# Presentation: 800916

## XML Web Services:VoiceXML and Phone Directories

- Brand Niemann
- “XML Web Services Evangelist”
- US EPA Office of Environmental Information
- April 16-18, 2002

## Overview

- 1. XML and XML Web Services
- 2. EPA’s “Where You Live”
- 3. Multi-channel Dissemination of the LEPC Database
- 4. XML Content Network and VoiceXML Presentations and Recognitions
- 5. Phone Directories as XML Web Services
- 6. Contact Information

## 1. XML and XML Web Services

- XML is a standard for preserving and communicating information – encoding, tagging, and internationalizing – that will be everywhere.
- Web Services provide communication between applications running on different Web servers that will bring the Internet to its new level.
- XML Web Services are applications running on different devices that communicate XML data using XML messages.
- Interoperable XML Web Services:
- http://www.ws-i.org/Community.aspx

## 2. EPA’s “Where You Live”

- Enter your zip code to retrieve environmental information about your community:
- Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPCs) provide a forum for emergency management agencies, responders, industry and the public to work together to understand chemical hazards in the community, develop emergency plans in case of an accidental release, and always look for ways to prevent chemical accidents. Local industries must provide information to LEPCs about chemical hazards, LEPCs are required by law to make this information available to any citizen who requests it. You can make a difference by attending an LEPC meeting or joining your LEPC.
- Please Note: Currently we have over 3000 listings in our LEPC Database. It is our goal to provide the most current and accurate information. We look to the LEPC community to help us successfully meet this goal. Please forward any changes or corrections to Dana Robinson. These changes will be incorporated and updated monthly.

## 3. Multi-channel Dissemination of the LEPC Database

- 3.1 Field Names
- 3.2 Web
- 3.3 Print
- 3.4 CD/DVD
- 3.5 XML Web Service
- 3.6 Telephone
- 3.7 Digital Talking Books

## 3.1 Field Names

- LEPC Name
- Street
- Address2 (e.g. P.O. Box)
- City
- State
- Postal Code
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone
- Email
- LEPC ID
- Edit Date
- Idmarplot (geo-reference from the LandView MarPlot Mapping System)

## 3.2 The Web:http://www.epa.gov/ceppo/lepclist.htm

## 3.3 Print(on demand)

## 3.4 CD/DVDhttp://landview.census.gov/

## 3.5 XML Web Service: FileMaker Prohttp://www.filemaker.com/xml/overview.html

## 3.5 XML Web Service: XML Query Output http://130.11.53.73/lepc/FMPro?-db=LEPC.FP5&-format=-fmp_xml&zip_lepc::zip_code=22181&-find=

## 3.6 Telephone: A Voice Browser http://www.voicexml.org/, http://www.w3.org/Voice/

## 3.6 Telephone: Tellme VoiceXMLhttp://www.tellme.com

- The fastest way to get any U.S. forecast:
- 1-800-555-TELL.
- Say *Weather*, then a *city* and *state*, or enter the zip code, to interrupt say *stop*, and for extended forecast for your city, say *Tellme More*.
- National Directory Assistance:
- 1-800-555-1212.
- Utah Department of Transportation 511:
- Automated real-time information on traffic, road conditions, and public transportation (December 2001).
- Added event schedules, driving directions, and up-to-the-minute news and announcements for the 2002 Olympics.

## 3.6 Telephone: Tellme Studio VoiceXML http://studio.tellme.com/

## 3.6 Telephone: VoiceXML Web Servicehttp://130.11.53.73/brand.vxml

## 3.6 Telephone: VoiceXML Web Service1-866-745-7735

- Welcome to the E. P. A. Local Emergency Planning Committee finder.
- Please speak or touch-tone your 5 digit Zipcode.
***84040***
- Here are results for the Zipcode 84040.
- The L. E. P. C. nearest to you is listed in the E. P. A. database as follows. Davis County. At Davis County Sheriffs Department located in the city of Farmington.
- Thank You for calling, goodbye.

## 3.7 Digital Talking Books http://www.loc.gov/nis/niso, http://www.daisy.org

- Also called DAISY or NISO Books for the DAISY (Digital Audio-based Information SYstem) Consortium and National Information Standards Organization.
- Well-organized collections of computer files produced according to specifications published by DIASY and NISO:
- Medium-independent information access based on open standards (W3C’s XML and SMIL):
- Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language.
- Three Principal Types of Players:
- Computers, personal digital assists (e.g. BrailleNote), and specialized stand-alone hardware players (Victor by VisuAide and Plextalk by Plextor). Also Victor Trekker – A GPS for the blind.
- American Foundation for the Blind, AccessWorld (see next slide):
- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group.

