TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘blind’ Category

By Paul Biba

This looks as if it could be of real use to many people. It is from the Freie Universitat Berlin.

The artificial intelligence group at Freie Universität Berlin, under the direction of the computer science professor Raúl Rojas, has developed a new type of information system for blind and visually impaired individuals. Field trials are being carried out to optimize the device for future users. …

“InformA” is a small computer that is connected wirelessly to the Internet. The device is operated like a radio. The user can choose between different information channels. By pressing a button, the time or the weather will be announced, but there are also current newspapers available as audio files (currently Tagesspiegel and taz).

In addition, e-mails can be read aloud by the device. The user can answer e-mails by dictating a message. An integrated camera makes it possible to have printed documents such as letters or package information leaflets read aloud fully automatically. In more complicated cases – such as a statement of account for a heating bill – the user of the device can take a photo of the document and send it to a call center. Persons doing community service instead of military service who work for the Berlin Association for the Education of the Blind and Visually Impaired e.V. then provide further assistance.

Here is the contact information for anyone who wants to get involved in the trial:

Raúl Rojas

Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Computer Science

Artificial Intelligence Group

Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838 – 75102

E-mail: information-ki@fu-berlin.de

Via Resource Shelf

Technorati Tags:
disabilities, disabled, Paul Biba, TeleRead, blind

By Paul Biba

Here is their press release:

Baltimore, Maryland (June 25, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. Darrell Shandrow, a blind ASU student, is also a named plaintiff in the action. The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX. In addition to ASU, five other institutions of higher education are deploying the Kindle DX as part of a pilot project to assess the role of electronic textbooks and reading devices in the classroom. The NFB and ACB have also filed complaints with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, asking for investigations of these five institutions, which are: Case Western Reserve University, the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, Pace University, Princeton University, and Reed College. The lawsuit and complaints allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

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By David Faucheux

David Faucheux is suspending his Blind Chance blog blog for health reasons mostly but also in part because of Odeo’s inability or refusal so far to restore his audios. Also, his Talkr text-to-speech service faded away. I thought I’d share his final post in TeleRead’s main part. I’d love to see David’s blog reborn at some point, ideally with help from a library-related site. – David Rothman.

Readers to my combination audio and text blog may recall that day in early May 2004 when I began my cautious journey into the blogosphere.

I can’t say I understand it any better now and don’t really know how to search and find the really good blogs with cracking content and timely commentary. My audio seems lost at present vanishing into a cyber no-man’s-land.  I am sorry as I had several excellent interviews, book reviews, music-related items and thought pieces that lose considerable impact minus their audio content. 

Text and audio playing off each other

I wanted the text to complement the audio, not merely repeat. Each would work to demonstrate its ability, concerto-like, to play off the other. I had to work in five minute segments then as the system was set up that way. It proved to be a great learning opportunity and made my posts short, snappy, and concise. They were a bit like sushi, epigrams, Chopin’s preludes, or miniature paintings–or I sure hope they came reasonably close!

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By Paul Biba

From Public Knowledge:

PK Staff Attorney Rashmi Rangnath discusses the issues presented at the May 18th, 2009 public meeting held by the US Copyright Office and the US Patent and Trademark office on the topic of copyright exceptions for the blind or other persons with disabilities.

Grab it from our podcast or media feeds, download the episode here or listen to it in the player below

By Paul Biba

From an article on Abledbody. Thanks to Robert Martinengo for the link.

Amazon’s Director of Kindle Books, Laura Porco, said the company is working with three of the top five textbook publishers — Pearson, Cengage Learning and Wiley, along with more than 75 University Press Publishers to make their educational materials available in the Kindle Store starting this summer. With content accessible in an audio version to everyone — not just to those who can “prove” they have a print disability — Amazon and publishers have taken a big step in breaking down barriers to educational content for people with disabilities. …

But the National Federation of the Blind doesn’t think the Kindle DX goes far enough: The e-book reader’s menus and controls aren’t audio-accessible to the blind and visually impaired. The NFB says deploying this device in college and universities would violate state and federal laws requiring equal access to textbooks and course materials for students with disabilities.

“We are appalled that Amazon is releasing a new Kindle device ostensibly for the use of students that does not contain features that make it accessible to the blind, said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the NFB. “Amazon [should] introduce a user interface for the Kindle that is accessible to the blind as soon as possible. Until [then], no college or university should deploy this device,” he added.

By Paul Biba

With the permission of Bob Martinengo I’m re-publishing this important article that appeared on his blog today. This is a topic that I haven’t heard enough about and we need to do more on TeleRead. If anyone has any contributions in this area please send them on to me.

The flap over text-to-speech in the Kindle 2 is a reminder that e-books have the potential to level the playing field for people with disabilities. But, as was pointed out by the National Federation of the Blind, ‘the device itself cannot be used independently by a blind reader’ (It is ironic that the e-book market still fails to embrace the one group that actually needs e-books).

Several authors have commented that they have nothing against blind people, pointing out that publishers granted nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies an exemption to convert books to ’specialized formats’ [braille, audio, or digital text] without seeking permission or paying royalties (See the Chafee amendment)

From Roy Blount’s NY Times Op-Ed:

… publishers, authors and American copyright laws have long provided for free audio availability to the blind and the guild is all for technologies that expand that availability …

From Robert J. Sawyer’s blog (a popular science-fiction author):

Authors have ALREADY FOR DECADES NOW waived their rights to income from audio versions of their work made for the blind, whereas Amazon has said nothing about giving away ebooks — let alone Kindles — to blind users. We authors are the ones with the established track record of supporting the rights of the blind; let’s not forget that: we’ve been the good guys for decades when it comes to making our content freely available to the blind.

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