kim at redstartsystems dot com
(617) 325-3966
Brief bio
 |
Kimberly Patch is founder and president of Redstart Systems, a company dedicated to improving the speech interface. In her previous life as a journalist she was a founding editor of the science and technology Web publication Technology Research News. While there she wrote custom speech interface software to enable hands-free writing, editing and production of the weekly publication. Redstart Systems' Utter Command speech interface software and the Human-Machine Grammar that underpins Utter Command grew from that experience.
Kim was a writer and editor for 20 years, and began writing about technology in 1988. She was a metro reporter in Washington D.C. for United Press International, founded the Internet beat as a Senior Editor at PC Week, and freelanced for many publications and news services including the Associated Press, Reuters, the Boston Globe, the San Jose Mercury News, Computerworld, Popular Mechanics, Technology Review, CIO, InfoWorld, Information Week and Network World.
Kim has given presentations on Utter Command and Redstart Systems at SpeechTEK, SpeechTEK West, CSUN, Closing the Gap, the MIT Venture Capital Conference Entrepreneur Showcase, and the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference. She is an invited expert for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Accessibility Initiative User Agent Group.
Kim also plays the fiddle.
Kim began using speech recognition software in 1994 after she was hit with repetitive strain injuries. To learn more about her experiences, see Greetings from planet RSI: an attempt to explain what it's like to have hands that hurt all the time and Advice from planet RSI: how to get better.
Resume (PDF)
Publications
| Conference papers (see Redstart Systems Presentations to access these papers) |
| Speech Input and Web Accessibility Kimberly Patch, Knowbility's AccessU at CSUN, February 27, 2012 |
| Leveraging the Accessibility Community as an Asset for Universal Design Kimberly Patch, Notes from the Boston Accessibility Unconference, September 17, 2011 |
| Where Does Speech Input Make Sense? Lessons from
the Desktop AVIxD 2011 Workshop on Voice Interaction Design, January 23, 2011 |
| The User Context: Aligning System and User Behavior W3C Workshop on Conversational Applications: Use Cases and Requirements for New Models of Human Language to Support Mobile Conversational Systems, June 18-19, 2010 |
| Web Accessibility: Taking Control with Speech ATIA 2009 Chicago, October 31, 2009, and ATIA 2010 Orlando, January 28, 2010 |
| Speeding Speech Computer Control Beyond the
Keyboard and Mouse (poster) ATIA 2009 Orlando, January 29, 2009 |
| Making Speech Commands Work Well on the Desktop:
It's All About Steps Closing the Gap, October 16, 2008 |
| Difficult Web sites demos AVIOS New England meeting, March 19, 2008 |
| Pardon Me, Your Computer's Showing: Using Speech to Speed and Streamline Desktop Computing SpeechTek West 2007, February 22, 2007 |
| When Natural Language Isn't: The Need for a
Dedicated Speech Interface SpeechTek 2006, August 8, 2006 |
| It's
All about the Interface: Speech Recognition That Works for Both Human
and Computer MIT IAP Seminar, January 17, 2006 |
| Technology Research News |
| Kim wrote hundreds of articles about emerging technologies from 2000 to 2005. Here are her interface-related articles: |
| Memory
mimic aids reading May 4/11, 2005 |
| Conversational
engagement tracked December 1/8, 2004 |
| Coincidences
set up mental error February 11/18, 2004 |
| Eyes
off, screen off July 30/August 6, 2003 |
| Software
referees group calls June 18/25, 2003 |
| Interface
gets the point January 1/8, 2003 |
| Software
turns reading into writing September 4/11, 2002 |
| Virtual
reality gets easier November 7, 2001 |
| Correction
choices key for speech software September 5, 2001 |
| Interface
lets you point and speak July 25, 2001 |
| Muscles
tapped for virtual input February 7, 2001 |
| Integrated
inputs improve interactivity September 13, 2000 |
| Hearing
between the lines July 19, 2000 |
| Other selected articles: |
| Physics
maps city complexity June 29/July 6, 2005 |
| Camera
sees behind objects June 1/8, 2005 |
| Tool
turns English to code March 23/30, 2005 |
| Video
organizes paper January 12/19, 2005 |
| DNA
plays tic-tac-toe August 27/September 3, 2003 |
| Freelance articles |
| The
walls have eyes -- and ears and... The Boston Globe, July 20, 1998 |
| Speech
recognition makes some noise InfoWorld, February 2, 1998 |
| Engine To Burn Water Popular Mechanics, December 1994 |
| Skepticism over Sunscreens The 1994 Information Please Almanac |
| Trash for Lunch The 1994 Information Please Almanac |
| Virtual Reality Meets the PC San Jose Mercury News, April 11, 1993 |
| Mayors Confer on City Design Technology Review, November/December, 1992 |
| New
Prices, Sales Ideas in Works at Digital The Boston Globe, September 30, 1992 |
| The PC is in the Mail San Jose Mercury News, May 10, 1992 |