## 3.7 Digital Talking Bookshttp://www.afb.org/aw/AW0203toc.asp

## 3.7 Digital Talking Bookshttp://www.visuaide.com/victorpro.html

## 4. XML Content Network and VoiceXML Presentations and Recognitions

- 4.1 Content Network of XML Web Services
- 4.2 Universal Access Collaboration Expedition Workshop, February 19th
- 4.3 GSA Senior Management, March 6th
- 4.4 2002 Federal CIO Council Showcase of Excellence Award
- 4.5 FedWeb 2002 Tutorial

## 4.1 Content Network of XML Web Services

- “Building Peer-to-Peer XML Content Networks of Web Services for Federal Scientific and Statistical Data and Information: FedStats.Net and Beyond”:
- The recent GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solution Newsletter, Issue 11: XML Applications in Government:
- http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/content/pubs_content.jsp? content OID=120147&contentType=1008&PMGZ=1
- http://www.gsa.gov/attachments/GSA_PUBLICATIONS/extpub/11-BLNiemann-EPA_7.htm
- NXT 3 P2P Platform from NextPage, Inc. provides not only XML Web Services and an XML Registry and Repository, but high-level data coordination and collaboration across distributed content.
- NextPage is unique in the content management market in its distributed approach. NXT 3 virtually connects the distributed information sources and makes them appear integrated to the user.
- Esther Dyson’s Monthly Report, Volume 20, No. 1, 22 January 2002:
- http://www.eventure.com

## 4.1 Content Network of XML Web Serviceshttp://fedgov.nextpage.com

## 4.1 Content Network of XML Web Services http://www.nextpage.com

## 4.2 Universal Access Collaboration Expedition Workshop, February 19th http://ioa-qpnet-co.gsa.gov/UA-Exp

## 4.2 Universal Access Collaboration Expedition Workshop, February 19thhttp://people.internet2.edu/~ghb/coexp/

## 4.3 GSA Senior Management, March 6th

- GSA Senior Management, March 6th
- Excellent demonstration of emerging technologies.
- Suggest pursuing with Blue Pages and Geospatial One Stop so the Blue Pages could become spatially enabled which will help to voice enable them. Also pursue with Recreation.Gov.
- See Section 5.

## 4.4 2002 Federal CIO Council Showcase of Excellence Award

- Finalist at FOSE, March 19-21, Washington, DC Convention Center:
- http://www.fose.com/Events/showcase.html
- Special Award for Innovation from Mark Forman and the Quad Council:
- http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18224-1.html
- Federal Computer Week, March 18th:
- Six Emerging Technologies That Could Change the Way Government Works:
- A voice from the near future:
- http://www.fcw.com/articles/2002/0318/cov-tech2-03-18-02.asp

## 4.4 2002 Federal CIO Council Showcase of Excellence Award

- This project was an interagency and government-private industry partnership team effort under the auspices of the Federal CIO XML Working Group (http://xml.gov) and the GSA’s Universal Access Collaboration Expedition Workshops Program as follows:
- Peter Gattuso (202-564-7993), Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office (CEPPO), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), LEPC Web Development.
- Greg O’Connell (301-941-1853), Jim Stilwell (760-723-8253), Art Clarke (415-378-4554), David Weiden (650-930-9000), TellMe Networks, Inc., TellMe Network Services.
- Jerry McFaul (703-648-7126), US Geological Survey, FileMaker & Web  Server.
- Bruce Law, Mark Fredrickson, Jonathan Jarvis, Craig Brown, and Simon Chung (801-768-7500), NextPage, Inc., NXT 3 P2P Platform Software and Services.
- Brand Niemann (202-260-2510), Office of Environmental Information, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FedGov Content Network Development and Management and XML Web Services Training.
- Janina Sajka (202-408-8175), Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group, American Foundation for the Blind, Project Advisor.
- Susan Turnbull (202-501-6214), Office of Governmentwide Policy, US General Services Administration, Project Advisor.
- Owen Ambur (703-358-2138), Co-Chair, Federal CIO XML Working Group, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Project Advisor.

