[Athen] What scan read alternatives to WYNN do you all use?

[Erik Ferguson]

Are you looking for a laptop/scanner set up? I've used Kurzweil 1000,3000
and Open Book in these situations but honestly there are a lot of really
interesting mobile applications for Scanning and Reading these days.
Natural Reader has both a desktop version and a mobile app that will do
OCR. The makers of Voice Dream just came out with there own scanning app
that is getting rave reviews. Claro has a mobile app that scans and reads.
We use KNFB reader but this is a much higher end app cost wise. I believe
Capti scans and reads. I could keep going but you get the idea. If you
really want a desktop app maybe try out Natural Reader? Its light weight,
very affordable, has a simple interface and tends to be well received by
students. We also use Texthelp's Read and Write institution-wide and are
having a pretty good time using the Read Write Chrome extension on Windows,
Mac and Chromebook. There PDF/EPUB reader works through Google drive and
also does a good job. So, I'm not sure if I've given you anything you can
use, "your mileage may vary" as they say, but there's my two cents.

Best Regards,

On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 10:04 AM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>
wrote:


> How often are students getting hard copies that need to be scanned?  That

> seems so unlikely in this day and age. As for scanning, you could scan on

> any copy machine, or flatbed scanner, or sheet-feed scanner.  Students can

> even take photos of pages to use for OCR using WYNN.  Kurzweil and Read and

> Write can use these scans as well.

>

>

>

> I don’t believe WYNN, which is owned by Freedom Scientific, has been

> updated in a while.  It is still a decent product, and is still for sale on

> their site.  It sounds like maybe you need an upgrade?

>

>

>

> *Susan Kelmer*

>

> *Alternate Format Production Program Manager*

>

> *Disability Services*

>

> *University of Colorado Boulder*

>

> *303-735-4836*

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Doug Hayman

> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 22, 2019 10:35 AM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* [Athen] What scan read alternatives to WYNN do you all use?

>

>

>

> Hoping to tap into your collective knowledge and experience.

>

>

>

> I set users in our Scholars program up with a variety of assistive

> technology.  They get stand-alone systems that they can use for their final

> years of high school then take on to college.

>

>

>

> Early on we used Kurzweil 3000 then moved to WYNN as the latter was less

> expensive and had similar features.

>

>

>

> More recently I'd used WYNN with the Pearl document camera but have been a

> bit disappointed in the company's ability to upgrade the software.  The

> installer disk shows a 2013 copyright and appears to not be developed to

> keep up.

>

>

>

> I'd had some issues wherein the bundle of WYNN/Pearl weren't playing well

> together.  One official tech support person suggested me downloading the

> demo of OpenBook and installing that on the same machine so that it would

> install the proper drivers for the Pearl document camera, something the

> outdated WYNN disk couldn't do.

>

>

>

> Last spring upon running into the same issue and contacting them once

> again, one support agent said something along the lines of "Wow, I don't

> think they are going to keep making this product anymore."  He had me run

> some Pearl firmware tool that broke things, had to reverse that then go

> back to the OpenBook install hack.

>

>

>

> I'd like to provide our scholars with something up-to-date that allows

> them to scan/read on their laptops to carry out the function that WYNN used

> to fulfill for us.

>

>

>

> What would you all suggest as good alternatives for both software and

> scanning hardware that is lightweight/portable?

>

>

>

> Thanks,

>

>

>

> --

>

> Doug Hayman <dhayman at u <dhayman at u.washington.edu>w.edu

> <http://secure-web.cisco.com/1cKGZLm8pBg-I2y_435pvK1qug3TyrM1EB9tgkP-VJdzS21KrOz0SSTFHXoQi4-2CHrn4ClmYDYjMoG7QBk-CoMpSJFPc9ooge1UdgQ8VyP9LlTYURcJWEa4Q8v5VZaj1lS7zOAbnAbtR-LOKdVa059ii4lSXd8fC-2EfAd6cJ_s3WmyHN1pmLz_ow1kvlSLCgHYxo66C0bT1FFeS65TbX8pTMaHk1VBIRBSUmjeIvgv3CG9eIBsoMh8hrfLV-XOz_9ng2XkhOT6vmc4vG8MNLN3_ZkjzD-3VSxvK9PhnVFDx-7-BstTJgUnMA6NxP1759Mf5nrTQX-jFxTsS8bNyUqjlciyFCGxu6U4GSqa4vbYjVXG3mfyJaAcF87OKxC5l8BTR2Sh6kEbOAR33fxL_2_prErSH8nchQuazBCgfNuTSYyUsnPU5I6CZY84-sSF3/http%3A%2F%2Fw.edu>

> >

> Senior Computer Specialist

> DO-IT Program (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, Technology)

> UW Technology Services

> Box 354842

> Seattle, WA 98195

> (206) 221-4165

> http://www.washington.edu/doit

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>



-- 
Erik Ferguson
Alternative Media Technician
PCC Disability Services Assistive Technology Team
Contact us for questions and support at:
Phone: 971-722-TECH (971-722-8324)
access-tech-group at pcc.edu
*Please Note: I am not in office Tuesday or Thursday. For immediate
response please use the email and number listed in signature above.*
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