Dear Krishnakant,
I agree with you that mp3 players are extremely cheap and handy, and mp3
files are easily replicable compared to audio cassettes, (and for all I
know, many DAISY compatible digifiles are in mp3 format).
As far as ease of rewinding and advancing the tape are concerned, that's
largely subjective. I personally find tracking audio files on my cellphone
not just tedious but well nigh impossible. The cues are almost all visual.
Dedicated DAISY players don't come cheap -- the Buddy assistive media player
from Bisquare<http://buddy.bisquare.com/>, India (marketed by Saksham
Trust?) costs Rs.4500.
Which reminds me, why do audio books cost so much, when they are so much
cheaper to replicate than paper books? And why are audio versions of Indian
books virtually non-existent? In fact, why are audio-books of any sort
practically impossible to buy in India? Pretty much no book-store carries
them (I haven't tried Planet M, though), not even in Delhi.
I just checked out Julian Barnes' "The Sense of an Ending" (shortlisted for
the 2011 Booker Prize): the hardcover costs Rs.374, the audio version by BBC
Audio costs Rs.952 (both after discount) on Flipkart. Considering that audio
books are mostly used by visually handicapped people -- not the wealthiest
demographic -- this is more than unfair.
There are some audio books in the public domain -- you can source them at
LibriVox, Project Gutenberg etc -- but this essentially means that the
author has to be dead for 50 years. Assuming that the author didn't kill
himself shortly after writing the book, we are looking at books that are 80
or 90 years old at the very least.
Vickram writes,
I have not looked for audiocassette players that can handle digifiles, and
indeed it rather surprises me that pure analogue playback machines are still
being made.
It would surprise me immensely if audio-cassette players could handle
digifiles. (The original posting mentioned only audio cassettes). And why is
it surprising that 'pure analogue playback machines are still being made'?
Analogue audio has some very obvious -- and some equally obscure --
advantages compared to digital playback. OT, here's an obscure
one<http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/21/cassettes-still-a-mu.html>
.
Sajan
On 26 September 2011 12:46, Krishnakant Mane<[email protected]> wrote:
**
Dear Sajan,
If not daisy we can at least have mp3 files made available which can be as
good as cassette tapes.
They are not just portable but ultra portable.
An mp3 player like the transend Tsonic are very very cheep, at times
cheeper than tape players.
Most blind people carry mobile phones where they can again play mp3.
Infact most mobiles now even play ogg.
Secondly it is also very difficult to learn from a tape because reading a
certain passage again and again needs precise rewinding and forwarding.
With the tapes it is not just inaccurate but also spoils the quality of the
tape and is tedious as well.
Happy hacking.
Krishnakant.
On 26/09/11 12:11, sajan venniyoor wrote:
On 26 September 2011 11:55, Vickram Crishna<[email protected]>
<[email protected]> wrote:
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
There are actually some very sound (pun not intended) reasons for using
audio cassettes and not digifiles. For instance, you can switch your tape
between a cassette player at school or work, on the move and at home without
losing your place in the text. I am sure DAISY compatible digifiles can be
bookmarked, but I think it needs some fairly specialized hardware and/or
software. Cassette players are still very cheap and plentiful.
Sajan
(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]>
<[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 ECOSOCwww.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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Fool On The Hill<http://communicall.wordpress.com>
<http://communicall.wordpress.com>
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