Halcyon Lawrence

{{Short description|Professor of technical communication}}

{{Orphan|date=April 2024}}

Halcyon Lawrence (17 June 1970 – 29 October 2023) was a professor of technical communication, best known for her work on bias in speech recognition technology.

Lawrence was born and raised in Trinidad, where she earned a bachelor's degree from University of the West Indies at St. Augustine.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-14 |title=Halcyon Lawrence |url=https://magazine.iit.edu/winter-2022/halcyon-lawrence |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Illinois Tech Magazine |language=en}} She worked as a technical trainer, and after 2004 or 5 also began adjuncting at UWI to teach technical writing.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-25 |title=The Docs are In: Exploring the Intersection of Tech Comm and Academia with Dr. Liz Hutter and Dr. Halcyon Lawrence |url=https://redmonk.com/videos/the-docs-are-in-exploring-the-intersection-of-tech-comm-and-academia-with-dr-liz-hutter-and-dr-halcyon-lawrence/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=RedMonk |language=en-US}} In 2006, she decided to leave industry for academia, ultimately returning to university at Illinois Institute of Technology. There, she earned an M.Sc. in Technical Communication and Information Design in 2010 and a Ph.D. in Technical Communication in 2013. She was then a Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech.{{Cite journal |last1=Burnett |first1=Rebecca E. |last2=Frazee |first2=Andy |last3=Girard |first3=Amanda K. |last4=Hutter |first4=Liz |last5=Lawrence |first5=Halcyon |last6=Menagarishvili |first6=Olga |date=2022-12-14 |title=Sustainable Collaboration: A Co-taught, Client-based Course Sequence Integrating Computer Science and Technical Communication |url=https://programmaticperspectives.cptsc.org/index.php/jpp/article/view/21 |journal=Programmatic Perspectives |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=11–51 |issn=2326-1412}} In 2018, Lawrence became a professor at Towson University, where she reached the rank of associate professor.

A primary focus of Lawrence's research was speech recognition technology, examining its history and its limitations. She was frequently cited as an expert on this topic.{{Cite web |last=Lloreda |first=Claudia Lopez |title=Speech Recognition Tech Is Yet Another Example of Bias |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/speech-recognition-tech-is-yet-another-example-of-bias/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Rangarajan |first=Sinduja |title=Hey Siri—why don't you understand more people who talk like me? |url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2021/02/digital-assistants-accents-english-race-google-siri-alexa/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Marsden |first=Rhodri |date=2021-11-07 |title=Accents and AI: how speech recognition software could lead to new forms of discrimination |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/comment/2021/11/07/accents-and-ai-how-speech-recognition-software-could-lead-to-new-forms-of-discrimination/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=The National |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Lopez-Lloreda |first=Claudia |title=How Speech-Recognition Software Discriminates against Minority Voices |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-speech-recognition-software-discriminates-against-minority-voices/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Scientific American |date=October 2020 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Making Public {{!}} Say It Ain't So: A Simple Speech-To-Text Experiment With Serious Implications |url=https://networkcultures.org/makingpublic/2019/05/28/say-it-aint-so-a-simple-speech-to-text-experiment-with-serious-implications/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=networkcultures.org}} She published a chapter, "Siri Disciplines," in the book Your Computer Is on Fire (2021),{{Cite journal |last=Usher |first=Nikki |date=2022 |title=Book Review: Your Computer Is on Fire, by Thomas S. Mullaney, Benjamin Peters, Mar Hicks, and Kavita Philip (Eds.) |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10776990211042592 |journal=Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly |language=en |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=334–336 |doi=10.1177/10776990211042592 |issn=1077-6990}} which was excerpted in Engadget.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-03 |title=Hitting the Books: Bias is behind AI assistants' failure to understand accents |url=https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-your-computer-is-on-fire-halcyon-lawrence-mit-press-153013155.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Engadget |language=en-US}} In this chapter, Lawrence argues that virtual assistants functionally discipline speakers into using a preferred, "standard" accent.

While at Georgia Tech, Lawrence helped redesign and served as co-coordinator of a new program in computer science and technical communication.{{Cite web |last=Fitzpatrick |first=KellyAnn |date=2023-10-31 |title=In memory of Dr. Halcyon Lawrence |url=https://redmonk.com/kfitzpatrick/2023/10/31/in-memory-of-dr-halcyon-lawrence/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Sometimes Dragons |language=en-US}} Lawrence co-chaired the SIGDOC 2021 Conference with Liz Lane. She won a 2022 CPTSC Research Grant to Promote Anti-racist Programs and Pedagogies.{{Cite web |title=Winners for 2022 CPTSC Research Grant for Antiracist Programs and Pedagogies – CPTSC |url=https://cptsc.org/blog/2023/02/07/winners-for-2022-cptsc-research-grant-for-antiracist-programs-and-pedagogies/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |language=en}}

Lawrence died on October 29, 2023. In 2025, the journal Communication Design Quarterly published a collection of articles commemorating her impact.{{Cite journal |last=Dammeyer |first=Sarah |date=2025-01-23 |title=Special Section dedicated to Dr. Halcyon Lawrence: "Please Continue This Good Work!": A Letter to Dr. Halcyon Lawrence from a Brief Friend |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655727.3655737 |journal=Commun. Des. Q. Rev |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=98–99 |doi=10.1145/3655727.3655737}}{{Cite journal |last=Hutter |first=Liz |date=2025-01-23 |title=Honoring Dr. Halcyon Lawrence's Legacy in the Technical Communication Classroom |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655727.3655738 |journal=Commun. Des. Q. Rev |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=100–101 |doi=10.1145/3655727.3655738}}{{Cite journal |last=Mainaly |first=Shiva Hari |date=2025-01-23 |title=A Glimpse of Lawrence's Legacy: From "Siri Discipline" to Disciplining Artificial Intelligence |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655727.3655739 |journal=Commun. Des. Q. Rev |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=102–104 |doi=10.1145/3655727.3655739}}{{Cite journal |last=Neefe |first=Lauren |date=2025-01-23 |title=Dr. Halcyon Lawrence: A Resounding Legacy |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655727.3655740 |journal=Commun. Des. Q. Rev |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=105–107 |doi=10.1145/3655727.3655740}}{{Cite journal |last=Ojedele-Adejumo |first=Temitope |date=2025-01-23 |title=Dr. Halcyon Lawrence's "Siri Disciplines": Examining Accented English and Pedagogical Implications of Biased Technologies through an African Diasporic Lens |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3655727.3655741 |journal=Commun. Des. Q. Rev |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=108–110 |doi=10.1145/3655727.3655741}}