Hi Marshall,<div><br></div><div>We recently bought two more years service for ReadSpeaker. This is our third year with ReadSpeaker available. We keep a page about RS here: <a href="http://go.osu.edu/readspeaker">http://go.osu.edu/readspeaker</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Our RS license allows developers across the university to use the service to enable their websites for TTS with highlighting. My office pays for the service campus-wide. I don't think it is terribly expensive for what it offers, but then again, it is certainly not free. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Having RS makes absolutely no guarantee that anything on your websites is accessible. It's going to do a poor job reading sites/pages with poor accessibility and it will do a good job reading pages with good accessibility. So we think of it as an enhancement for all users and as tool to bring greater awareness of the benefits both of having TTS/highlighting and of making one's websites accessible. For me, it is as much about building a culture of access as it is about providing access. </div>
<div><br></div><div>As others have pointed out, RS isn't a substitute for coding web pages with accessibility in mind and it's not going to replace any assistive technologies. For a screen reader user, ReadSpeaker is essentially worthless. And many students with reading disabilities are going to be using specialized software. However, for students with minor or non-diagnosed print disabilities and for visitors who may have low vision or who need or desire assistance reading for any reason, ReadSpeaker does a good job. </div>
<div><br></div><div>We also thought about BrowseAloud. But it and products like gh ClickHear market for a narrower audience of users. Of students registered with our DS office, a very large percentage can benefit from assistance in reading and my guess is that there are many students and visitors who also benefit. ReadSpeaker is enabled on around 26 sites at OSU. We see between 3000 and 6000 unique usages of RS per month. My bet is many of these are from users who are not registered with our DS office.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Feel free to contact me off list if you have any questions or want our RS rep's contact info.</div>
<div><br>ken<br>--<div>Ken Petri</div><div>Program Director, OSU Web Accessibility Center</div><div>102D Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210</div><div>Office: <a href="tel:614.292.1760" value="+16142921760" target="_blank">614.292.1760</a> | Mobile: <a href="tel:614.218.1499" value="+16142181499" target="_blank">614.218.1499</a> | Fax: <a href="tel:614.292.4190" value="+16142924190" target="_blank">614.292.4190</a><br>
<a href="http://wac.osu.edu" target="_blank">http://wac.osu.edu</a> | <a href="mailto:petri.1@osu.edu" target="_blank">petri.1@osu.edu</a></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 4:56 PM, Marshall Bryant <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bryantm@seminolestate.edu" target="_blank">bryantm@seminolestate.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Is anyone familiar with the online speech to text service Readspeaker? I happened to run across the DSS website at Ohio State and they are using this to read
the content of their web site. I want to make our school’s website accessible with the speaking option, but this is the only service I have seen in use so far (and it sounds expensive). I also am curious if there is anything else out there that can do this
for a low cost or even free.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Thanks,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Marshall<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<p>Please Note: </p>
<p></p>
<p>Due to Florida's very broad public records law,<br>
most written communications to or from College<br>
employees regarding College business are public<br>
records, available to the public and media upon <br>
request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may<br>
be subject to public disclosure. </p></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
athen-list mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:athen-list@mailman1.u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list@mailman1.u.washington.edu</a><br>
<a href="http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list" target="_blank">http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>