I saw I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry this weekend, and not only was I subjected to yet another sub-par performance by otherwise funny comedians, but I was also affronted with some not so good natured IVR ribbing. Basically, Kevin James has a bad IVR experience and afterwards tells someone the system mistook “Brooklyn” for “Schmooklyn”, or something along those lines. Unfortunately, there have always been many things to pick apart about IVRs, but it bothers me most in this form, when it isn’t even close to accurate! “Schmooklyn” would only be an option in the recognizer to mistake for Brooklyn if there is a city called Schmooklyn in the database – and I don’t think there is, though you never know with those New Yorkers. So, make fun of the poorly concatenated output, make fun of the long prompts, make fun of the inability to get to an operator even, but this bit made fun of recognition, which has arguably made the most strides in the industry over the years and the joke made wasn’t even recognizable (pardon the pun). I should say that it wasn’t recognizable to those of us in the industry at least, because it’s not the kind of recognition error you will ever get. It just doesn’t work that way. However, what matters here, and should always be paramount, is the user perception that this is indeed what happens, or at least how it makes them feel it behaves. And here I thought we’d solved a lot of the underlying problems in this arena and that it was finally making its way out to the general psyche as well, but I guess it’s just too much fun to make jokes about something everyone has unfortunately had even a distant past experience with. They wouldn’t have written in the joke at all if they thought only a few people would get it folks.
Simonie
August 10th, 2007
6:54 am
As a pharmaceutical researcher, I felt similarly professionally agrieved by the unrealistic and sinister portrayal of the evil pharmaceutical company in “Constant Gardener”. Surprisingly, I though Michael Moore’s “Sicko” was fair to us by comparison.
August 11th, 2007
7:35 am
Isn’t it funny how we each see our industry portrayed in media and immediately overanalyze it? Perhaps IVR designers, pharmaceutical researchers and lawyers are quick to be on the defensive for good reason, but I daresay even our beloved Mac users don’t always like being portrayed as they are in the media either. Perhaps some conservative Mac folk don’t like the artsy, slacker view some people may have of them for instance. I recently bought a Jeep and ever since I’ve noticed the commercials for the brand and realize I don’t fit that stereotype either, however positive it may seem in some eyes. I guess it’s all in the IVR of the beholder.
August 15th, 2007
11:35 am
Perhaps we make fun of technologies because deep in our psyche we fear the most ultra-advanced technology will someday overtake our humanity. After all, only humans are able to tell jokes and make fun of matters?