For those who may be interested
>To: David ACE Centre <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Fwd: Re: WebSpeak in the news...
>
>
>
>--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------
>
>From: INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
>
>
><< Subj: WebSpeak in the news (fwd)
> Date: 97-02-11 12:09:05 EST
> From: [log in to unmask] (F. Pennell)
> Sender: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask] (Statewide forum on assisitive-technology
>issues)
>
> Here is a note re a note re a new web-browser for persons who are blind
> or visually impaired sent to us by Jamal Mazrui with the National
>Council
> on Disability. WATA does not endorse any particular products but we are
> passing on this article for your information. Frances Pennell
> *******
>
> Software lets blind browse the Web
>
>
> February 2, 1997
> Web posted at: 10:20 p.m. EST
>
> TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) --
> While Amanda Massaro's college
> classmates download information
> instantly from distant libraries and
> laboratories, she waits for taped
> books to arrive by mail, or for someone to read
> her textbooks aloud.
>
> A music and literature student at the State
> University of New York at Binghamton, the blind
> 21-year-old needs texts and research materials
> converted into Braille or audio form.
>
> So the World Wide Web, with its computer links to
> research centers around the world, was "totally
> off-limits," she says -- until December, when her
> school began testing a Web browser designed for
> blind and other disabled people.
>
> 'Now I know why they're all so excited!'
>
> "I had so much freedom all of a sudden. ... To
> think that you can just sit there and learn so
> much," she said, recalling her first hours
> exploring the Internet. "It was like, this is
> what everybody else is doing, and now I know why
> they're all so excited!"
>
> The software -- pwWebSpeak, made by The
> Productivity Works of Trenton -- improves on
> existing programs that read computer screens
> aloud. It enables blind and other disabled users
> to browse through the headings and highlighted
> hyperlinks on a Web page, finding what they want
> and jumping from page to page like a sighted
> person.
>
> For those with limited vision it can display text
> in large type. And its developers say it should
> help people with dyslexia, learning disorders and
> dexterity impairments such as multiple sclerosis.
>
> Amy Parker, senior program analyst in
> SUNY-Binghamton's department of computing
> services, said pwWebSpeak likely will soon be
> installed on several campus computers -- because
> class materials, course registration and other
> functions increasingly are posted on the Web and
> by law must be accessible to the disabled.
>
> In Wisconsin, blind job-seekers now can use the
> software at all 21 district offices of the
> Department of Workforce Development's Division of
> Vocational Rehabilitation, thanks to client John
> Gunn, who recommended pwWebSpeak to the agency.
>
> 'Blind people shouldn't be excluded'
>
> "Since everybody's getting into computers, blind
> people shouldn't be excluded," said Gunn, a
> 42-year-old Wisconsin Rapids piano tuner and
> admitted hacker. "This is a very inexpensive way
> to get on the Web and get up and running"
> quickly.
>
> Gunn said pwWebSpeak moves easily through text,
> hyperlinks and fill-in-the-blank forms, is
> compatible with most hardware and doesn't require
> a costly speech synthesizer as screen-reader
> programs do.
>
> Introduced in mid-August, it works with most
> existing hardware for speech synthesis, but can
> be used with a much-cheaper software synthesizer
> called SoftVoice.
>
> Charges for pwWebSpeak vary from $250 for
> commercial users to $125 for government,
> education and nonprofit agencies. Individual
> disabled people can get it free, but are asked to
> pay $50 for software support.
>
> A January upgrade integrates access to "Real
> Audio 3.0," which allows people to catch
> broadcasts of news programs, live concerts,
> college football games and more through the
> rapidly growing number of Real Audio sites,
> according to Productivity Works Senior Vice
> President Mark Hakinnen.
>
> Two more upgrades, both with SoftVoice
> integrated, are due in late March: pwReader,
> designed for dyslexics and people with some
> vision, integrates Microsoft's Internet Explorer
> to display Web graphics; pwWebSpeak-PRO allows
> voice commands to run the software.
>
> The latter lets users give complex commands by
> voice, such as telling the computer to display a
> particular newspaper's front page, said
> Productivity Works executive vice president Ray
> Ingram.
>
> Versions for foreign languages will be available
> over the next couple of months, starting with
> Finnish, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
>
>
David Colven
The ACE Centre Advisory Trust
Waynflete Rd.
Headington
Oxford OX3 8DD
see us on http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/acecent/index.html
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Tel +44 (0)1865 63508 Fax +44 (0)1865 750188
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