[Athen] portable DNS?

[Shelley Haven]

Hi, Susan!

One can transport their voice profile on a (large 
capacity) USB drive, but as Nettie points out, 
the wrench in the works is needing to have a 
Dragon NaturallySpeaking license on each computer 
that he would use.  We tried this at Stanford -- 
a two-year collaboration between the Office of 
Accessible Education and the Academic Computing 
department to integrate the AT in our accessible 
lab with all 400+ public student computers on 
campus (both Macs and PCs).  We were successful 
with virtually everything except for Dragon. 
Most AT software either had network versions 
(e.g., JAWS, Kurzweil) or could by "keyserved" 
(e.g., Inspiration) so that a limited number of 
licenses could support several hundred 
workstations (only that limited number can be in 
use at any one time).  Though a student's voice 
profile can be accessed on multiple machines from 
a central server, Nuance requires that a full 
license of Dragon be purchased for each machine, 
so we could only support the dozen or so machines 
in our lab and elsewhere.

The options as I see it:
- Install Dragon on whatever machines the student 
anticipates using, and access the voice profile 
from a central server or from the USB (the latter 
is extra work for the student, though, to keep 
the profile current)
- Consider using the speech recognition 
capabilities built into Windows and transport 
that voice profile on a USB drive (don't actually 
know how feasible this is, but it's worth 
considering if he doesn't need the extra benefits 
of Dragon)
- Loan the student a copy of Dragon for use on 
his personal laptop.  In today's nomadic 
computing environment where the vast majority of 
students have their own laptop, this might make 
the most sense overall.

Hope this helps.

- Shelley

------------
Shelley Haven  ATP, RET
Assistive Technology Consultant
Sunnyvale, CA
408-737-2092



>Hi Susan,

>

>I think it is a great idea but not one that will 

>catch on for the following reasons (as starters).

>Another thought on the feasiblity of this option 

>is that all computers at this time, require a 

>voice profile be established for the user which 

>might require a lot of time - and, the various 

>gray noises are also consideratins for each 

>systme as well as hardware issues -

>Take into consideration the need to purchase a 

>site license for each 'computer,' I think the 

>cost factor in dollars as well as time time 

>might be cost prohibitive.

>

>I think I would look at the operating systems on 

>the new little computers with Windows XP and see 

>if they have enough ram to support the software 

>- that way, it can fit neatly in a backpack and 

>only require 1 program purchase, 1 microphone 

>and generally speaking, I voice and vocabulary 

>profile.

>

>Nettie's thoughts

>

>On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Kelmer, Susan 

>M. <<mailto:SKelmer at stlcc.edu>SKelmer at stlcc.edu> 

>wrote:

>

>Oh my great and powerful colleaguesŠI need to pick your brains.

>

>

>

>I had a potential student stop by to ask about 

>accommodations, as he is thinking about signing 

>up for classes.  His presenting difficulties are 

>with writing, and he had done his research, and 

>asked about DNS and Inspiration.  Good on him. 

>He asked if there was a portable version of DNS, 

>one that could be carried on a USB device that 

>he could take to different places he might need 

>to be using a computer.

>

>

>

>What a great idea.  But preliminary research 

>shows me there is really nothing out there.  Has 

>anyone heard of anything or have any amazing 

>ideas how we might be able to make something 

>work for this guy?

>

>

>

>Susan Kelmer

>

>Adaptive Technology Specialist/

>

>Lab Coordinator, Campus Labs and Classrooms

>

>St. Louis Community College - Meramec

>

>314-984-7951

>

>

>

>

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>

>

>

>--

>Nettie T. Fischer, ATP

>Assistive Technology Practitioner

>nettiet, ATP Consultants

><http://www.nettietatpconsultants.com>www.nettietatpconsultants.com

>[916] 704-1456

>

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