Electronic Readings for Students with Reading Disabilities Paul Chapin Curricular Computing Specialist Amherst College

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Copyright Paul Chapin This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Reading Disabilities Blind or visually impaired. Blind or visually impaired. Motor impairments. Motor impairments. Reading related learning disability. Reading related learning disability.

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Audio Tapes Tapes explicitly made for persons with disabilities. Tapes explicitly made for persons with disabilities. Commercial tapes. Commercial tapes. Locally produced tapes. Locally produced tapes.

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Problems with Audio Tapes Limited material available Limited material available Format issues Format issues Navigation problems Navigation problems Speed Speed Accessing some types of information Accessing some types of information Bulky Bulky

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Problems with Local Audio Tapes Quality issues Quality issues Recording facilities Recording facilities Unqualified readers Unqualified readers Uninterested readers Uninterested readers Relatively expensive Relatively expensive

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Human Readers Flexible Flexible Scheduling problems Scheduling problems Defeats goal of student independence Defeats goal of student independence

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Electronic Text with Screen Reading Software - Advantages No tapes to deal with No tapes to deal with Can deal with most standard formats Can deal with most standard formats Ability to “write in the book” Ability to “write in the book” Improved navigation Improved navigation Improved speed Improved speed Ability to access material at the character level Ability to access material at the character level

March 21, 2002NERCOMP JAWS DEMO

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Electronic Text with Screen Reading Software - Disadvantages Tied to the computer Tied to the computer Pronunciation problems Pronunciation problems Voice quality Voice quality No standard text format No standard text format Limited amount of prepared material available Limited amount of prepared material available Question of cost and scaling Question of cost and scaling

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Copyright Issues We assume that if we (or the student) own a copy we can convert to electronic form We assume that if we (or the student) own a copy we can convert to electronic form Amherst College is not offering legal advice Amherst College is not offering legal advice I am not offering legal advice I am not offering legal advice

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Preparing a Paperback

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Scanning and Editing

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Editing Issues Formatting: Standard page size and font Identification: Bibliographic information at start of document

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Editing Issues Page Numbers: “…invention of a reliable 47 chronometer in the 1760s…” Becomes “…invention of a reliable (page 47) chronometer in the 1760s…”

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Editing Issues Illustrations and Maps: Remove graphic Keep captions and put at end of paragraph

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Editing Issues Footnotes: Bibliographic footnotes “…first occurred in (footnote 3).” Substantive footnotes “…first occurred in (footnote 3. This is different…).”

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March 21, 2002NERCOMP Comparative Analysis Problems with the logs Problems with the logs Approximately wpm Approximately wpm Estimate that production about the same as for audio tapes Estimate that production about the same as for audio tapes Student workers liked the work Student workers liked the work

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Future Directions and Alternatives Use of existing electronic text Use of existing electronic text Texas Text Exchange Texas Text Exchange Gutenburg Project Gutenburg Project Online journals Online journals No hardware and software upgrades No hardware and software upgrades Specialized software Specialized software Kurzweil 3000/Wynn Kurzweil 3000/Wynn

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Conclusions Results are encouraging. Well received by users Results are encouraging. Well received by users Concerns about scalability Concerns about scalability We really need publishers to step up and start providing this material We really need publishers to step up and start providing this material

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Credits Frances Tuleja – Associate Dean of Students Frances Tuleja – Associate Dean of Students Gloria Yi, Jade Tam, Lucia Cucu and Xin Zheng – Student workers Gloria Yi, Jade Tam, Lucia Cucu and Xin Zheng – Student workers

March 21, 2002NERCOMPReferenceshttp:// Paper Papernercomp_paper.html Draft scanning guidelines Draft scanning guidelinesguidelines.html PowerPoint Presentation at PowerPoint Presentation atnercomp_pres.htm

March 21, 2002NERCOMP Questions?