[Athen] SPSS and JAWS

Melanie Thornton mpthornton at ualr.edu
Tue Jun 23 12:00:57 PDT 2009


Very interesting. I posted a message to our faculty listserv sharing
the information about R as an alternative to SPSS yesterday evening.

Today, I received an email from Kyle Weeks, Director of Product Strategy
for the PASW Statistics (formerly SPSS). He was asking what problems
screen reader had using PASW (formerly SPSS) and stating they tested
extensively with JAWS. I suggested that if he was interested in
learning more about the user experience, he might consider contacting
AFB to see about conducting a survey of screen reader users who use
their product.

It seems like a rather odd way to do public relations. But if any of
you do want to share first-hand experiences, he can be contacted at:
kweeks at spss.com

Melanie


John Gardner wrote:

> Apparently there is a lot of interest in R, since I have had several

> inquiries from my post yesterday. Unfortunately I really am pretty

> ignorant of statistics - I was just parroting what I have heard on

> other lists. However I can tell you that R is free software for doing

> statistical computations, graphing, printing the graphics, etc. It is

> claimed that R can do anything that SPS can do.

>

> There are R versions for Unix, Mac, and Windows. Following Melanie's

> URL below I found a Windows FAQ for R:

> http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html

> which may be helpful. At least this FAQ tells you how to obtain and

> install the Windows version of R. There is a manual and help files,

> so presumably one can learn to use it if one knows about statistical

> computation.

>

> I have asked Jonathan Godfrey for more information and will forward it

> to this list if/when I hear back. All I know for sure is that he uses

> R in terminal mode and finds it very accessible to screen readers.

> Terminal mode is old-fashioned, so most non-disabled users will use

> the fancy GUI interface. But the terminal mode can do anything that

> can be done with the GUI interface.

>

> John

>

> On 6/23/2009 9:13 AM, Melanie Thornton wrote:

>> This discussion triggered a discussion on our campus and someone

>> posted this link for "R" with web interfaces. I have no idea how helpful

>> they are but wanted to pass the link along:

>> http://cran.r-project.org/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html#R-Web-Interfaces

>>

>> Melanie Thornton

>>

>>

>>

>> John Gardner wrote:

>>> Hello James. This subject is discussed frequently on the Blind Math

>>> list. Yes SPS works with Jaws, but no it is not useful. At least that

>>> is my synthesis of the discussions. As seems common these days, SPS is

>>> accessible only in principle. ie it's nearly impossible to use unless

>>> you are a real computer geek. And if you are really a computer geek,

>>> you use "R" instead. It is free, works great, and is really

>>> accessible. Jonathan Godfrey, a blind faculty member from New Zealand,

>>> is the lists's R expert, and I'm happy to put you in contact if you

>>> need help with R.

>>>

>>> John

>>>

>>>

>>> On 6/22/2009 1:59 PM, James Bailey wrote:

>>>> I seem to be conflicting info as to whether JAWS works with SPSS.

>>>> What's the consensus of the group?

>>>>

>>>> Thanks,

>>>>

>>>> James

>>>>

>>>> --

>>>> James Bailey

>>>> Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon

>>>> 1501 Kincaid St.

>>>> Eugene, OR 97403-1299

>>>> Office: 541-346-1076

>>>> jbailey at uoregon.edu <mailto:jbailey at uoregon.edu>

>>>>

>>>>

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>>>

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