## 4.5 FedWeb 2002 Tutorial

- Web Content Authoring and Management Tools with XML:
- May 20, 2002, 9 a.m. – 12 noon, Natcher Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
- http://www.fedweb.org/2002preconftutorials.htm
- Attendees have the opportunity to provide content for XML-ization prior to the tutorial to be used in the tutorial as time permits.
- http://130.11.44.140 (XML Web Services Training and Pilots)
- In coordination with the Federal Web Content Managers Forum.
- http://www.hud.gov/library/bookshelf15/webcontentmgr.cfm

## 5. Phone Directories as XML Web Services

- 5.1 U.S. Blue Pages
- 5.2 Visionary Goals for the Blue Pages
- 5.3 Coordination with the E-Gov
- 5.4 Blue Pages XML Web Services Pilot Project:
- 5.4.1 Las Vegas Blue Pages Listing
- 5.4.2 Strategy
- 5.4.3 NXT 3 Query for XML
- 5.4.4 Tellme Demo
- 5.4.5 Acknowledgments

## 5.1 U.S. Blue Pageshttp://bp.fed.gov/

## 5.1 U.S. Blue Pages(print)

## 5.2 Visionary Goals for the Blue Pages

- Owen Ambur:
- Use agency databases, gather and maintain with e-forms, geo-reference, provide access by Web and telephone, and include Frequently Asked Questions and Documents:
- 1-800 Say-The-Word: The X.500 Blue Pages Key to Stockholder/Customer-Accessible Government (12/13/97):
- http://users.erols.com/ambur/BluePage.html
- Additional Requirements for the Blue Pages Data Collection & Maintenance System (11/2/98):
- http://users.erols.com/ambur/bluepgs.html
- Susan Turnbull:
- Extending Digital Dividends: Public Goods and Services that Work for All, September 2001, GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy, 36 pp.

## 5.2 Free Access to Health and Human Services Information (211)http://www.211.org/interactive%20map.asp

## 5.3 Coordination with the E-Govhttp://www.fgdc.gov/geo-one-stop/index.html

- Recreation One Stop (Recreation.Gov):
- In discussions with Charles Nethaway, Director, Special Services and Web Development, National Business Center, US Department of the Interior.
- Geospatial Information One Stop:
- Blue Pages Team met on April 4th with John Moeller, Federal Geographic Data Committee Staff Director:
- Encouraged to go forward with effort using FGDC metadata standards and become part of the Geospatial One Stop Portal.
- Suggested GSA become a member of FGDC with the lead for Locator Services and participate in the Open GIS Consortium

## 5.4.1 Las Vegas Blue Pages Listing

- Fields: 7
- Functional Listing
- Organization
- Sort Order
- Indent Level
- Listing
- Area Code
- Phone Number
- Records: 1129

## 5.4.1 Las Vegas Blue Pages Listing

## 5.4.2 Strategy

- Formed Blue Pages XML Pilot Team from members of the VoiceXML Team.
- Met with GSA Staff and Contractor (SAIC) to discuss pilot goals and data needs.
- Decided on three-pronged approach:
- VoiceXML for “ideal” Blue Pages database.
- VoiceXML for “current best possible” Blue Pages database.
- XML from current sample BluePages database.

## 5.4.2 Strategy

- CIO Council’s Strategic Plan:
- Goal - Interoperable and innovative Governmentwide IT initatives.
- Objective – Establish the use of open, standards-based architectures.
- SCOTS – Standards-based commercial off-the-shelf softwares (XML and XML Web Services).
- Use XML and VoiceXML for virtual integration and updating across the contributing agencies and multi-channel distribution (Web, CD-ROM, print, telephone, and accessible devices).

## 5.4.2 Strategy

- A National (INCITS) Standard for directory and contact information that supports multi-channel dissemination?
- Phases:
- XML-ization of content (Syndication – automatic reuse of content on Web sites).
- Muti-channel dissemination of content.
- Updating by Web and telephone.
- Approaches:
- RDBMS to XML direct.
- Modify/repurpose RDBMS for more optimal XML uses.
- Define new Markup Language and collect new database.

## 5.4.2 Strategy

- US EPA Pilot Node (Owen Ambur’s vision):
- Agency databases – e.g. LEPC.
- Geo-reference – e.g. LEPC.
- Gather and maintain with e-forms – e.g. LEPC.
- Provide access by Web and telephone – e.g. LEPC.
- Include Frequently Asked Questions and Documents – e.g. Environmental Node on the FedGov Content Network.
- Print XML to PDF - Use new XML Formatting Objects (FO) Standard.

