SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM – A COMMUNICATION MECHANISM FOR MULTI-MEDIA INFORMATION ACCESS SYSTEM FOR NON- LITERATE AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE USERS A THESIS IN Computer Science Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE by VENKATA RAMA KRISHNA JAMITHIREDDY Bachelor of Technology, Andhra University, 2005 Kansas City, Missouri 2010 © 2010 VENKATA RAMA KRISHNA JAMITHIREDDY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM – A COMMUNICATION MECHANISM FOR MULTI-MEDIA INFORMATION ACCESS SYSTEM FOR NON-LITERATE AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE USERS Venkata Rama Krishna Jamithireddy, Candidate for the Master of Science Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2010 ABSTRACT Current Internet services are not optimal for the access of information for non-literate or linguistically diverse users. Almost all Internet content is available only in written form and still in a limited number of languages. However, there is a growing need to provide network services to non-literate or linguistically diverse users. The Socio-cultural communication system (SoCCS) is a communication mechanism for building an information access system that helps both literate and non-literate users to access information in various media formats. SoCCS is designed using client server architecture, isolating much of the logic from the client. This helps the client run on a basic system of a very low end configuration with an application based on a web-browser. The client will send the text/image/audio/video request to the request interpreter (RI) and it will then process the request and respond with text, image, audio, or video link information. Audio/video is streamed using a streaming server. This helps in reducing the play delay on the client side with a low bandwidth. RI will handle the request in text/image/audio using text-to-text, text-to-speech and speech-to-text translators. RI will also handle the client’s preference on the response i.e., the client can choose to get the response in a text/image/audio/video format. The SoCCS application protocol of the current design project is based on a request– response mechanism without any limitations on the natural language, client software and hardware requirements, and the type of request. SoCCS will accept a text or audio request and iii respond to the user with a text or an audio message. The unique SoCCS features are providing the conversion from one language to another language, from one format to another format and consider user preferences for displaying search results. In this thesis, a prototype implementation of SoCCS is also discussed. iv The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of School of Graduate Studies, have examined the thesis titled “Socio-Cultural Communication System – A Communication Mechanism for Multi-Media Information Access System for Non-literate and Linguistically Diverse Users,” presented by Venkata Rama Krishna Jamithireddy, a candidate for the Master of Science degree, and hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee Deepankar Medhi, Ph.D., Committee Chairperson Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Kenneth Mitchell, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Yugyung Lee, Ph.D. Department of Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .......................................................................................................... x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE ................................................................................. 1 1.1. Socio-Cultural Communication System ........................................................................... 1 2 OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................. 4 2.1. Requirements for SoCCS Design ......................................................................................... 4 2.1.1. Inclusive......................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2. Dialectic ......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.3. Adaptive......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.4. Evolving......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.5. People Sensitive ............................................................................................................. 5 2.3. SoCCS and e-Governance .................................................................................................... 5 2.4. SoCCS and e-Systems .......................................................................................................... 6 2.4.1. Population Factor ........................................................................................................... 7 2.4.2. Mode of Access to Information ..................................................................................... 7 2.4.3. Priorities and Types of Information............................................................................... 7 2.4.4. Content Type ................................................................................................................. 7 3 ARCHITECTURAL AND DESIGN APPROACH................................................................... 8 vi 3.1. Architecture .......................................................................................................................... 8 3.1.1. User Agent (UA) ........................................................................................................... 9 3.1.2. Request Interpreter ...................................................................................................... 10 3.1.3. Translator ..................................................................................................................... 12 3.2. Possible Cases for Data Flow between Different Modules ................................................ 13 3.2.1. Case1: Translator Responding for the User Request ................................................... 13 3.2.2. Case2: Request Interpreter Handles the Translation Data ........................................... 15 3.2.3. Case3: Request Interpreter Forwards the Data Handle to Translator .......................... 17 3.3. Design Algorithm ............................................................................................................... 19 3.4. Communication between Modules ..................................................................................... 22 3.4.1. User Agent – Request Interpreter Communication ..................................................... 22 3.4.2. User Agent – Media Base Communication ................................................................. 24 3.4.3. Request Interpreter – Translator Communication ....................................................... 24 4 SEQUENCE DIAGRAMS FOR REQUEST HANDLING .................................................... 26 4.1. No Translation for Request and Response ......................................................................... 26 4.2. Request Translation ............................................................................................................ 27 4.3. Response Translation ......................................................................................................... 29 4.4. Request and Response Translation ..................................................................................... 30 4.5. Streaming Sequence Diagram ............................................................................................ 31 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF SoCCS FRAMEWORK ................................................................ 33 5.1. User Agent (UA) ................................................................................................................ 34 vii 5.1.1. Web browser ................................................................................................................ 34 5.1.2. Java Sonics ListenUp Applet ....................................................................................... 34 5.1.3. Google Virtual Keyboard ............................................................................................ 35 5.2. Request Interpreter (RI) ..................................................................................................... 35 5.2.1. Web Server .................................................................................................................. 36 5.3. Translator (TR) ................................................................................................................... 36 5.3.1. Google Translate .......................................................................................................... 36 5.3.2. eSpeak .......................................................................................................................... 37 5.3.3. Sphinx