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Dear Andrew, Claire, Peter, David, Ian, Many thanks to all of you for your input. Yes, he is going to get help under Access to Work but the RNIB asessor had never seen or heard of a book scanner! He asked a colleague who mentioned one which is now out of production, so we said we would lok further. I have no idea how much AtW budget per person ... but the prices I saw on the Net seemed very high. Yes, a scanning pen would be difficult for him to use and probably no faster than reading directly from the book. I will collate these and go back to the RNIB tech with the suggestions. Evelyn Toseland ;) > > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:05:18 -0000 > From: Andrew Hodgson <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes > > Hi, > > The best advise I can give you on this is to try and get out to > see the equipment running - get demos, go to drop in days etc. > This is the best way of getting the equipment you want and can use. > > I will explain the equipment I have: > > For reading books, I have some sight and can see a CCTV, but find > a reader is the best option. This is mainly because after a while > my eyes get very tired, and reading becomes very painful. I also > have a Kurzweil reading system, which is the Kurzweil 1000 > package. This consists of an Epson scanner (which is important as > the scanner has to be fast in order to process information > quickly), and the software that runs on the pc. > > I have found that while this works with sheets very well, books > are difficult for a few reasons:- > 1. The flatbed scanner is not usually big enough to take the book > on the scanner surface; > 2. It is difficult to find specific pages and to find specific > chapters in the book; indexes do not scan well because of their > tabular layout. > > As for screen readers, I use Jaws for Windows, which I moved to > using after using a cheaper alternative for a considerable time. > I would say that this is one of the best screen readers, > especially when using it on the Internet. > > Sight and sound sell all these - their website is > www.sightandsound.co.uk. > > Don't hesitate to get back if you need more help. > > Andrew. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:11:52 +0000 > From: claire wickham <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes > > Evelyn, > > You describe this person as "a researcher"...is he/she employed as a > researcher, because if so, ATW will fund the most appropriate equipment > and you do not have to seek cheap alternatives. > > ATB > > Claire ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> > > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:33:23 +0000 > From: Peter Hill <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes > > Hi > > Sitting next to my ConoScan N67OU, I wondered how close to the binding > of a page I could scan, if the scanner were placed on a box allowing > half of the book to hang down the side of the scanner(this would > overcome the obvious difficulty of trying to lay an open book flat on > the scanner and having to sit on it so that the text close to the spine > of the book can be recognised). > > I didn't place the scanner on a box but placed a ruler across the > machine and 'scanned' it. The scanner will read to within 22mm of the > edge of the scanner. This is fine for a few texts but, unfortunately, > many have margins as small as 12mm - so the scanner would miss a lot of > text. Oh well - back to sitting on the scanner. > > Seriously: the CanoScan is a lightweight machine that does scan close > to the edge. I wonder if there are any that scan closer still. > > Regards > > Peter Hill > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 21:08:35 +0000 > From: David Grant <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes - scanning pens the answer? > > For students who make use of bound research journals, where even xeroxing i= > s > a problem because of the size of the volume and the tightness of the > binding, I recommend that a student be provided with a Quicklink Scanning > pen. [Available from iANSYST, cost of =A3130 includes VAT]. > > > This handheld device enables a student to scan across lines of text and sav= > e > it to memory. This can then be uploaded into a PC and read aloud using Rea= > d > & Write > > > Given the necessity for students to make use of the research literature I'm > a little surprised that this device is not a 'standard' recommendation. > There may be all sorts of reasons why not, but the dislike of some dyslexic > students for printed material cannot be the sole reason - can it? > > > David > > > David Grant, PhD., Chartered Psychologist > dyslexia diagnosis - a specialist service for students > 3 Rosebank Road > Hanwell > London W7 2EW > > Tel: 020 8579 1902 > > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:07:31 -0000 > From: Ian <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes - scanning pens the answer? > > Scanning pens seem to me to be a 'better than nothing' solution (but I'm > happy to be proved wrong there). They aren't that easy to use as a method > of taking more than brief information even if you can see what you are > doing, especially if you have fine motor problems and/or difficulties > keeping your place in the text. > > The 'Reading Edge' was designed to solve the problem of fitting big books > on scanners. It is a piece of equipment designed for blind or partially > sighted (or 'print impaired') people to use. It's a stand-alone unit that > reads books aloud and doesn't need a a PC, although you can connect one > to it. It's very expensive (beyond the realms of DSA) so should be > considered as a useful resource for a central university library to > provide - this is where these huge reference-only journals are usually > located anyway. they've had one at Uni of Central Lancs for years now and > probably a few other university libraries too. > > See the following for more information - the image shows how the design > might help with scanning huge volumes. > http://www.telesensory.com/products2-2-2.html > > Not sure who supplies this in the UK at the moment. > > Hope this is useful, > Ian Francis > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > On 30 Oct 2002 at 22:17, Andrew Hodgson wrote: > > > On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 21:08:35 +0000, you wrote: > > > > >For students who make use of bound research journals, where even xeroxi= > ng is > > >a problem because of the size of the volume and the tightness of the > > >binding, I recommend that a student be provided with a Quicklink Scanni= > ng > > >pen. [Available from iANSYST, cost of =A3130 includes VAT]. > > > > This would not be practical for a visually impaired person. > > > > Andrew. > > -- > > Andrew Hodgson, Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK. > > Email: [log in to unmask] > > > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:09:29 +0000 > From: Andrew Hodgson <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: book scannes - scanning pens the answer? > > On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:07:31 -0000, you wrote: > > >Scanning pens seem to me to be a 'better than nothing' solution (but I'm > >happy to be proved wrong there). They aren't that easy to use as a = > method > >of taking more than brief information even if you can see what you are > >doing, especially if you have fine motor problems and/or difficulties > >keeping your place in the text. > > Except that when VI people scan in they tend to scan rhemes of data > into the computer at a time; furthermore, if the pen veers off the > line when scanning, the results are dreadful. > > > >The 'Reading Edge' was designed to solve the problem of fitting big = > books > >on scanners. It is a piece of equipment designed for blind or partially > >sighted (or 'print impaired') people to use. It's a stand-alone unit = > that > >reads books aloud and doesn't need a a PC, although you can connect one > >to it. It's very expensive (beyond the realms of DSA) so should be > >considered as a useful resource for a central university library to > >provide - this is where these huge reference-only journals are usually > >located anyway. they've had one at Uni of Central Lancs for years now = > and > >probably a few other university libraries too. > > There are other newer products at the following urls: > > Pulsedata: <www.pulsedata.com> - follow the UK link and agency > products. > Modern world data: www.modern-world-data.com - Reading machine with > hard drive and floppy drive. > www.techno-vision.co.uk: Less expensive reading machine with floppy > drive. > > In all cases I would prefer the PC based system, being that it can do > far more superior tasks than a stand allone unit could do, and is in > most cases simpler than a stand allone unit to use. > > Andrew. > > > >See the following for more information - the image shows how the design > >might help with scanning huge volumes. > >http://www.telesensory.com/products2-2-2.html > > > >Not sure who supplies this in the UK at the moment. > > > >Hope this is useful, > >Ian Francis > > > > > > Evelyn Toseland Webmaster Faculty of Applied Sciences University of the West of England Email: [log in to unmask]