diff options
Diffstat (limited to '2023')
| -rw-r--r-- | 2023/talks/voice.md | 219 |
1 files changed, 218 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/2023/talks/voice.md b/2023/talks/voice.md index eeac32d0..3eee45df 100644 --- a/2023/talks/voice.md +++ b/2023/talks/voice.md @@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ I also supply the interactive quizzes for mastering the basic Voice In commands I learned the Talon alphabet in one day by taking the quiz at spaced intervals. The quiz took only 60 seconds to complete when I was proficient. -About the speaker: +# About the speaker: I am an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. I use X-ray crystallography to study @@ -60,6 +60,223 @@ stress injury flared up while entering data in a spreadsheet. I tripled my daily word count by using the speech-to-text, and I get a kick out of running remote computers by speech-to-command. +# Transcript + +[slide 1] +Hi, I'm Blaine Mooers. I'm an associate professor of biochemistry at + the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. + My lab studies the role of RNA structure in RNA editing. We use X-ray + crystallography to study the structures of these RNAs. We spend a lot + of time in the lab preparing our samples for structural studies, and then + we also spend a lot of time at the computer analyzing the resulting data. + I was seeking ways of using voice computing to try to enhance + my productivity. + +[slide 2] +I divide voice computing into three activities, speech-to-text or dictation, +speech-to-commands, and speech-to-code. I'll be talking about +speech-to-text and speech-to-commands today because these are two +activities that are probably most broadly applicable to the workflows of +people attending this conference. + +[slide 3] +This talk will not be about Emacspeak. This is a venerated program for +converting text to speech. We're talking about the flow of information in +the opposite direction, speech-to-text. We need an Emacs Listens. We +don't have one, so I had to seek help from outside the Emacs world via + the Voice In Plus. This runs in the Google Chrome web browser, and it's + very good for speech-to-text and very easy to learn how to use. It also + has some speech-to-commands. However, Talon Voice is much better + with the speech-to-commands, and it's also great at speech-to-code. + +[slide 4] +the motivations are, obviously, as I mentioned already, for improved +productivity. So, if you're a fast typist who types faster than they can speak, +then nonetheless you might still benefit from voice computing when you +grow tired of using the keyboard. On the other hand, you might be a +slow typist who talks faster than they can type. In this case, you're +definitely going to benefit from dictation because you'll be able to encode +more words in text documents in a given day. If you're a coder, +then you may get a kick out of opening programs and websites and +coding projects by using your voice. + +[slide 5] +Then there are health-related reasons. You may have impaired use +of your hands, eyes, or both due to accident or disease, or you may +suffer from a repetitive stress injury. Many of us have this in a mild +but chronic form of it. We can't take a three-month sabbatical from +the keyboard without losing our jobs, so these injuries tend to persist. +And then you may have learned that it's not good for your health to +sit for prolonged periods of time with your staring at a computer screen. +You can actually dictate to your computer from 20 feet away while +looking out the window, thereby giving your lower body a break +and your eyes a break. + +[slide 5] +I'm not God, so I have to bring data. I have two data points here, +the number of words that I wrote in June and July this year and in +September and October. I adopted the use of voice computing in +the middle of August. As you can see, I got an over three-fold increase + in my output. + +[slide 6] +So this is the Chrome store website for voice-in. It's only available +for Google Chrome. You just hit the install button to install it. To configure it, +you need to select a language. It has support for 40 languages and +it supports about a dozen different dialects of English, including Australian. + +[slide 7] +It works on web pages with text areas, so it works. I use it regularly on +Overleaf and 750words.com, a distraction-free environment for writing. + It also works in webmails. It works in Google. It works in Jupyter Lab, + of course, because that runs in the browser. It also works in Jupyter + Notebook and Colab Notebook. It should work in Cloudmacs. I've + mapped option-L to opening Voice In when the cursor is on a web page + that has a text area. The presence of a text area is the main limiting factor. + +[slide 8] +Voice In has a number of built-in commands. You can turn it off by saying +"stop dictation". It doesn't distinguish between a command mode and +a dictation mode. It has undo command. When you use the command +"copy that" to a copy of selection. You say "press enter" to issue a +command or submit text that has been written in a web form, and then +"press tab" will open up the next tab in a web browser. The scroll up +and down will allow you to navigate a web page. I've put together a quiz +about these commands so that you can go through this quiz several +times until you get at least 90 percent of them correct, 90 percent of +the questions correct. In order to boost your recall of the commands, +I have a Python script that you can probably pound through the quiz +with in less than a minute, once you know the commands. I also +provide an Elisp version of this quiz, but it's a little slower to operate. + +[slide 9] +These are some common errors that I've run into with Voice In. It +likes to contract statements like "I will" into "I'll". Contractions are not +used in formal writing, and most of my writing is formal writing, so +this annoys me. I will show you how I corrected for that problem. It +also drops the first word in sentences quite often. This might be some +speech issue that I have. It inserts the wrong word because it's not +in the dictionary that was used to train it. So, for example, the word +PyMOL is the name of a molecular graphics program that we use in +our field. It doesn't recognize PyMOL. Instead, it substitutes in the +word "primal". Since I don't use "primal" very often, I've mapped the +word "primal" to "PyMOL" in some custom commands I'll talk about +in a minute. Then there's a problem that the commands that exist might +get executed when you speak them when, in fact, you wanted to use +the words in those commands during your dictation. So this is a problem, +a pitfall of Voice In, in that it doesn't have a command mode that's +separate from a