This is a serious issue.
If not completely FOSS, I think some one needs to make the university
aware that there is a windows based FOSS alternative called NVDA.
JAWS is the most dangerous move because then blind people will be
addicted to one brand and will have to stay with the limitations which
that software will force on them.
Besides the public money will be waisted. It could be otherwise be used
for better projects for the betterment of visually disabled people.
JAWS is very costly and except Hindi no other indian language is available.
Orca and NVDA has Kanada, malayalam and Hindi with the latter working
very well.
Happy hacking.
Krishnakant.
On 26/09/11 11:55, Vickram Crishna wrote:
Can people with contact to Bangalore University (which in turn is doubtless
filled with busy people tasked with a name change) find out by what process
this decision was made? Was there an attempt to publicly source alternate
software?
If audio cassettes were distributed, has there been any attempt to source
DAISY compatible digifiles, or to create relevant source material using
DAISY? Are the Trustees of Bangalore University aware that the GoI has
signed a global commitment to ensuring digital access for persons with
disabilities (by 2012, as I understand it, so as good as already in the
dustbin), and that this is not Somebody Else's Problem, it is a problem for
all of us to work to solve together? Simply showing up at IGF will not sort
out issues such as this (OT - and maybe nothing else either).
Just fyi, contributors to WIkipedia have developed apps for visually
impaired persons to access (read and edit, and this is not trivial) in
Malayalam. Work is on to extend this to other languages - in fact, it may
already have been done for some other languages. Of course, browser access
is not the same as screen reading, and I am reasonably well aware of the
differences, but it is a big deal.
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Krittika<[email protected]> wrote:
**
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2483818.ece
Bangalore University reached out to 150 visually impaired students from 25
of its affiliated colleges on Saturday by way of distributing free Braille
textbooks and audio cassettes to them. The beneficiaries appreciated the
move because all these years they had to depend on volunteers who would read
out the textbooks for them. Some of them would travel long distances to take
the help of non-governmental organisations which would format the reading
material using Braille for them.
Besides distributing Braille textbooks, Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev
announced steps they would initiate to encourage more number of visually
impaired students to pursue their studies in the university.
*The university will start a computer training and resource centre in
December. Under the project, computer training will be imparted free of cost
to the visually impaired students. JAWS Screen Reading software will be used
for the purpose. Once trained, students will be able to work on the Internet
and also use MS Office. *
The other initiatives include establishing a help desk for the visually
impaired besides starting an electronic reading centre equipped with
text-reading machines, screen magnification software and video magnifying
units, and a Braille book production centre. .
“In the next phase, we will have a career counselling and job placement
unit as well as distance education centre for the visually impaired,”
according to Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev.
Mr. Prabhu Dev said that the soft copy of the Braille books were made
(mostly) by the Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Society (each page of the
master copy costs Rs. 25), while the hard copies were processed by the All
India Confederation of the Blind, New Delhi.
Each textbook has been printed in two or three volumes. Bangalore
University funded the entire project. Students like Shilpa. S was both
delighted and relieved. Ms. Shilpa, a second-year B.Com student who scored
74 per cent in her second semester, said Braille meant independence. “In my
first semester, I was in tears as I got my study material a week before my
exams. Thanks to my lecturer (Prasanna Udipikar, who is also the convenor of
Bangalore University's Braille Resource Centre), who recorded the material,
I managed to pass. ”
Susheel Kumar, who is pursuing MA in Sociology, reiterated Ms. Shilpa's
views. “Life is much easier for us now as we will find the Braille books in
our library,” he said.
--
--
*Krittika Vishwanath*
Research Associate
IT for Change
In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC
www.ITforChange.net
Skype id: krittika85
Tel:+91-80-2665 4134, 2653 6890. Fax:+91-80-4146 1055
Mobile: +91 9535321980
Read our Teacher's Communities of Learning project's blogs, lesson
plans and discussions here: http://bangalore.karnatakaeducation.org.in/
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