Introducing... Robobraille!

Looking for a quick way to get a Braille or audio document? Don't have immediate access to Duxbury or text-to-speech software? Have no fear, Robobraille is here! I'm pretty quick on the short document conversions most of the time, folks, but this is way faster. Get your accessible file in just a few minutes. I sent a file of about 10 pages and got the MP3 back in 4 minutes. Your time will vary based on server traffic.

Completely free to non-commercial users (that's you, students!), simply send the document you want converted to sixdot@robobraille.org (for Braille) or usspeech@robobraille.org (for MP3 audio). For a more...unique... experience with audio, send it to britspeech@robobraille.org and receive a British English audio file. Other Braille language files are also supported. It's a good idea to read through the instructions, as it contains ways to tweak your files to fit you, such as the audio speed.

Currently, MS Word documents, plain text, and RTF files are supported. They anticipate supporting PDF files (woohoo!) in the near future.

This nifty service was formed by a partnership of a number of European agencies. If you like the service, send them a donation to keep it free for non-commercial users.

An update for you Macaholics out there

Yes, I love the Mac. I've got four of them at home (and a new one coming in as soon!) and my desk in my office sports one, too. With the news that 40% of college students say their next computer purchase will be a Mac, it's apparent that students love them, too!

With that, here's 5 free, cheap or built-in applications on the Mac that you might want to consider.

1. GhostReader: easy text-to-speech I posted back in January 2007 about ConvenienceWare's TextParrot. Since then, they've gone through an overhaul, re-introducing the product with the same great Acapela voices and making it even easier to create iTunes audio tracks from your documents. Fast, clean, and simple to use. Did I mention it's easy?
2. Stop-It!: timer Widget Need someone standing over you to help you keep on track? Tend to get lost in a task and need help getting to class on time? This handy little Dashboard Widget can do that for you in simple, customized ways!
3. TextEdit: language support in a plain brown wrapper Don't be fooled by it's simple interface; TextEdit has some incredibly advanced features that can hugely benefit those who struggle with written language. Even better, TextEdit is built in to every Mac and has been for years and years. It's stable as a rock, too. Need text to speech? TextEdit can Speak your document. Need word prediction? Start typing a word, then press Esc - you'll get a list of words from which to choose. No, it's not flashy... but it's there, all the time.
4. Skim: make PDFs your friend Research shows that most people read 20-40% slower when they read digital text than when they read print. In addition, you read more shallowly, focusing less on the details and reading with less retention capability. Make some changes to that trend with Skim! Annotate, highlight, snapshots, and much, much more. Best of all, it's open source and free.
5. Premier Literacy goes Mac: a plethora of tools The great tools that SOU students have been enjoying on the PC for the past couple of years are now available on the Mac. Previously known as Premier Assistive Technology, Premier Literacy offers Etext Reader, Talking Word Processor, Universal Reader, and all their pals. Fabulous.
   

Serendipity, get your OATS

Every once in awhile, I run across something that makes me smack my forehead and say, “Why didn’t I know about this before?!” Today was one of those days. I was cruising through the Net, looking for tools to include in my Technology for Learning class, when the skies opened, the sun shone, and a voice from my computer said, “Open Source Assistive Technology Software. OATS. Find it and you will be satisfied.”

Ok, that’s not quite the way it happened. Here’s how it really went down.

Reading through Ron Graham’s Access Ability blog (using my new friend, Google Reader), I learned about Ohio State’s initiative to put free assistive technology in their students’ hands. A Very Cool Project, I might add, and yes, I wish I’d thought of it first. Several of the open source apps they included looked like they had potential for my class, so I went cruising through the list.

Aha! Hidden away in their list was a program called T-Bar. The description was intriguing, so I went Googling for it and ended up at OATS. (T-Bar is no more, looks like, but the same developer did have one called Vu-Bar that performs what I was looking for. Dyslexics, check it out!) Oh my… an entire site of open source AT apps. That means FREE, for those who aren’t familiar with the concept of open source.

I should just go home now. I think I’ve earned my paycheck today - all by reading blogs and following the serendipity trail. Woohoo!

Insomnia has its benefits - Google Reader & LifeHacker

For some reason, the hours between 3 and 5:30 seem to be a difficult time for me to actually stay asleep. But that’s good news, blog readers, because last night I had a wonderful time prancing around the ‘Net and found great blog fodder!

Some of you may have already found Google Reader, another of the ever-growing number of free applications provided by the advertising geniuses at Google. Google Reader is an RSS feed, which brings updates from websites directly to your desktop (or browser, as in this case). Think of it a bit like a running stock ticker for news, exciting blog entries, or anything else on which you want to keep up to date. Ho-hum, not really blog-worthy news, right?

Well, think again. Google has just announced that its Reader feed is accessible to screen readers! This is news, because most dynamic (constantly updating) content on the web is not screen-reader friendly. Granted, there are limitations… it’s currently only accessible to Firevox, the self-voicing extension for Firefox, and Firefox 3, which is still in beta. However, this is a step in the right direction, making dynamic content usable to people with print disabilities.

The other place I spent a lot of time last night (or morning?) was on LifeHacker. Ok, any site that easily steals an hour from you without you knowing it doesn’t really qualify as saving you time… but in my defense, I was catching up on stuff posted there that had long passed me by! While LifeHacker isn’t really assistive technology per se, I did find a large number of items that would be of especial interest to those with learning disabilities or ADD. Particularly interesting were the items in the “Mind Hacks” category… all kinds of ways you can train your brain to work more efficiently.

Time to get off your duff and take a class

Loyal readers of this blog (there are a couple of you, right?) will know that I really like playing with new technology. Those of you who’ve been in my office will know that I really like explaining how it can work for you. So here’s your opportunity…

Beginning Spring term, I’m teaching a 2 credit class called Technology for Learning. (That’s USEM 199 for those who want to find it in the class schedule right now.) This class is open to everyone and will go through a truly broad range of technology tools that can help you be a better student. Every student has to do some of these things at some point in each class:

• read
• write
• research
• math
• organize
• study
• network with others

This class will help you to do all those things in ways that work best for you! I’m designing this class under a Universal Design for Learning format, which means I’m going to make this class as accessible and usable for the largest number of people possible. (For example, one of the “readings” in the first week is an ASL video on multiple intelligences!)

I’m hugely excited about this class. If you have questions about it, please let me know. Looking forward to seeing you there!