Auto-checking emotional content on our laptops…
Author: Qaalfa Dibeehi
Emotions will soon be embedded in our laptops. The equivalent of emotional spell checking is here. IBM’s Lotus Notes will be incorporating Lymbix’s ToneCheck sentiment analysis technology (according to Mashable). What does this mean? As a person is typing an email let’s say the emotional tone checker will then suggest better alternative words or phrases that are best suited to the tone of the email the person is writing. In other words, the emotional auto checker will help keep the tone consistent in an email or letter.
Sentiment analysis has been with for a while although it is still considered cutting edge. Sentiment analysis is a group of techniques that identifies the attitude of a speaker or writer. In customer experience, it is often employed in contact centres where the goal is often to identify the tone of callers. It is also used to mine social media to identify how serious writers are or how serious the issue is. Lymbix already has ToneChecker plugin for Outlook. The significance of this news is that it is Big Blue that buying into the emotional wave. If ever there was big ole corporate validation of the interest in and importance of emotional experience, this is it. Emotional engagement is mainstream and getting in to our micro-business lives.
In time, I see no reason why we will not beable to choose a sentiment (eg, sarcastic, surprised, etc) in the same way we can choose language (eg, US English or UK English). Better yet, as far as business and marketing writing is concerned, that emotional menu would list the emotions known to drive the most value for business which have already been identified by Beyond Philosophy. These were identified by Steven Walden in research for the book DNA of the Customer Experience by Colin Shaw.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on sentiment analysis and it’s real future uses.
Thanks to stuartpilbrow for the image
By QAALFA DIBEEHI | Published: FEBRUARY 2, 2011