RE: Looking for voice portal

Hello Denise,

At 03:57 04.04.2002 +0930, Denise Wood wrote:
-------------------------
>Stefan
>
>While you are waiting I suggest you do follow Mike's advice and download a
>demo
>version of screen reader software such as JAWS:
>http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws_form.asp. It is time
>limited
>only in so far as it times out after 20 minutes of use and then you need to
>reboot. However there is no time limit as to how long you can retain it on
>your
>system

That's the point: This is fairly useless and we have a classical case where
Open Source SW would be needed:

We want to tell webmasters in Vietnam to create accessible websites.
Awareness for accessibility in the real world is very low here, so there is
virtually none for accessible webdesign.

Instead of telling webmasters on paper, I want to let them hear, what they
are designing. Such an "a-ha" effect is probably worth 100 times the best
printed or online tutorial.

Now do you think, that any webmaster here is willing to spend a dime on a
screen reader? Surely not.

And do you think, they will use it, if they have to reboot their machines
every few minutes? Fogedaboudit.

And as the next step, we would need of course a Vietnamese language module.
There are at least two academic institutions in Vietnam working on
Vietnamese text-to-speech SW (one on a vocabulary approach, the other one
with synthesis), so if the screen reader would be Open Source, they could
look to plug their packages into that program and have a Vietnamese version.

A "free time limited trial" does not help at all.

>You could also try free voice browsers such as WeMedia which can be downloaded
>from their site: http://www.wemedia.com. Although very basis and only useful
>for testing browsers it is OK for that purpose - and it is freeware!

This looks more promising. Again: If it would be Free, Open Source SW, then
we could try Vietnamese language.
Although obviously not mentioned on their website, this "Talking Browser"
might be interesting for developing countries which have problems with
analphabetism. I hope it can read also without enlarging/distorting the screen.
I will download that and look....

>I don't know anything about this BETA except what the Website tells us as I
>have not had time to download and check it out but this free BETA of an AI
>program that can output to speech might be worth looking at.
>
>There is much more open source work being done for the LINUX OS. See
>http://www.linux-speakup.org/

YES! and No.
This is the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thanks for the link. Since we
start to push for Open Source SW in Vietnam soon, this fits perfectly.
(NB: I did a search for "screen reader" on Sourceforge.net and nothing very
promising showed up)
I will talk with one of the Vietnamese text-to-speech groups, whether they
are interested in making their system work with this "Speakup" screen
review package.
And the authors should consider making it available for Mandrake 8.2, since
this has been meanwhile translated 100% into Vietnamese and will hopefully
get some market here....

Unfortunately, although quite perfect for "real use" for blind people, it
does not help much in "educating" webmasters, who usually use Windows based
systems....

>and for MAC: http://www.stazsoftware.com/yspeak/

same.

>It's a start...

Yes. Thanks a lot!

Stefan

>Denise
>
>Dr Denise L Wood
>Lecturer: Professional Development (online teaching and learning)
>and Online Instructor (EASI)
>
>City East campus, Level 2, Room 29 Playford Building
>(GPO Box 2471) North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000
>Ph: (61 8) 8302 2167 / Fax: (61 8) 8302 2363
>Mob: 0413 648 260
>Email:Denise.Wood@unisa.edu.au
>WWW: http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?Name=Denise.Wood
>and at EASI: http://easi.cc/workshops/advwbsyl.htm
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Stefan Probst [mailto:stefan.probst@opticom.v-nam.net]
>Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 1:14 AM
>To: e-access@wallonie-isoc.org
>Cc: Mike Calvo
>Subject: RE: Looking for voice portal
>
>
>At 12:39 02.04.2002 -0500, Michael R. Burks wrote:
>-------------------------
> >Stefan,
> >
> >you can get evaluation copies of various voice output programs...
>
>That's the point: only time limited evaluation versions. No Free SW, not
>even Freeware.
>
>I remember there is somewhere a site, where "sponsors" can offer to pay for
>the development of ordered Free SW / Open Source SW. Would it be possible
>to find a sponsor for something like that?
>
>
> >Try the page at http://www.icdri.org/community_technology_center_acce.htm It
> >has some free trial listings as well.
> >
> >You also might contact Mike Calvo at www.freedombox.cc he is copied on this
> >message, he may have some suggestions.
>
>I am waiting ;)
>Cheers,
>Stefan
>
>
>
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >mike burks
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: e-access-request@wallonie-isoc.org
> >[mailto:e-access-request@wallonie-isoc.org]On Behalf Of Stefan Probst
> >Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 11:05 AM
> >To: e-access@wallonie-isoc.org
> >Subject: Looking for voice portal
> >
> >
> >Dear All,
> >
> >in order for a webdesigner to understand better how a page "looks like" for
> >a screen reader, it would be good if (s)he could hear it by himself.
> >
> >Are there screen readers available free of charge?
> >
> >Do you know of a voice portal/proxy, i.e. where one would enter the URL of
> >a page and it would read like a screen reader, so that the visitor can
> >"hear" the page via a streaming protocol, (i.e. similar to Net radio)?
> >
> >If so: is there Free SW available, so that other countries could use the
> >base technology and need to plug in "only" their own text-to-speech
> >converter modules?
> >
> >
> >BTW, just ran by accident across this page today:
> >http://www.epcc.edu/vvlib/adaptivetech.htm
> >and found it quite interesting.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Stefan

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