Someday in the future, people will be talking to their computers, and the computers just might talk back.

At least that’s the future in the mind of Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science.

Schmidt is in Redmond, Wash., today doing his weekly Dr. Politics radio show.

The show, which is on every Tuesday at 10 a.m. on WOI AM 640, usually centers around political matters, but today the discussion will be about computers having conversations.

“This is the 15th year the show has run. My greatest interest is politics, but I’ll try anything,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt and student assistant Loren Porter, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communications, will be attending a workshop on conversational computing sponsored by Conversa.

Conversa is a start-up software company developing programs that enable Web sites to communicate verbally, Schmidt said.

Conversa-enhanced Web sites will allow users to ask the computer questions, with their voices, and it will answer them, also with a voice.

A unique aspect of this program is that it doesn’t need to be trained. It can understand any English-speaking voice, even those with accents.

Schmidt said he will have a guest from the company on his show this morning to discuss “how the program can be used to promote a cause and reach more people in a better way.”

Porter is attending the conference as well because he develops and updates Schmidt’s various Web sites.

“I am very excited for this opportunity to travel to Redmond and take part in this workshop,” Porter said.

Schmidt said another reason for Porter to take the trip is because he wants Porter to eventually incorporate the conversational software into one of his sites.

Porter said he has not used speech programs before but would be interested in trying it out.

“I’ve had quite a bit of experience with Web design, but this is the first time I’ll be incorporating interactive speech into a Web site,” he said.