<s>
A	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
hyperlinked	O
speech	O
applications	O
,	O
accessed	O
remotely	O
by	O
speech	O
browsers	O
running	O
on	O
end-user	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
idea	O
of	O
surfing	O
the	O
web	O
by	O
voice	O
dates	O
back	O
to	O
at	O
least	O
the	O
work	O
of	O
Hemphill	O
and	O
Thrift	O
in	O
1995	O
who	O
developed	O
a	O
system	O
in	O
which	O
,	O
HTML	B-Language
pages	O
were	O
downloaded	O
and	O
processed	O
on	O
client-side	O
computers	O
enabling	O
voice	O
access	O
to	O
web	O
page	O
content	O
,	O
and	O
activation	O
of	O
hyperlinks	O
through	O
spoken	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
companies	O
created	O
the	O
,	O
and	O
jointly	O
designed	O
the	O
Voice	O
Markup	O
Language	O
,	O
VXML	B-Application
,	O
which	O
was	O
accepted	O
by	O
the	O
W3C	O
Committee	O
in	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VXML	B-Application
is	O
typically	O
used	O
to	O
create	O
hyperlinked	O
speech	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VXML	B-Application
pages	O
include	O
commands	O
for	O
prompting	O
user	O
speech	O
input	O
,	O
invoking	O
recognition	O
grammars	O
,	O
outputting	O
synthesized	O
voice	O
,	O
iterating	O
through	O
blocks	O
of	O
code	O
,	O
calling	O
local	O
JavaScript	O
,	O
and	O
hyperlinking	O
to	O
other	O
remote	O
VXML	B-Application
pages	O
downloaded	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
linking	O
of	O
HTML	B-Language
pages	O
in	O
the	O
conventional	O
Web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Around	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
as	O
the	O
emergence	O
of	O
VXML	B-Application
,	O
a	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Windsor	O
in	O
Canada	O
were	O
developing	O
an	O
alternative	O
approach	O
,	O
in	O
which	O
speech	O
applications	O
deployed	O
on	O
the	O
web	O
can	O
be	O
accessed	O
by	O
client-side	O
speech	O
browsers	O
which	O
provide	O
the	O
speech-recognition	O
capability	O
,	O
that	O
is	O
tailored	O
to	O
the	O
application	O
by	O
downloading	O
an	O
application-specific	O
recognition	O
grammar	O
from	O
the	O
remote	O
speech	O
application	O
web	O
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
was	O
used	O
,	O
in	O
1999	O
,	O
to	O
describe	O
the	O
collection	O
of	O
hyperlinked	O
speech	O
applications	O
in	O
this	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
browser	O
was	O
demonstrated	O
at	O
the	O
AAAI	O
Sixteenth	O
National	O
Conference	O
on	O
Artificial	O
Intelligence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
speechweb	B-General_Concept
"	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
,	O
since	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
different	O
context	O
to	O
describe	O
a	O
web	O
based	O
network	O
of	O
information	O
on	O
speech	O
,	O
language	O
and	O
speech-language	O
pathology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
speechWeb	B-General_Concept
"	O
has	O
been	O
trademarked	O
by	O
the	O
company	O
PipeBeach	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
now	O
owned	O
by	O
HP	O
,	O
and	O
refers	O
to	O
a	O
software	O
product	O
which	O
bridges	O
telephone	O
networks	O
and	O
conventional	O
web	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2005	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
recognized	O
that	O
very	O
few	O
voice	O
applications	O
were	O
available	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
through	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
despite	O
the	O
maturity	O
of	O
VXML	B-Application
at	O
that	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
also	O
observed	O
that	O
nearly	O
all	O
VXML	B-Application
applications	O
that	O
were	O
available	O
had	O
been	O
constructed	O
by	O
people	O
working	O
in	O
commerce	O
and	O
industry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
in	O
stark	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
huge	O
growth	O
of	O
the	O
conventional	O
web	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
huge	O
involvement	O
of	O
the	O
public	O
in	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
regular	O
web	O
pages	O
,	O
only	O
a	O
few	O
years	O
after	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
HTML	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
observation	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
which	O
is	O
accessible	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
through	O
existing	O
web	O
browsers	O
(	O
with	O
speech	O
plugins	O
)	O
and	O
which	O
contains	O
hyperlinked	O
speech	O
applications	O
that	O
are	O
created	O
and	O
deployed	O
by	O
the	O
public	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
that	O
is	O
analogous	O
to	O
the	O
creation	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
HTML	B-Language
pages	O
on	O
the	O
conventional	O
web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
research	O
groups	O
are	O
developing	O
software	O
to	O
facilitate	O
the	O
construction	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
applications	O
by	O
non-experts	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
research	O
group	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Windsor	O
has	O
developed	O
documentation	O
and	O
software	O
to	O
facilitate	O
for	O
people	O
who	O
want	O
to	O
access	O
and/or	O
create	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
group	O
has	O
also	O
created	O
a	O
prototype	O
Public-Domain	O
SpeechWeb	B-General_Concept
containing	O
examples	O
of	O
which	O
are	O
available	O
through	O
a	O
portal	O
.	O
</s>
