Innovation Incubator: First Blood, Part Deux

Since K-State apparently can't log in yet (we're on that, right?), here's the text of Heather's email for easier, bloggier reading.

What's up everyone?
I don't think K-Staters can post to the blog yet, so I'm sending out the ideas I've been thinking/talking about for the past couple of days.

Germ: How can citizens better communicate with public figures?

Other than e-mail, which is essentially what Better Letter is now, how do people communicate?

Is there a way to incorporate Skype? With Skype, do both parties have to be online at the same time, or can one leave a message? So far, no one knows much about how Skype works, so I'll do some further research on this.

Are there any voice-to-text programs that could be integrated into this application to help people with diabilities? I talked to Disability Support Services here at K-State today about how people with physical and visual impairments use the Internet. There's a popular program called Dragon Naturally Speaking that is speech-to-text and there are other speech recognition programs out there. For visually impaired people, there's a program called JAWS that works text-to-speech. JAWS does have a free download that is the full version of the program, but is timed (40 minutes). I don't know how interested anyone is in addressing the issues of people with disabilities, but there you go anyway.

I agree with Nate there needs to be some place for these public figures to address the people. It needs to be a 2-way communication application.

Finally, video. I know everyone is skiddish of video, but we did discuss the possibility of uploading them to YouTube and sending the link (I think that's how it worked?). Chris probably remembers more about this than I do.

Anyway, I know they say they're expecting Better Letter with more than just bells and whistles, but I really think that by addressing the various ways people communicate is adding depth and not fluff. I know everyone is really worried about expanding too much and losing the
simpicity of the original idea, but I think the foundation is still intact.

Anyway, there's my thoughts on this idea. Let me know what you think.
Heather