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Title: The Voderettes: Gender, Labor, and Techno-Utopia at the 1939 New York World's Fair
Creator: Simon, Sara M. B.
Date: 2024
Description: This thesis explores the labor demands of the Voder, the electrical speech synthesis machine developed by Bell Labs to be a major component of...
Show moreThis thesis explores the labor demands of the Voder, the electrical speech synthesis machine developed by Bell Labs to be a major component of AT&T's 1939 New York World's Fair exhibit. With the United States emerging from the Great Depression, and with political tensions escalating across the globe, the paper situates the Voder's labor demands within the historical context of the fair. Specifically, I explore the decision to have young women operate the Voder, the intricacies of the machine cloaked by the warm presence of its highly-skilled female operator. Using archival records from Bell Labs engineers, the paper exposes the previously unacknowledged engineering contributions of Voder operators in the years before the fair. These young women not only influenced major decisions about the Voder's mechanics but also gave early credence to the notion that developing a performance with the machine could make for a thrilling fair exhibit. Moreover, the paper argues that at the fair itself, AT&T and Bell Labs executives used the Voder operators to normalize a new vision of a technological utopia that relied heavily and conspicuously on the infrastructural labor of women. Given the Voder's legacy, as a tool that laid critical groundwork for voice encryption technology, the paper adds important context to the historical record, highlighting the young women at the heart of the machine.
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Title: SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY AND ACCENTS IN SPEECH-MEDIATED INTERFACES: RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Creator: Lawrence, Halcyon M.
Date: 2013, 2013-07
Description: There continues to be significant growth in the development and use of speech–mediated devices and technology products; however, there is no...
Show moreThere continues to be significant growth in the development and use of speech–mediated devices and technology products; however, there is no evidence that non-native English speech is used in these devices, despite the fact that English is now spoken by more non-native speakers than native speakers, worldwide. This relative absence of non-native English speech in devices may be due in part to the costs associated with localizing speech devices, but it may also be attributable to the fact that not enough is known about user performance with accented speech in speech–mediated environments. In the absence of targeted research, developers may be relying on existing studies which focus on perception (impression) of accented speech, as a basis of decision-making. However, perception paints only part of the picture when it comes to understanding how and why people perform in certain ways and in certain environments. Three studies were conducted to answer the following questions: (1) What are the acoustic-phonetic characteristics of negatively- and positively-perceived accented speech? And how are these characteristics related to markers of intelligible speech? (2) How do participants perform on different types of accented-speech tasks? (3) What is the relationship between user perception of accented speech and user performance in response to accented speech? and; (4) How do participants perform on accented speech tasks of varying complexity? Arising out of this research, there are six recommendations for the use of accented speech in speech-mediated devices. Also, the findings of this study raise questions about inherent linguistic stereotypes which impact both our perceptions and our choices about xvi the accents we want to hear on our speech devices. A discussion about if and how these stereotypes can be altered and measured are included. Future research should examine the role of experienced non-native talkers in speech devices. Results of study one demonstrated that some experienced non-native talkers were positively-perceived by raters and may be good candidates for talkers in speech devices. A study like this would explicitly establish if listeners consistently make native vs. non-native distinctions in their preferences or if a prestige continuum emerges.
PH.D in Technical Communication, July 2013
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Title: THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION MODALITY ON PRESENCE, COGNITIVE LOAD AND RETENTION IN SECOND LIFE
Date: 2009-12,
Description: This thesis reports findings from a study (N = 60) of the impact of three communication modalities (voice only, text only, and voice and text...
Show moreThis thesis reports findings from a study (N = 60) of the impact of three communication modalities (voice only, text only, and voice and text simultaneously) on cognitive load, as measured by subjective reports of mental effort; on learning, as measured by tests of recall and retention; and on perceptions of presence as measured by a Presence Questionnaire (Witmer & Singer, 2005). Based on the results of prior empirical research, it is hypothesized that retention scores will be higher for voice participants and voice-and-text participants than for text-only participants; that cognitive load will be lower for voice participants and higher for text conditions; that voice will contribute to greater perceptions to presence; and that higher perceptions of presence will not correlate with deeper learning. Study results indicate that communication modality significantly effected cognitive load (F(2, 54) = 4.58, p = .01) and retention (F(2, 54) = 3.53, p = .04), and that experience with and time spent in the virtual environment had significant effects on measures of cognitive load, retention, and presence: Significant between-subjects effects were found for cognitive load and time (p = .23), for retention and time (p = .21), and for retention and experience (p — .03).
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Title: An aircraft hangar and the study of long-span metal structures
Date: 1962-06,
Description: The study of long-span structures developed from a design problem for an aircraft hangar. The problem of the aircraft hangar was concerned...
Show moreThe study of long-span structures developed from a design problem for an aircraft hangar. The problem of the aircraft hangar was concerned with the development of a reasonable structurtal type into an architectural solution. Several types were considered; the truss, the arch, a rigid frame system in prestressed concrete. These were discarded in favor of a rigid frame system of steel that seemed to give the best visual solution.
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Title: Students International House
Date: 1961,

Title: An architectural and structural study of multi-storied skeleton building
Date: 1954,

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