2012 May | Evoca
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Monthly Archives: May 2012

Norah Dooley of massmouth talks up live and digital storytelling

May 29, 2012 in Uncategorized by msharpe  |  No Comments

The story begins: When Norah  Dooley, Andrea Lovett and a few other storytellers co-founded massmouth inc. 3-1/2 years ago, they wanted the Boston community to learn that storytelling was an adult activity, not just reading stories to children. As a startup venture, Norah took to the streets of Boston with her band of storytellers — telling stories on street corners and cafes, and inviting people on the street to Mouth-offs, telling their own stories. Soon Story Slam competitions were held in Boston pubs.

Committed to using digital media, massmouth adopted the use of Evoca to attract storyteller auditions and to stream audio stories on their website and Facebook fan page. massmouth is committed both to serving the local Boston area and to spreading stories worldwide using online technologies like Evoca and YouTube. Norah  refers to Evoca as “really an amazing tool.” Hear more in the Norah Dooley interview by Murem Sharpe, Evoca CEO, about the heartening massmouth story and about how Evoca’s affordable digital audio services empower Boston storytellers voices locally and globally.

 

The story continues: massmouth’s early appeal grew rapidly, resulting in its first city-wide event at the renown Boston Public Library, filling its 350-seat Rabb Auditorium with an audience spilling out to the hallways. It has grown to the 1st Annual Boston Storytelling Festival in 2012, free to all participants and packed with performances and workshops. Read more

With iPhone’s Siri, voice is driving online search

May 24, 2012 in Apple, Google, iPad, iPhone, Marketing, Microsoft, Siri, Voice by msharpe  |  No Comments

Voice recognition is the new battle ground for rivals Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Apple’s Siri is leading the pack. “All the mobile phone manufacturers are investing in speech, expanding investments in speech, creating more elegant designs and integrating it more deeply into phones,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president for mobile at voice-recognition specialist Nuance. What is at stake? Online search that generates advertising revenue.

The following excerpt from an MSN Money article tells the compelling story: “Siri’s tantalizing features include the ability to take dictation for text messages, set reminders, initiate calls and get weather updates — all at a mere voice command. Such an interactive voice-driven interface encourages greater use of smartphone features by making it much easier to access technology-on-the-go​. According to a recent industry study by Arieso, the iPhone 4S has almost doubled data consumption as compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 4, and the introduction of Siri is considered to have enabled the huge growth. One of the most important smartphone features that Siri is driving is an increase in mobile search.” Read more

Evoca joins Global Network Initiative founded by Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft

May 8, 2012 in Business, Facebook, Freedom of Expression, International, Journalists, Media, Politics by msharpe  |  No Comments

In its recently published annual report, the Global Network Initiative [GNI] announced that Evoca, a leading global voice recording and publishing web service, became the first non-founding Company Member to join GNI, demonstrating that the GNI Principles – advancing freedom of expression and privacy rights – are relevant to early stage technology firms as well as larger, established multinationals such as its founding Company Members – Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google and its new Observer Status participant – Facebook. The Global Network Initiative [GNI] provides guidance to the information and communications technologies [ICT] industry and its stakeholders on how to protect and advance these human rights when faced with pressures from governments to take infringing actions.

Evoca CEO Murem Sharpe commented on Evoca’s purpose in joining GNI, “Evoca is a platform for free expression, and so GNI is a natural fit for us. As an early stage web services company, we employ software and web services of other companies operating in the cloud for customer service, telecommunications, data storage and streaming, payment, and other key functions. We look forward to engaging with these suppliers so that in turn we can assure our subscribers and licensees of our commitment to their rights to free expression and privacy.”

About The Global Network Initiative [GNI]

The Global Network Initiative [GNI] is a multi-stakeholder group of companies, civil society organizations, including human rights and press freedom groups, investors and academics, who have created a collaborative approach to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the information and communications technologies [ICT] sector. GNI provides resources for ICT companies to help them address difficult issues related to freedom of expression and privacy that they may face anywhere in the world. GNI has created a framework of principles and a confidential, collaborative approach to working through challenges of corporate responsibility in the ICT sector.

GNI participants include Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Websense, the Berman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School, USC Annenberg School for Communications, Center for Democracy & Technology, Internews, Human Rights First, Committee to Protect Journalists, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Centro de Estudios en Libertad de Expresión y Acceso a la Información, Calvert Investments, Church of Sweden, and Trillium Asset Management.

Ten Tips to Improve Your Vocal Image

May 7, 2012 in "How-To" posts, Business, Interviews, Public Speaking by msharpe  |  1 Comments

Every professional and business person has to do a lot of talking — in person, on the phone, and while giving presentations. You are called on to motivate staff, explain your product’s benefits, negotiate with prospects, speak to journalists, and pitch to investors.

But is your “vocal image” up to the job? There is more to our voices than meets the ear. Giving a poor vocal impression can lead to lost credibility, lost promotions, lost deals, and lost investors.

If you are not happy with your voice — or you’ve never really thought about how you sound to other people — check out 10 tips that could help you boost your vocal image. You can practice by recording your voice using Evoca and sharing the recording with a friend or mentor.

Vocal tip #1: How you sound is more important than what you say

It is worthwhile improving the impression we make with the sound of our voices. How we say things is much more important than what we say. Other people decide whether to agree with us or not, take our advice, or support us based on the sound of our voices.

Listeners on the phone and radio quickly jump to conclusions about our intelligence, education, expertise, credibility, likeability, and even what we look like, based on little more than the sound of our voices. Read more

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