[Athen] ReadSpeaker - Your website speech enabled

[Ken Petri]

Hi Alice,

It is somewhat likely we will implement ReadSpeaker Enterprise at OSU. It is
extremely affordable, has low latency, excellent (and trainable) voices, and
perfectly synchronizes highlighting with playback. The web developer chooses
what portion of the page to have spoken, so this is not a complete
conversion of content. Implementation is trivial for a developer--a couple
of JavaScript links and some comment tags. The player itself is Flash but
the stop, start, close and MP3 download buttons are fully keyboard
accessible.

BrowseAloud is a very good product, but it requires a download and is more
expensive--though it provides more features. One of the things I like best
about ReadSpeaker is it makes an accessibility feature readily visible on
pages implementing it. Our hope is this will help make the commitment to
access more overt and help further our university mission of creating a
"welcoming environment."

How we plan to implement: We are exploring purchase of a one-year
full-domain license. It will be up to individual developers to implement on
their own timeline, but my Center along with New Media (our web
communications unit) will promote the product, provide model
implementations, and code samples. Purchase and contract negotiation will be
handled by OSU Site License Software, our campus bulk and campus-wide
software licensing unit.

We have not reached our campus funding goal yet, but we are pretty close. If
things go well (they don't always--an experience all of us are familiar
with) and funding comes through, we should have some notion of campus
adoption and usage by the middle of Spring Quarter.

Best,
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 Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Jon Gunderson <jongund at illinois.edu> wrote:


> There are already many assistive technologies to read web pages (some

> free), and it seems that just a straight conversion of HTML to MP3 of a web

> site could be confusing, since the reading order may not make sense.

>

> You may want to compare to the product to BrowseAloud.

>

> http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80094&tile=USA

>

> I have seen demos of Browse Aloud and I think it has some benefits.

>

> Unfortunately our campus right now is not interested in the product.

>

> Jon

>

>

> ---- Original message ----

> >Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:12:16 -0600

> >From: Alice Anderson <alice.anderson at doit.wisc.edu>

> >Subject: [Athen] ReadSpeaker - Your website speech enabled

> >To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network <athen at athenpro.org>

> >

> >>>

> >

> >Does anyone have experience or any thoughts about this vendor product?

> >It's a service that provides automated audio versions of a Web page's

> >content. Click the demo link below to see it in action?

> >

> >The sales people have approached our campus (main web site) - and I am

> >being asked if I know of benefits, or others using etc.

> >

> >ReadSpeaker Sales email to campus:

> >> From: Nicholas Croft <nicholas.croft at voice-corp.com>

> >> Date: December 7, 2009 11:13:34 AM CST

> >> To: <removed>

> >> Subject: Your website speech enabled.

> >>

> >>

> >> Thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

> >>

> >> As agreed I am sending you a demo version of your website now

> >> ReadSpeaker® enabled so you can listen to the text by clicking on

> >> the  button.

> >>

> >> ReadSpeaker® makes your web content more accessible to people with

> >> impaired vision, are dyslectic, low literacy, functionally

> >> illiterate, or are still learning English.

> >> Considering that at least 20% of the population struggle from some

> >> sort of reading disability, a listening option goes a long way to

> >> accommodate them. As well as students that would just prefer to

> >> listen to the content instead of read it.

> >>

> >> A small html code embedded in the website creates a  icon which

> >> activates a small player that reads your web content live "on the

> >> fly". Nothing is recorded.

> >>

> >> It’s a fantastic product that goes beyond the existing website

> >> accessibility guidelines set by the W3C and Section 508 in the US,

> >> putting your website at the leading edge of web accessibility and

> >> giving your organization the potential to access more of the

> >> population that wouldn’t be able to access your website’s content

> >> normally .

> >> Your website now ReadSpeaker® enabled:  University of Wisconsin–

> >> Madison (Click here)

> >> How it works:

> >> ·          Our  ReadSpeaker  solution is hosted by us. Only a small

> >> html code is installed into your website , there is zero maintenance ,

> >> ·          Easy implementation, zero cost for changing content and

> >> “no” hardware requirements! Updates are done automatically.

> >> Installation is usually completed within 2 to 3 hours.

> >> ·          Once the html code, that we send you, is embedded in your

> >> website, a “listen” icon is available on your web page which

> >> activates the reader.

> >> ·          When activated, the web content of the written page is

> >> sent to our servers, transformed to an audio file in mp3 format and

> >> is then sent back to the visitor.

> >> ·          What is especially unique about our ReadSpeaker is that

> >> the visitors can listen without downloading any software to their

> >> computers.

> >> ·          They can listen live or download the audio for later

> >> listening.

> >> ·          We offer multi language support.

> >> Here are some additional links of our clients:

> >>

> >> United Press International   http://www.upi.com (And select a story)

> >>

> >> City of San Francisco

> http://www.sfgov.org/site/countyclerk_index.asp?id=101171

> >>

> >> City of Niagara falls    http://www.niagarafalls.ca/

> >>

> >> Case Studies: Nestle, O'Reilly Media -

> http://www.voice-corp.com/en/References/Case-Studies/

> >>

> >> At this stage all I would like to know is if it is something you

> >> like and would consider for your website?

> >>

> >> I look forward to speaking with you next year to get your feedback.

> >>

> >> Best regards.

> >>

> >> Nik Croft

> >> International Account Manager

> >> VoiceCorp

> >> 703-657-7801

> >> www.voice-corp.com

> >> nicholas.croft at voice-corp.com

> >> ReadSpeaker, the Voice of the Web

> >>

> >

> >            Alice Anderson

> >TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAM

> >   Division of Information Technology (DoIT)

> >       University of Wisconsin-Madison

> >      1210 West Dayton Street (3124)

> >              Madison, WI 53706

> >

> >           Telephone: 608.262.2129

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >_______________________________________________

> >Athen mailing list

> >Athen at athenpro.org

> >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org

> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.

> Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility

> Disability Resources and Educational Services

>

> Rehabilitation Education Center

> Room 86

> 1207 S. Oak Street

> Champaign, Illinois 61820

>

> Voice: (217) 244-5870

>

> WWW: http://www.cita.illinois.edu/

> WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

>

> ---------------------------------------------------------------

> Privacy Information

> ---------------------------------------------------------------

> This email (including attachments) is covered by the Electronic

> Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be

> legally privileged. It is intended for the use of the individual or entity

> to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged,

> confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader

> of this email is not the intended recipient, or agent responsible for

> delivering or copying of this communication, you are hereby notified that

> any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication

> is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error,

> please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error, then

> delete it. Thank you.

>

> _______________________________________________

> Athen mailing list

> Athen at athenpro.org

> http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20100104/be9f091c/attachment.html>