[laptop-accessibility] just a test...

[Kate Anderson]

Hi Gary,

First up, can I say thanks for investing your time in this project. I'm an
Australian speech therapist specialising in speech generating devices (SGDs)
for kids and adults with a disability. And although there's a lot of
expensive custom-build devices and a lot out there for the iPad, there's
really very little cross-platform programs available, especially ones that
are open-source. I've been working on a similar project for the past 3 years
now, but finding time to program is really hard and neither myself nor my
partner do it professionally, so it is very much a case of trial and error!

With regards to your documentation, I would suggest that uptake will be most
optimal if the program is fairly self-explanatory, and easy for the kids
themselves to customise to their own needs (without relying on an adult, or
someone with unimpaired physical ability). In my experience, families and
school-teachers rarely have the time to trawl through the extensive manuals
that often come with a complex SGD . Video tutorials are received very well,
especially if they can be downloaded or watched on a mobile device. I'm
recording training videos for a commercial SGD currently, and have been
using Camtasia, but even Camstudio (freeware) will do a good quality dynamic
screen-capture for walk-though purposes. It's dead easy to use, too!

Also, what access options have you considered beyond direct (touch)?
Interested to know how you went with this, we're finding it tricky!

Good luck - looking forward to seeing the finished product!! :)

Cheers,
Kate Anderson.




On 8/1/13 11:06 AM, "Gary Kline" <kline at thought.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 07:03:52AM +0800, Allan E. Registos wrote:
>> Hi. 
> 
> 
> hi!  
> 
> according to your email and TZ, you are from somewhere in the
> Phils, if I'm not mistaken.  my wife was born there.  [ just
> intro. chatter. ]
> 
> about ten years ago when I was at a local hospital here in Seattle,
> the speech therapist showed me a Windoze box with a touch keyboard,
> batteries, and speaker.  I only have one working hand and could
> barely heft the thing.  it was difficult to use even tho I have
> been using a typewriter or computer keyboard since my youth.  my
> thoughts then were that with a little hacking, I could buy a
> smallish laptop and develop a graphic tool for the speech-
> disabled {or mute}.  the affected person would listen to his
> friend(s) who were talking, and reply by having the computer be his
> voice.  
> 
> I was already laid-off from a work injury and going to school in
> a completely different field, so I never did anything except
> outline my plans and continue with my schooling.  ---The nutshell
> of the story  is that given 6+ month hacking in C and teaching
> myself gtk ---AND having lots of help with the gtk suite, I
> recently completed my project.
> 
> VBC {Voice-by-Computer} requires espeak, gtk, and vim/gvim.  But
> it does essentially what I thought of those years ago--2003 or
> '04 or '05--whatever it was.
> 
> I talked to some hacker at Galluadet University who was
> volunteering his time of the "one child per computer" project;
> I also talked to another person or two.  This was around '07 or
> '08; there was definite interest in my project.  I promised to
> get back in touch when/if I ever finished the project.
> 
> It's done.  I dont know what version--possibly 0.20 to 0.35.
> It works.  VBC runs on any Unix/linux/android--[i think android]
> tablet.   I have run this domain, thought.org, for over 25 years
> and gone thru dozens of used and homebrew hardware; I have
> suffered many crashes; recent ones cost me former email backups.
> So I have lost my record of who I was emailing at laptop.org.
> 
> Need help.
> 
> thanks much!
> 
> gary kline
> 
> 
> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> 
>> From: "Gary Kline" <kline at thought.org>
>> To: "Accessibility Laptop List" <accessibility at lists.laptop.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:58:30 AM
>> Subject: [laptop-accessibility] just a test...
>> 
>> 
>> just a test. is anyone at the other end of this list? I have a
>> major CopyLeft program to announce.
>> -- 
>> Gary Kline kline at thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix
>> Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.
>> 
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