[Refresh] Principled Product Development for Voice-Based Interfaces

Transcript

1. Principled Product Development for Voice-Based Interfaces Nara Kasbergen @xiehan | September 7, 2018 Refresh Conference @REFRESHRocks
2. What is NPR? a nationwide network of public radio stations
3. Who am I? ▪ Senior full-stack web developer ▪ At NPR since March 2014 ▪ Part of a 5-member "innovation lab"-type team focused 100% on voice UI development ▫ Formed in September 2017
4. What is voice UI?
5. Why voice UI? Then: Now:
6. 18% of Americans own voice-activated speakers, more than doubling over the past year Source: NPR + Edison Research Smart Audio Report
8. Why ethics? Why do I care? Why should you?
9. Being in the home is a privilege.
10. “These devices are evil. We should not allow big corporations like Amazon to spy on our every move. - my boyfriend (and others)
11. Our mission statement Be a visionary while guiding new product and service ideas from conception through launch. Along the way, partner with Member stations to create a more informed public, reaching them wherever they are.
12. 3 core challenges on voice platforms ▪ Respect user privacy as much as possible ▪ Anticipate children interacting with your app unsupervised ▪ Consider gender … specifically, gender roles and voice
13. Respect user privacy as much as possible 1.
14. “Aren't these devices basically just for spying? I'd be worried about my girlfriend being able to find out everything I say when she's not home. - an acquaintance
15. The challenge: Expectations vs. Reality ▪ Nearly all these devices have a "mute" button ▫ You can use WireShark to verify that nothing said while muted is sent to e.g. Amazon ▪ Very little data is stored on the device; virtually everything is processed & stored in the cloud ▪ Communication happens over HTTPS
16. The challenge: Expectations vs. Reality ▪ The developer platform is heavily sandboxed ▫ As a developer, I have no control over what happens if my app is not in active use ▫ I get no information about e.g. how many people are in the room, which room, etc. ▫ By default, user data is anonymized
17. Example scenario: Station search A user is using the "Play NPR" skill on Alexa for the first time. They are asked to choose a member station in their area. They specify the location "Seattle, Washington" and are given 3 stations to choose from. The user selects KUOW, which we save as their default station for return visits.
18. Short-term data Long-term data ▪ Most recent search query (e.g. "Seattle, Washington") ▪ The search results ▪ The last thing the voice assistant said/asked ▪ The user's default station ▪ The number of times the user has accessed the app
19. Our approach ▪ Use a 24-hour TTL on short-term user data ▪ Don't ask for login where it's not required ▪ When using login, don't store account data ▫ Use access token to retrieve on demand ▪ Remove all remaining user data when a user uninstalls the app
20. Anticipate children interacting with your app unsupervised 2.
21. “ These devices are particularly appealing to parents/families, and that continues to be the case, with adoption growing more quickly among that segment These devices are particularly appealing to parents/families, and that continues to be the case, with adoption growing more quickly among that segment. - NPR + Edison Research Smart Audio Report
22. 43% of parents purchased the speaker to reduce screen time Source: NPR + Edison Research Smart Audio Report
23. Example scenario A parent is listening to NPR One on Alexa while their 5-year-old child is playing in the room. They have to step out for a while to make a phone call. When they come back, Alexa is playing an episode of a podcast featuring curse words.
24. Our approach ▪ We play a content warning before the start of a story if it features e.g. strong language or disturbing content ▪ Always make it easy to skip or stop playing audio; don't interfere with the user's choice ▪ Overall, we don't specifically target this audience; our content is aimed at adults
25. If you do want to serve this audience… ▪ Do not require login ▪ Avoid retaining user data longer than necessary ▪ Simplify your voice interactions; kids are not going to remember complex commands ▪ Reward good behavior like saying "please" and "thank you"
26. Consider gender … specifically, gender roles and voice 3.
27. What's in a name? Gendered ▪ Alexa (female) ▪ Cortana (female) ▪ Siri (female) ▪ Bixby (male) Neutral ▪ Google Assistant
30. The status quo: Amazon Alexa ▪ Provides only one (female-sounding) voice at both the device/user and app level ▫ 8 new app-level voices are part of an opt-in Developer Preview program ▪ Can be renamed ("wake word") ▫ Amazon, Echo, Computer
31. The status quo: Google Assistant ▪ Designed to be gender-neutral ▪ Provides 8 voice options at the device/user level (not labelled by gender, offers a range of voices) ▫ Defaults to a female-sounding voice ▪ Provides 4 voice options at the app level ▫ Defaults to male ("Male 1")
34. “I use the male voice because I have two daughters. And they should know that voice assistants can present as male or female. - Ha-Hoa Hamano (product manager)
36. ▪ … We're still working it out ▪ Alexa basically locks you into a female voice ▪ Should we care about cross-platform consistency? ▪ The dilemma: NPR has already received its fair share of criticism for putting too many cis male voices on the air Our approach
37. ▪ W3C standard supported on all major platforms ▪ Use <audio> to embed short, pre-recorded audio A solution: SSML <audio>
38. My recommendations ▪ Where possible, use <audio> instead of TTS ▫ Record real voices representative of the diversity of your user base ▪ Otherwise, be conscious of perpetuating gender roles and stereotypes ▫ Don't make the assistant overly subservient
39. Resources Useful links & tips
40. NPR research, talks & blog posts ▪ NPR + Edison Research Smart Audio Report ▪ Finding Your Voice: Building Screenless Interfaces with Node.js (my talk at jsDay 2018) ▪ Talking Back To Your Radio: How We Approached Voice UI (npr.design) ▪ How To Prototype For Audio-Rich Voice Experiences Without Really Trying (npr.design)
41. Other useful resources ▪ Ethical OS Toolkit (Institute For The Future) ▪ Alexa Skill Blueprints (Amazon) ▪ Conversation design (Google) ▪ Designing Voice Experiences (Smashing Mag) ▪ Intelligent Assistants Have Poor Usability: A User Study of Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri (Nieman Norman Group)
42. Takeaways from 1 year of voice UI work ▪ It's not just an engineering challenge ▪ Think of it as another form of front-end design ▪ Test with a diverse set of real users ▪ Remember being in the home is a privilege ▪ Empower everyone on the team to speak up and weigh in on design decisions
43. Thank you! Questions? Thoughts? Slides: bit.ly/2MV8MR4