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Re: BrowseAloud

for

From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
Date: Mar 24, 2011 12:30PM


BrowseAloud and ReadSpeaker are both aimed at audiences other than those with vision loss, such as persons with dyslexia and reading disabilities, second language learners, etc. They're also useful for people who may not be able to afford screen readers (both were developed before NVDA).

* BrowseAloud http://www.browsealoud.com/. Contact Paul Quinn @ <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
* ReadSpeaker http://www.readspeaker.com/. Contact Stefanie Cuschnir @ <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >

Neither are meant to substitute for screen readers and both have their pros and cons, no doubt. I believe that both can now handle PDF files as well as html, but will only read PDF files that came from BrowseAloud or ReadSpeaker-enabled sites.

I haven't tested it out too much yet but the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke page is in the process of implementing ReadSpeaker. One nice feature is that pronunciation can be customized, which is pretty critical in technical information. Not sure if you'll be able to access the following link, if it's an internal staging site: http://draftdoc.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/agnosia/agnosia.htm. If you'd like to contact someone at the Library of Congress about its use of BrowseAloud, let me know and I'll put you in touch.

Is it safe to say that there's no one solution or approach to accessibility? this model, site-enabled speech applications, allows organizations to proactively provide one more tool to make their sites accessible. No one would suggest, that it excuses the business or organization from ensuring that their site is also compatible with a user's assistive technology.


Gary M. Morin, Program Analyst
NIH Office of the Chief Information Officer
10401 Fernwood Rd, Room 3G-17
Bethesda, MD 20892, Mail Stop: 4833

(301) 402-3924 Voice, 451-9326 TTY/NTS
Videophone (240) 380-3063; (301) 402-4464 Fax

WHAT IF THE FIRST QUESTION WE ASKED WAS, "WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT THIS SITUATION THAT IT JUSTIFIES EXCLUSION? INSTEAD OF, "HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE?"

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen L Noble [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 8:30 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] BrowseAloud

There are a variety of reasons why a service like BrowseAloud is used.
The primary use cases would be for portions of the general public like
the senior population with sight which is becoming limited, non-native
speakers, and members of the general public who have learning and mild
cognitive disabilities but are not being served by any type of
rehabilitation agency and so do not have access to funding for assistive
technology, or may not consider themselves "disabled." It is the same
rationale in many ways for some of the accessibility tools built into
modern operating systems, like the "ease of access" settings in Windows.
None of this is meant to replace the role for assistive technology, nor
the need for accessibility in websites.




------------------------------------
-- Steve Noble
Chair, National Technology Task Force
Learning Disabilities Association of America
<EMAIL REMOVED>
502-969-3088

--------------
Disclaimer: The opinions and comments made in email are those of the
author, and do not necessarily represent the official position of any
organization unless explicitly stated.


>>> Peter Krantz < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 3/24/2011 7:04 AM >>>
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 11:53, Patrick H. Lauke
< <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Users that need speech are far better served with having something
> running on their machine that works on all sites, not just on select
> ones that paid to get BA to run there.

I can imagine several use cases where on-site speech could be
beneficial (using someone elses terminal etc.) but as you indicate, a
need for speech is probably better served with locally available
software, which may provide better means for configuration and may
work in other software as well (e.g. a Word document).

Has anyone seen any research on the benefits for this type of service?
What is the main reason to implement it?

Regards,

Peter