RE: Looking for voice portal

Hello Denise,

thanks a lot for your efforts.
I think, the cost side of the problem *might* be a smaller one for
institutions (e.g. shools), but it *is* a problem for disabled individuals
here, and an "exit condition" for webmasters. You might know, that a
CD-ROM, e.g. with Windows and Office (I think there was one, where they
combined both onto one CD) "costs" here right now 11.000 VND, which is
about 0.73 US$....

And I am wondering which for-profit corporation is willing in such a
situation to develop a SW that can "speak Vietnamese". The only solution
which I see, is Free SW/Open Source SW.

Pls. keep us informed, when you see something!
Thanks,

Stefan

At 02:59 05.04.2002 +0930, Denise Wood wrote:
-------------------------
>Thanks Stefan
>
>I understand where you are coming from and the issues you face. I am pleased
>you feel some of these links have some potential value to help you in your
>quest. I will keep on the look-out for anything that may help you now I have a
>clearer understanding of what you require.
>
>Sincerely
>
>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 1:16 PM
>To: WG-Website@ISOC-VN.org; e-access@wallonie-isoc.org
>Cc: Mike Calvo; techsupport@wemedia.com; kirk@braille.uwo.ca; Trinh Minh
>Thanh
>Subject: 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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