dictation mode. + +[slide 10] +You can set up through a very easy-to-use GUI custom voice +commands mapped to what you want inserted, so this is how +misinterpreted words can be corrected. You just map the misinterpreted +word to the intended word. You can also map the contractions to their +expansions. I did this for 94 English contractions, and you can find +these on GitHub. You can also insert acronyms and expand those +acronyms. I apply the same approach to the first names of colleagues. +I say "expand Fred", for example, to get Fred's first and last name +with the correct spelling of his very long German name. You can also +insert other trivia like favorite URLs. You can insert LaTeX snippets. +It handles correctly multi-line snippets. You just have to enclose them +in double quotes. You can even insert BibTeX cite keys for references +that you use frequently. All fields have certain key references for certain +methods or topics. + +[slide 11] +Then it has a set of commands that you can customize for the purpose +of speech-to-commands to get the computer to do something like open +up a specific website or save the current writing. In this case, we have +"press: command-s" for saving the current writing. You can change the +language with "lang:", and you can change the case of the text with "case:". + +[slide 12] +But the speech-to-command repertoire is quite limited in Voice In, +so it's now time to pick up on Talon Voice. This is an open source project. +It's free. It is highly configurable via TalonScript, which is a subset of +Python. You can use either TalonScript or Python to configure it, but it's +easier to code up your configuration in TalonScript. It has a Python +interpreter embedded in it, so you don't have to mess around with +installing yet another Python interpreter. It runs on all platforms, and it +has a dictation mode that's separate from a command mode. You can +activate it, and it'll be in a listening state asleep. You just bark out +"Talon Wake" to start to wake it up, and "Talon Sleep" to have it go into +a listening state. It has a very welcoming community in the Talon Slack +channel. Then I need to point out that there's several packages that +others have developed that run on top of Talon, but one of particular note +is by Pokey Rule. He has on his website some really well-done videos +that demonstrate how he uses Cursorless to move the cursor around +using voice commands. This, however, runs on VS Code. At least that's +the text editor for which he's primarily developing Cursorless. + +[slide 13] +I followed the install protocol outlined by Tara Roys. She has a collection +of tutorials on YouTube as well as on GitHub that are quite helpful. I +followed her tutorial for installing Talon on macOS without any issues, +but allow for half an hour to an hour to go through the process. When +you're done, you'll have this Talon icon appear in the toolbar on the Mac. +When it has this diagonal line across it, that means it's in the sleep state. +So, this leads to cascading pull-down menus. This is it for the GUI. One +of your first tasks is to select a language model that will be used to +interpret the sounds that you generate as words. And the other kind of +key feature is that there's a, under scripting, there's a view log pull-down +that opens up a window displaying the log file. Whenever you make a +change in a Talon configuration file, that change is implemented +immediately. You do not have to restart Talon to get the change +to take effect. + +[slide 14] +This is an example of a Talon file. It has two components. It has a header +above the dash that describes the scope of the commands contained +below the dash. Each command is separated by a blank line. If a voice +command is mapped to multiple actions, these are listed separately on +indented lines below the first line. The words that are in square brackets +are optional. So, I have mapped the word toggle voice in, or the phrase +toggle voice in, to the keyboard shortcut Alt L in order to toggle on or off +voice in. If I toggle voice in on, I need to immediately toggle off Talon, +and this is done through this key command for Control T, which is +mapped to speech toggle. Speech toggle. Then there are, there's a +couple other examples. So, if there's no header present, it's an optional +feature of Talon files, then the commands in the file will apply in all +situations, in all modes. + +[slide 15] +Here we have two restrictions. These commands will only work when +using the iTerm2 terminal emulator for the Mac, and then only when the +title of the window in ccc has this particular address, which is what +appears when I've logged into the supercomputer at the University of +Oklahoma. One of the commands in this file is checkjobs. It's mapped +to an alias, a bash alias called cj for "check jobs", which in turn is mapped +to a script called checkjobs.sh that, when it's run, returns a listing of the +pending and running jobs on the supercomputer in a format that I find +pleasing. This backslash n after cj, the new line character, enters the +command, so I don't have to do that as an additional step. Likewise, +here's a similar setup for interacting with a Ubuntu virtual machine. + +[slide 16] +In terms of picking up voice computing, these are my recommendations. +You're going to run into more errors than you may like initially, and so +you need some patience in dealing with those. And also, it'll take you +a while to get your head wrapped around Talon and how it works. You'll +definitely want to use custom commands to correct the errors or +shortcomings of the language models. And you've seen how, by +opening up projects by voice commands, you can reduce friction in +terms of restarting work on a project. You've seen how Voice In is +preferred for more accurate dictation. I think my error rate is about +1 to 2 percent. That is, 1 to 2 out of 100 words are incorrect versus +Talon Voice where I think the error rate is closer to 5 percent. I have +put together a library of Enlgish contractions and their expansion for +Talon too, and they can be found here on GitHub. And I also have posted +a quiz of 600 questions about some basic Talon commands. + +[slide 17] +I'd like to thank the people who've helped me out on the Talon Slack +channel and members of the Oklahoma Data Science Workshop where +I gave an hour-long talk on this topic several weeks ago. I'd like to thank +my friends at the Berlin and Austin Emacs Meetup and at the M-x research +Slack channel. And I thank these grant funding agencies for supporting +my work. I'll be happy to take any questions. + [[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/voice-after)" raw="yes"]] [[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/voice-nav)" raw="yes"]] |