Being Digital - Fatal Reaction

When I read this section, I thought about my computer. It would be wonderful if my computer recognized me and my needs. Then I remembered that my mac could be set up to work on voice command, so I decided to try it out. First, I scoured the internet to read what others thought about this feature and then set up my computer to do it. I tried to write the first research paper without typing a single word.

At first, I thought this would be exciting. I wouldn't have to constantly backspace because my typing is horrible. I could just sit back in a relaxed state and let my creative juices flow while my computer did the rest of the work. However, it didn't quite work out that way.

It started out fine, I simply started talking and the computer started typing. I was elated. However, when I am writing a paper I often think out loud, and low and behold the computer was typing my thoughts as well. It couldn't distinguish between what I really wanted typed and just my random thoughts. I had to sit and think about this for a minute. This wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Instead of the computer doing what I wanted, I would have to change my normal paper writing habits to what the computer would respond to. But this wasn't the only problem I discovered.

When it came to wanting a sentence set in quotes, I figured that I could just state that I wanted it that way by saying something like, "Begin quote." However, it didn't work that way. I tried for about twenty minutes all different combinations of words to get my computer to type exactly what I wanted. Finally, I decided that I would look on Apple's website and find out how to do it. I decided to try to do this by using the voice command. This process took another thirty minutes, because I had no idea of the voice commands to use to navigate the page. Finally, I found what I was looking for. There was a list of things to say to get what you want, so I printed them out. I was irritated by this point and wondered why in the world anyone thought that this was such a great feature. It would be if, as Negroponte points out, people would spend less time on making the physical design better and more on advancing the computer so I wouldn't have to look up a list of things to say. My computer would know what I wanted.

I plan on researching this feature further. I want to know what is being done, if anything, to advance the technology that will allow my computer to one day know what I want. I will continue this blog when I have found more material and have had more practice with my computer.

Update

Since this blog was posted, I have researched more about this feature, and have discovered that there is a way that I can set up the voice commands myself so that they match exactly what I want. This is a touch, but now I have to spend my time to set up each and every command and then I have to remember them too, so it still doesn't eleveate the problem completely. It doesn't make my computer anymore interactive than if I simply sat down and typed it all myself. I will continue to research this feature by reading up on any improvements, if there are any at all, on the functionality of the program, and by using it myself. Except, I am not currently using it anytime that I am doing school related work on my computer, because it is so time consuming to use since I am not used to using it yet.