Lesson plan

Reply (Google)

Reply was an app by Area 120, Google's experimental workshop, released to closed beta testing in February 2018, and shortly after reported as leaked. The app allowed users to insert pre-defined replies called "Smart Replies" into conversations on messaging apps on their phone such as Facebook Messenger, Slack and Google Hangouts. The beta testing was cancelled in October, 2018. Reply suggested various responses to questions or statements based on statements by the user's conversation partner. The suggested replies varied according to the type of incoming message (detected by the tone, contents of the message, and the user's context, which may trigger "Vacation responder" or "Urgent" types of automatic replies). Additionally, based on the phone accelerometer, Reply was able to determine whether the user was in a vehicle or biking and could auto-respond appropriately. It could also reply appropriately when the user was sleeping. The user can see the suggested responses in their notifications and decide if they want to send one of them from the notification without having to open the app in which the response is sent.

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Article summary

Reply was an app by Area 120, Google's experimental workshop, released to closed beta testing in February 2018, and shortly after reported as leaked. The app allowed users to insert pre-defined replies called "Smart Replies" into conversations on messaging apps on their phone such as Facebook Messenger, Slack and Google Hangouts. The beta testing was cancelled in October, 2018. Reply suggested various responses to questions or statements based on statements by the user's conversation partner. The suggested replies varied according to the type of incoming message (detected by the tone, contents of the message, and the user's context, which may trigger "Vacation responder" or "Urgent" types of automatic replies). Additionally, based on the phone accelerometer, Reply was able to determine whether the user was in a vehicle or biking and could auto-respond appropriately. It could also reply appropriately when the user was sleeping. The user can see the suggested responses in their notifications and decide if they want to send one of them from the notification without having to open the app in which the response is sent.

Key claims

  1. release date: 2018 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "2018". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1353595009

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.