Voice In Canada Flash Briefing #526
Alright, so it’s Monday. Here is a very interesting topic, at least I think this is fascinating.
I was just, as you know, at the Voice Summit last week, and I was sitting in one session, and there was a lot of discussion in this particular session about the gender of Alexa, and also, why Amazon named her a name that typically is a female’s name.
And, along with that discussion, as you may know, people have often wondered like, “Why did Amazon choose to do this? Is it because women tend to be stereotyped into assistive roles?”, and that sort of thing. Here’s the fascinating part, in the room, was one of the four original developers of Alexa. And, he contributed something very interesting I think.
He said that, first of all, in choosing the name, Amazon had a huge list of names, and they wanted something that was three syllables long for various reasons to be able to understand.
Alexa knows everything.
When someone said the name, they wanted an “X” sound in it, and in fact, the name that they chose, ALEXA, was not top of their list, and they had to go down to find a name that would fit these particular criteria.
The part that was even more interesting to me, was he said that it’s all a matter of perspective, and now I totally agree with him.
I actually think that the fact that Alexa has a female name, and has a female sounding voice, actually is a role model, because Alexa knows everything.
She knows science, she knows math, she is able to carry out different functions. There’s nothing that you can stump her with, theoretically.
The point is that, it’s all a matter of how you present it. You could say, well, Alexa is just this assistant who does whatever you say, or you could say Alexa is all-knowing, powerful, smart, and excellent in math and science, and I think that is really interesting.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. This is a really, really interesting discussion that we could have. So hit me up on Twitter @DrTeriFisher. Talk to you soon.
Other Useful Resources
- Complete List of Alexa Commands
- Alexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in Canada
- Teri Fisher on Twitter
- Alexa in Canada on Twitter
- Alexa in Canada on Instagram
- Alexa in Canada Community Group on Facebook
- Please leave a review on the Skills Store!
- Shopping on Amazon.ca
- Create a Flash Briefing Tutorial – Free Tutorial to Create your own Flash Briefing
- Flash Briefing Formula – Your Complete Premium Step-By-Step Course to Launch a Successful Flash Briefing that Gets Found and Grows Your Brand
Listen on your Echo Device! Easy as 1-2-3!
1. Open your Alexa app and click on the Menu button > Settings > Flash Briefing.
2. Click on “Add Content” and search for “Voice in Canada”.
3. Click on “Voice in Canada” and the Enable button.
Alexa, what are my flash briefings?
Alexa, what’s in the news?
You can also subscribe on your Favourite Podcast App!
For more information about the flash briefing or to get in touch with me, feel free to click on the button below! I look forward to hearing from you!
