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Voicebot and Chatbot Design
Voicebot and Chatbot Design

Voicebot and Chatbot Design: Flexible conversational interfaces with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Facebook Messenger

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Voicebot and Chatbot Design

Chapter 1. Conversational UI is our Future

Conversational user interface (UI) is changing the way that we interact. Intelligent assistants, chatbots, and voice-enabled devices, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, offer a new, natural, and intuitive human-machine interaction and open up a whole new world for us as humans. Chatbots and voicebots ease, speed up, and improve daily tasks. They increase our efficiency and, compared to humans, they are also very cost-effective for the businesses employing them.

This chapter will address the concept of conversational UIs by initially exploring what they are, how they evolved, what they offer, their challenges, and how they will develop in the future. The chapter provides an introduction to the conversational world. We will take a look at how UI has developed over the years and the difference between voice control, chatbots, virtual assistants and conversational solutions.

What is conversational UI?

Broadly speaking, conversational UI is a new form of interaction with computers that tries to mimic a "natural human conversation." To understand what this means, we can turn to the good old Oxford Dictionary and search for the definition of a conversation:

con·ver·sa·tion

/ˌkänvərˈsāSH(ə)n/ noun

A talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged.

On Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation), I found some interesting additions. There, conversation is defined a little more broadly: "An interactive communication between two or more people… the development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization."

The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus of language teaching and learning. If we sum up the two definitions, we can agree that a conversation must be:

  1. Some type of communication (a talk)
  2. Between more than two people
  3. Interactive: ideas and thoughts must be exchanged
  4. Part of a socialization process
  5. Focused on learning and teaching

Now if we go back to our definition of conversational UI, we can easily identify the gaps between the classic definition of a conversation and what we define today as conversational UI.

Conversational UI, as opposed to the preceding definition:

  1. Doesn't have to be oral: it could be in writing (for example, chatbots).
  2. Is not just between people and is limited to two sides: in conversational UI, we have at least one form of a computer involved, and the conversation is limited to only two participants. Rarely does conversational UI involve more than two participants.
  3. Is less interactive and it's hard to say whether ideas are exchanged between the two participants.
  4. Is thought of as unsocialized, since we are dealing with computers and not people. However, the two main components are already there.
  5. Is a medium of communication that enables natural conversation between two entities.
  6. Is about learning and teaching by leveraging Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL), as computers continue to learn and develop their understanding capabilities.

The gaps that we identified above represent the future evolution of conversational UI. While it seems like there is a long way to go for us to actually be able to truly replace human-to-human interaction, with today's and future technologies, those gaps will close sooner than we think. However, let's start by taking a look at how human-computer interaction evolved over the last 50 years, before we try to predict the future.

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Key benefits

  • Build AI chatbots and voicebots using practical and accessible toolkits
  • Design and create voicebots that really shine in front of humans
  • Work with familiar appliances like Alexa, Google Home, and FB Messenger
  • Design for UI success across different industries and use cases

Description

We are entering the age of conversational interfaces, where we will interact with AI bots using chat and voice. But how do we create a good conversation? How do we design and build voicebots and chatbots that can carry successful conversations in in the real world? In this book, Rachel Batish introduces us to the world of conversational applications, bots and AI. You’ll discover how - with little technical knowledge - you can build successful and meaningful conversational UIs. You’ll find detailed guidance on how to build and deploy bots on the leading conversational platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Facebook Messenger. You’ll then learn key design aspects for building conversational UIs that will really succeed and shine in front of humans. You’ll discover how your AI bots can become part of a meaningful conversation with humans, using techniques such as persona shaping, and tone analysis. For successful bots in the real world, you’ll explore important use-cases and examples where humans interact with bots. With examples across finance, travel, and e-commerce, you’ll see how you can create successful conversational UIs in any sector. Expand your horizons further as Rachel shares with you her insights into cutting-edge voicebot and chatbot technologies, and how the future might unfold. Join in right now and start building successful, high impact bots!

Who is this book for?

This book is for you, if you want to deepen your appreciation of UI and how conversational UIs - driven by artificial intelligence - are transforming the way humans interact with computers, appliances, and the everyday world around us. This book works with the major UI toolkits available today, so you do not need a deep programming knowledge to build the bots in this book: a basic familiarity with markup languages and JavaScript will give you everything you need to start building cutting-edge conversational UIs.

What you will learn

  • Build your own AI voicebots and chatbots
  • Use familiar appliances like Alexa, Google Home, and Facebook Messenger
  • Master the elements of conversational user interfaces
  • Key design techniques to make your bots successful
  • Use tone analysis to deepen UI conversation for humans
  • Create voicebots and UIs designed for real-world situations
  • Insightful case studies in finance, travel, and e-commerce
  • Cutting-edge technology and insight into the future of AI bots

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Sep 29, 2018
Length: 296 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789139624
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Product Details

Publication date : Sep 29, 2018
Length: 296 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789139624
Languages :
Concepts :

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Table of Contents

13 Chapters
1. Conversational UI is our Future Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. How Not to Build Your Next Chat and Voicebots Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Building a Killer Conversational App Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Designing for Amazon Alexa and Google Home Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Designing a Facebook Messenger Chatbot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Contextual Design – Can We Make a Bot Feel More Human? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Building Personalities – Your Bot Can Be a Better Human Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. A View into Vertical-Specific Bots – Financial Institutions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Travel and E-Commerce Bots – Use Cases and Implementation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Conversational Design Project – A Step-By-Step Guide Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Summary Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Book You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.6
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Luciana Mar 27, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I was looking for a quick read on Bot design, NOT development. This book provided a great overview on all the considerations required to design a solid bot.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Avishay Pariz Oct 26, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great book.Written very well with simple explanations and visuals to make things very clear.Also up to date and have examples that very relevant for today and the near future.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Teri Oct 31, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
In this voice-first world, technology is changing so fast... and Rachel covers it all! She covers everything from definitions of basic voice user interface terms to tutorials on how to design effective conversation experiences. This is the ultimate resource for anyone wanting to learn about the latest technology of conversational design.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Oct 28, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Rachel is a preiminent thought leader in the conversational interface space. Rachel leverages her real world experience consulting enterprise companies at Conversation One and injects her actionable insights into this book. She expertly articulates easy to understand strategies, best practices, and methodologies. I highly recommend this book for novices and experts alike working in the chatbot/voice space.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Bojan Poturica May 07, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
It is not an easy task to find quality books and information on chatbots and voice bots, but this book is really great to read. It gives you a great overview and saves lot of time searching for the information.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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