A principal of Colla Voce Consulting, Matt Prather is a musician and actor by education and training, a teacher, writer, and editor by background, and a voice-interface designer by — well, by design.
Matt completed undergraduate studies with a magna cum laude B.A. in Music Education, a minor in Theatre and Spanish, and a desire to see them all come together in his profession. After graduating, Matt worked as a teacher and an actor in the Seattle area, before becoming interested in the emerging world of personal computers in the mid-1980s.
This led to a career change in 1986, and Matt found himself submersed in the world of personal computer interfaces, as a documentation writer and editor. Gradually, he came to be more and more interested in helping shape the interfaces people used, rather than simply writing instructions for interfaces others designed.
In the 1990's, Matt was fortunate enough to work on the Microsoft Windows Sound System, an early forerunner of much of what is now standard functionality in Microsoft Windows-based computers. In 1994, Matt took a position with Borland Int'l, to learn to dovetail the emerging world of the World Wide Web with his interest in speech applications, and to put to use his growing interest in product usability.
From there, Matt has put his VUI-design, writing, voice-over, and project management skills to use at such notable voice-application firms as General Magic, ScanSoft (now Nuance), and Intervoice (now part of Convergys), as well as independent consultation.
Matt now holds a Graduate Certificate in Management of Technical Information from UC Santa Cruz, and a summa cum laude MS in Technical Communications (HCI) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Matt's 20 years of computer experience include a broad range of areas to which he's contributed:
- Information design for corporate and consumer-based communications, including marketing materials and multimodal (Web, speech, mobile) interfaces
- VUI design and testing
- Coaching—or being—professional voice talent
- Technical writing and editing
- Usability (end user) studies and business analysis for process improvement
- Project management
Matt is always interested in collaborative opportunities, as well as more client relationships, and looks forward to the exciting challenges that lie ahead in the world of speech technology.
Copyright © 2009,Matt Prather
All rights reserved.
Thanks to www.harpold.com
:: posted by Matt Prather 2:09 pm 3 FEB 2005
