Digital Personal Assistants: Alexa with Image Recognition Technology

Running head: ECHO+1
Echo+
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Echo+
I. Introduction
Today, Digital Personal Assistants (DPAs) materialize a long prophecy on human-machine integration. The growing interactions between human agents and digital devices are further blurring human-machine divides. The current market of DPAs is, moreover, expected to grow exponentially in upcoming years in response to surges in demand. This pattern, exemplary of an Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, is projected to assume more and more important as applications grow and go more mainstream. The significance of DPAs is, accordingly, derived much less from incremental advances, as are currently seen, and more from what DPAs promise. Specifically, DPAs might, in a conventional approach to emerging innovations, be viewed as yet one more, well, innovation. The reality of the matter is, instead, unprecedented applicability, integrability, and upgradability of DPAs. That is, in contrast to innovations, usually phasing out after a given lifecycle (and, in consequence, change into "legacy" applications), DPAs are deployable and portable across platforms, devices and applications. In a similar vein, Echo+, an upgrade to the current Amazon Alexa, is proposed for current purposes.
The upgrade to the current Amazon Alexa involves a couple of differentiated features in Echo+: (i) Image Recognition Technology (IRT) and (ii) TV Streaming Technology (TVST). The IRT is, simply, a feature incorporated into current Amazon Alexa to enable a different set of users (discussed in more detail under the "Target Audience" section) to perform certain actions and activities in a more convenient and enabling manner. For instance, ECHO+ is proposed to enable visually impaired individuals to recognize faces and places more accurately; protect children at and outside the home by producing visual alerts; and, as is usual in IRT, offer surveillance for home
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And office space. The significance of IRT in Echo+ is, in fact, far-reaching and cuts across different application areas. For instance, IRT in Echo+ is an increasingly on-demand feature for accessibility purposes for particularly vulnerable populations such as elderly people. This added feature is, from a justice and equality perspective, a sure empowerment capability enabling visually impaired people to pursue a normal life, just as everyone else does. The new features are, from a safety and security perspective, a major advantage for, say, working parents who can, remotely, monitor child behavior at home. Similarly, IRT is a great support capability for caregivers who could monitor the activities of, say, elderly people. IRT is expected to serve more functions as usability patterns emerge and mature in response to different needs and uses of different user populations.
The TVST is a feature incorporated into current Amazon Alexa to personalize and make more convenient streaming services. Specifically, Echo+ would incorporate a bundling-enabled Fire TV stick, an upgrade from current, conventional TV streaming services featuring Amazon Prime Video. This upgrade does not only expand Amazon Prime Video into a new platform/device yet also integrates current content offerings provided by Amazon and, in doing so, vertically integrates Amazon services and, ultimately, enhances the overall value chain of Amazon content offerings across platforms, devices and applications. Moreover, a TVST is a strong contender against established market offerings such as Apple TV, Google Chromecast Ultra, and Roku. The major value proposition in Echo+, as opposed to current TV streaming services, is Amazon Alexa's core capability: voice-enabled request system. That is, in contrast to Apple TV, Google Chromecast Ultra, and Roku, a TVST in Echo+ is much more convenient to users and, from a design perspective, is well aligned to best-in-industry practices.
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II. Fit in Media Environment


The proposed Echo+ is a perfect fit in the current DPA scene and, for that matter, for Amazon Alexa. Incorporating IRT and TVST, Echo+ improves upon existing features in Amazon Alexa by moving to the next generation of DPAs. Specifically, Echo+, a step more into connectivity and human-machine sociability, is a glimpse into a future of a seamless, extended self of human-machine interaction (Clayton, Leshner & Almond, 2015; Katz & Aakhus, 2002), perpetual contact (Katz & Aakhus), personalized communication (Beniger, 1987), and, of course, a smarter DPA of contactless features and capabilities (Pavlus, 2015). This requires a bit of some explanation.
From a human-machine interaction perspective, Echo+ is an extended self (human) agent/users are in increasing need of. The growing dependability of users on DPA is a usability pattern well established in research and practice. If anything, as more and more devices, platforms and applications are integrated, connected, and communicative, human and machine interactions are projected to streamline into a seamless process of constant connectivity and, according to Clayton, Leshner, and Almond, as an extended self. The attachment of users to personal devices, particularly mobile/portable ones, is, in fact, a recognized usability pattern so much so distinctions between what is "human" and what is "machine" is increasingly blurred. The IRT and TVST features in Echo+ are, accordingly, a step in such direction of human-machine integration into an extended self.
From a communication perspective, Echo+ clearly makes human-machine communication a more personalized process. Given current machine learning capabilities, Echo+ is not simply a device for pure-play. Instead, Echo+ is a companion a wide range of users could
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Communicate with for different purposes. For example, elderly people, missing company (as discussed in more detail in "Target Audience" and "User Experience: Tell a Story" sections ), could find a perfect companion in an Echo+ "friend" who is always mindful, entertaining and, perhaps most importantly, non-forgetful. The learning curve an Echo+ is projected to have picking new syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasies of a given user is, moreover, a great asset of personalization for a wide range of expected users and audiences. In short, Echo+ is a personalized DPA companion engaging user...