[Athen] website reader

[Ron Stewart]

EA is correct, one of the major issues with folks using AT is the
complicated nature of its use.  The more transparent the process of using
the AT the more likely folks are going to utilize it and we avoid a major
problem of AT abandonment by students with disabilities.  My concern is more
from the implementation side and when uniformed decision are made to use
tools like Browsealoud and Webanywhere and assume the are going to solve
accessibility issues with a organizations or institutions web space.

Ron Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of E.A. Draffan
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 6:17 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] website reader

I  agree with Ron, but when folks need additional features to help with
interactions such as reading and writing, it should be made easy for them to
have the extras if they so choose and WebAnywhere is another example that
can be added to the list. http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/     

I reckon all these ideas should possibly be popped into the wiki as there
are so many around these days!  

Best wishes E.A. 

Mrs E.A. Draffan
Learning Societies Lab,
ECS, University of Southampton,
Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246
http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk
http://www.emptech.info


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Ron Stewart
Sent: 23 April 2010 02:46
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] website reader

What is often missed in products of this nature is that they do nothing to
improve the accessibility of the website they are used with.  What they do
is provided imbedded audio for already existing content that is accessible.
They are not going to make an inaccessible website accessible, it is what I
call piece of mind software and that is how it has typically been sold to
public entities that are looking at accessibility as a risk management
issue.

Ron Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Todd DeVries
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 2:48 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] website reader

To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
<athen at athenpro.org>
Subject: Re: [Athen] website reader
From: Todd DeVries <todd at equaltext.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:40:10 -0600

Hi Nettie,

We are currently running a trial of Browsaloud
http://browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80096 to download the
plugin, if you are interested. Try http://ww.isu.edu/ada4isu for
areal-world example of how things might work.

Todd

-- 
Todd DeVries
Idaho State University
(208) 282-3599
www.isu.edu/ada4isu
skype: idkayaker


On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:42:13 -0700, you wrote:


>Hi,

>Have you looked into Browseoutloud ? 

>http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80059 from TextHelp

>

>it is not too bad, it is relatively easy to download (for the public), it

is free (to the public), and it updates itself (with the newest websites
additions ) every time the computer is switched on.

>

>

>Catalina Colaci

>Coordinator

>Learning Assistance Centre & Support Services for Students with

Disabilities

>500 College Drive, PO Box 2799

>Whitehorse, Yukon  Y1A 5K4 Canada

>

>

>             t 867.668.8785  f  867.668.8814 www.yukoncollege.yk.ca

>

>start here. go anywhere.

>  

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

>________________________________________

>From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

Behalf Of Ken Petri

>Sent: April 22, 2010 9:41 AM

>To: Access Technology Higher Education Network

>Subject: Re: [Athen] website reader

>

>Nettie,

>

>Ohio State is piloting ReadSpeaker Enterprise for the next year. It is not

free but their pricing seems reasonable (I know "reasonable" is a relative
term). If you want to write me directly, I can put you in contact with our
rep. See how the "highlighting" player works here:
http://www.voice-corp.com/en/text-to-speech-services-for-speech-enabling-the
-web/ReadSpeaker-Enterprise/Solutions/Expanding-Player/

>

>Set up on the VoiceCorp end is the most expensive part and then you pay by

number of page views--bought in blocks, I believe. Implementing on your own
pages is very simple. Users do not have to install anything.

>

>Once implemented on a web page, the "highlighting" version reads,

highlights as it reads, and allows for an MP3 to be downloaded. The speech
synthesizers they use are very high quality. The web developer can set the
playback speed.

>

>Our pages show it working in a variety of circumstances, explain

implementation in some detail, and discuss some problems we have discovered:

>

>http://www.osu.edu/resources/accessibility/readspeaker.html

>

>(P.S. please ignore our woefully out of date accessibility advice page---it

is being revised in the next few weeks. Yes, I know, it's bad....)

>

>RocTalk is another commercial product: http://www.roktalk.com/. No idea on

pricing.

>

>

>Best regards,

>ken

>---

> Ken Petri                    

> Program Director

> OSU Web Accessibility Center

> 102D Pomerene Hall

> 1760 Neil Avenue

> Columbus, Ohio  43210

> Phone: (614) 292-1760

> Fax: (614) 292-4190

> mailto:petri.1 at osu.edu

>

>On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 11:43 PM, Nettie Fischer <nettiet at gmail.com> wrote:

>Hello all,

> 

>I am trying to find a way to have my website read aloud for my few but

inquiring visitors.  Is there a low cost or hopefully free program out there
that can be included in a website?

> 

>Thanks,

>Nettie 


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