## 5.4.2 Strategy

- Architecture:
- Integrator Node (NXT 3):
- Agency Nodes (NXT 3):
- Directory (RDBMS-to-XML Content Adapter)
- Frequently Asked Questions (Web pages – XML Index)
- Frequently Requested Documents (Native file formats like PDF, etc. – XML Index)
- State, NGO, etc. Nodes (NXT 3):
- Same as above.

## 5.4.3 NXT 3 Query for XML

- Any or all of the fields can be filled in the query form.  NXT 3 will take the query, run it, and return an XML output to the browser / application.  A sample output is attached, but you should use the interface (sample_702.xml).
- All queries will result in a phone number.  The corollary to that is that entries without a phone number will not currently appear.
- Web site entries associated with agencies currently will not be available to the user.
- Currently, the number of entries returned is 10.  This can be adjusted easily via the form.
- As the queries & forms are now developed, any other blue book database can be added easily, and can be queried on multiple servers resulting in a single XML return output similar to the one returned from the above URL.

## 5.4.3 NXT 3 Query for XMLhttp://198.60.24.176/NXT/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=bluepages:all&NPUSERNAME=blue_user

## 5.4.3 NXT 3 Query for XML

## 5.4.3 NXT 3 Query for XML

## 5.4.4 Tellme Demo

**Familiar Web Architecture**

## 5.4.4 Tellme Demo

**Back-end Integration and VoiceXML**

## 5.4.4 Tellme Demo

- 877-728-8355:
- S: Welcome to the US Government Blue Pages Directory – Your one stop directory for government services in your local area.
- S: Please say the city and state you'd like information for, or hang on, while I get information for | Washington, DC.
- U: Las Vegas, Nevada
- S: OK, Las Vegas, Nevada.  Here are your choices.  When you hear the one you want, just say it.
- S: Agriculture, Commerce, Courts, Defense, Education, Emergency Services, Energy, Environment, Immigration & Customs, Law Enforcement, Parks & Recreation, Health...
- U: Health
- S: Here's a list of choices in Health.  When you hear the one you want, just say it.
- S: AIDS hotline, Adoption, Cancer Treatments, Child Safety, Drug & Alcohol Treatment...
- U: AIDS hotline
- S: The phone number for | the national AIDS hotline is | 800 342 2437. |   Once again, the phone number is | 800 342 2437.

## 5.4.4 Tellme Demo

- 877-728-8355:
- S: Would you like to get another number in the Health category?
- U: Yes
- S: Here's a list of choices in Health.  When you hear the one you want, just say it.
- S: AIDS hotline, Adoption, Cancer Treatments, Child Safety, Drug & Alcohol Treatment, Food and Drug Administration, Hepatitis Hotline, Immunization, Medicare...
- U: Medicare
- S: Alright, Medicare.  For general information about Medicare, say “general information.”  To find out if you're eligible, say “eligibility.”  To replace a lost Medicare card, say, “lost card”.  To get information about available Medicare plans, say “available plans.”  Or to report Medicare fraud, say “report fraud.”
- U: general information
- S: The phone number for | Medicare general information is | 800 633 4227.  Once again, the number is | 800 633 4227.
- END CALL

## 5.4.5 Acknowledgments

- Owen Ambur, Co-Chair, CIO XML Working Group.
- Keith Thurston, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Information Technology.
- John Moeller, Staff Director, Federal Geographic Data Committee.
- Janina Sajka, Director, Technology Research and Development, American Foundation for the Blind.
- Susan Turnbull, GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy.
- Bonnie Seybold, GSA Federal Technology Service Office of Service Delivery.
- Fred Zupka, GSA Federal Technology Service Office of Service Delivery.
- Tadgh Smith, Program Manager, Blue Pages, .GOV, and FSTU, SAIC.
- Simon Chung and Craig Brown, NextPage, Inc.
- Greg O’Connell, Art Clarke, Jim Stillwell & Eugene Koh, Tellme Networks, Inc.
- Brand Niemann, US EPA Office of Environmental Information.

## 6. Contact Information

- Brand Niemann. Ph.D.
- USEPA Headquarters, EPA West, Room 6143D
- Office of Environmental Information, MC 2822T
- 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460
- 202-566-1657
- niemann.brand@epa.gov
- EPA: http://161.80.70.167
- Outside EPA: http://130.11.44.140