorded phrases
– Each radio host uses own voice (!)
• Text-to-speech where possible
• Currently only for French
• Audio quality is an issue

15. Voice XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<vxml version="2.0" lang="en">
<form>
<prompt bargein="false">
Welcome to RadioMarche!
<audio src=“audio/communique_1_bambara.wav"/>
</prompt>
<option dtmf="1" value=“1">Press one for X</option>
<option dtmf=“2" value=“2">Press two for Y</option>
...
</vxml>

17. Current testing phase
• Limited usage due to:
– Political situation
– Ecological situation
– Social barriers
– Technical issues
• Feedback informs next phase
– More languages (Bambara, Bomu)
– More radio stations
– End user

18. Other use cases and projects

19. VOICES use cases
• M-agri event organizer
– Schedule events, automatic calls to
farmers’ representatives.
– Agricultural knowledge sharing
• M-health knowledge sharing
– Use case in Senegal
– Share health knowledge

20. Foroba Blon
• Citizen journalism platform
– using the same technology as
RadioMarché
• Multiple use cases
– Letters to editor
– Trusted users ‘journalists’
• Funded by IPI news innovation contest

21. Interaction design for low-
literacy communities

22. Beyond the use case:
Sharing the Data

23. Across regions
Local market data
Local market dat a
Data / communique layer RadioM arché market informat ion s ys t em
Dat a / communique plat form
Interface handler layer
W eb Email SM S GSM /Voice
GSM/Voic
Web Email SMS
e Local radio
Farmers Buyers
( producers ) ( cons umers )
RadioMarché in second region
Local
radio
Farmers Buyers
(producers) (consumers)

24. Inst. of Development
Studies LOD
Sahel Pluvial
data
SemanticXO
DBpedia
GeoNames Citizen Journalism
data
Agrovoc
RadioMarché
Linked market data
ClioPatria
Linked Data server

25. RadioMarché
Linked market
data
ClioPatria
Linked Data server
‘Allo, Linked
Data?
*
<VoiceXML> to
SPARQL
`Ecomash’
Client application Voice browser
Tel: +31208080855
Skype: +990009369996162208

26. Research questions
• Q1 [immediate]: Can the Web (be made to)
mean something for knowledge sharing even
under very constraining conditions?
– No internet, no computer, no electricity
– Multitude of languages, levels of literacy
• Q2 [Web future]: Can we have a Web of
Speech?
– After all, human communication:
talking >> writing

27. Questions?

28. w4ra.few.vu.nl
semweb4u.wordpress.com
worldwidesemanticweb.wordpress.com