In many cases the preliminary outlines were edited and completed
by contacts for the laboratories, as noted at the end of each
outline.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING MATERIAL
IMPORTANT NOTE: We are no longer collecting objects for this collection, the submission instructions are provided for historical data only.
The following instructions were included with request letters to
laboratories for copies of historical material. In later years,
development of the Internet allowed electronic request and
response.
It is important that any confidential information contributed to the
Smithsonian be clearly identified. Smithsonian archivists are able
to make special arrangements if restrictions are required. All
other material will be considered non-confidential and copies will be made
available to the general public for educational, non-commercial purposes.
Some of the material may be extracted and republished in the form of
histories and demonstration tapes, or made available on the Internet.
We are particularly interested in obtaining:
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information on additional research projects
-
corrections and additions to the research outlines
-
copies of tape recordings for the referenced projects
-
copies of technical records of how the speech was created
-
information on related artifacts, and their availability to the
Smithsonian
To submit material to the Smithsonian Speech Synthesis Project, please
email a notice of availability to
the Editor, H. David Maxey. He will be receiving tape recordings and project
records for evaluation and integration into the collection before
forwarding them to the Smithsonian. For artifacts, please send him a
description for evaluation by the Smithsonian. If the Smithsonian can
accept an object, special shipping arrangements will be made directly
with the owner.
Permission Statement
The contributed material will need to be
accompanied by the following statement, signed by the owner or a legal
representative:
"(Owner's name) retains copyright ownership of the donated historical
material on speech synthesis development, but grants permission to the
Smithsonian Institution to make copies for archival purposes, to
present the records, images, and tape recordings on the Internet, and
to provide copies to the general public for educational, non-commercial
purposes."
Tapes
Please review the following before making copies of
tape recordings.
Notes on copying tape recordings
7" Reels (Preferred).
The medium of preference for the Smithsonian archives is a 7" reel
of good quality 1.5 mil tape (1200 feet), recorded at 7.5 ips (30
minutes in one direction). The 1.5 mil thickness reduces
print-through effects and is more durable.
Cassettes.
If reel-to-reel recorders are not available, the second choice is
a good quality standard-size cassette, recorded at 1-7/8 ips,
normal bias, 120us equalization, without Dolby or other
compensation. Preference is again for 1.5 mil tape (a full cassette
will record for 30 minutes in one direction). An example is TDK
brand, type D60 cassette. If copies are obtained on cassettes, the
Smithsonian will re-record them on 7" reels for archival storage.
Physical Label.
Each tape should be labeled with an identifying title, the name of
the organization, the name of the person making the copy, and the
date.
Audio Labels.
Each tape should contain the following audio labels:
-
An audio header with an identifying title, the name of the
organization, the name of the person making the copy, and the
date
-
An audio identification for each entry
-
An audio trailer of "End of demonstration tape"
The voice quality of the audio labels is not important as they will
not be used on subsequent demonstration tapes.
Please rewind master!
Please rewind the master tape once before copying to reduce
print-through and to separate the layers of tape that may be sticking.
Rewinding at Play speed is safer (lower tape tension.)
Shipping.
Anti-magnetic cans are desirable, particularly for overseas shipments. For
domestic shipments, packing in strong cardboard boxes with at least
3 inches of padding should be sufficient to guard against stray
magnetic fields or mechanical damage.
Outlines
The outlines serve as a permanent index to the
collection of project records, publications, and tape recordings.
The following
is a summary of the desired contents. A good example is the outline
for the Joint Speech Research Unit (JSRU).
Outline Format
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Organization name and address
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Brief history of organization
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List of Projects
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Beginning and ending year
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Paragraph or two for each project or important stage in a
project. High-level description of project, objectives, and
accomplishments.
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A few key technical references (books, papers, reports).
Include the first reference and the most comprehensive.
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Please identify tape recordings that accompany the technical
references with a few words of the contents. Tape recordings
with number labels starting with "T" (e.g., "T87.1.27") in the
existing outlines refer to copies already available to the
Smithsonian. Higher quality and more comprehensive copies are
desirable.
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If possible, provide sufficient technical records to allow a future
researcher to reconstruct the work.
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Please identify, with a brief description, any associated
artifacts (research machines, commercial machines).
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Biographies of referenced workers. A list, with year, of education
and place of employment.
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Contact person, address, and email address
LOG OF ITEMS RECEIVED
Each tape or disk recording, record, artifact, or reprint
was assigned a sequential SSSHP number as received,
starting with SSSHP 1 in 1988. In addition, speech samples within a tape
or disk recording are denoted with sequential numbers. For example,
synthetic speech sample "SSSHP 66.15" can be found as the 15th
entry on tape SSSHP 66.
Some of the laboratory outlines refer to recordings in H. D. Maxey's
collection, recordings for which better
copies were sought. Maxey recordings are designated by the letter
"T", followed by the year received and the order the tape was
received that year. For example, recording T87.3 was the third one
received in 1987. As above, reference to speech
sample T87.3.5 refers to sample number 5 on Maxey tape T87.3.
H. David Maxey, IEEE Senior Member
Compiler and Editor - 2002
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