Synthe iced Acces Electronic Ma ystem Chris Schmandt

T HE "VOICED MAIL" system of MIT's Architecture Machine Group allows users of a research computer system to access their electronic mail through a text-to-speech synthesizer (Speech Plus's Prose 2000) and a touchtone telephone. In an environment of heavy on-line mail usage, this system has gained acceptance by a community of about 30 subscribers needing to both read and transmit messages. To use Voiced Mail, a user calls in and gives a unique identifier (home phone number) and a password by touchtones, much like using an automatic bank teller. Mail messages are sorted by source, and played sequentially within each group. The caller may interact with the system by touch-tones, to jump to the next message or next sender, obtain more information about the sender, repeat a sentence, or make a reply. Several types of replies may be generated. The caller may send back an electronic message of the form "I read your message about [subject line] and the answer is yes," or no, or please call me at [a telephone number], which is then keyed in. A recent addition allows the reader to record a voice message for the sender, I which can be accessed through a voice storage system which transparently integrates recorded and text messages. Although this system was developed as a component of a wider research activity in telephone access to multi-media message systems, it was found useful enough as an internal utility to be implemented as a stand-alone system and left running 24 hours a day on one of the laboratory's minicomputers. Major portions of Voiced Mail have been incorporated as is into a personalized text and voice message storage and answering machine. 11, 21. One of the main motivations for electronic mail systems is convenience of access. On-line message systems enable quick and reliable communication between parties or groups in disparate locations and perhaps o n differing schedules. Rapid message delivery and 24-hour availability make it ideal for communication or decision making on issues requiring timely response. To use conventional electronic mail systems, however, one must carry a terminal and .