Individuals with Print Disabilities Can Now Use Mobile Technologies for Accessing Bookshare Titles. Bookshare and Code Factory Announce Partnership.
Individuals with print disabilities can now choose new, low-cost mobile technologies to read more than 50,000 digital books and periodicals thanks to a partnership between Bookshare, the world’s largest online library of accessible books for people with print disabilities, and Code Factory, Barcelona Spain; a leading global provider of screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces for a wide range of mainstream mobile devices.
The Mobile Speak screen readers for mobile phones developed by Code Factory use synthesized speech to read aloud information displayed on the mobile phone screens including ebooks stored on their phones. Using this technology, Bookshare members who are blind or have visual impairments will have new alternatives and features like navigation, bookmarking and text search, to access digital books for work, study or reading pleasure.
“For years, individuals with print disabilities have needed the ability to read books on a readily-available, low-cost, portable device such as the mobile phone,” said Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, the nonprofit organization which operates Bookshare. “We envision students with visual impairments or learning disabilities on the bus reading textbooks and other assignments with their phones. In rural areas or homes without computers, individuals can download digital books at school or a community center with computer access and read the content anywhere using their mobile phone. Mobile phone technologies will bring Bookshare books to people and students who previously lacked a portable technology solution to read digital books, magazines and newspapers on the go.”
To read Bookshare books, users of Mobile Speak can download books and periodicals from the Bookshare website (http://www.bookshare.org) to their PC and transfer them to their mobile phones or PDAs. Code Factory provides accessible solutions for Symbian phones as well as Windows Mobile Smartphones and Pocket PCs.
If users have a Symbian phone (e.g. Nokia phone) they can install the Mobile DAISY Player application in addition to the Mobile Speak screen reader application. Mobile DAISY Player is a book reader which will allow users with sight and visual impairments to read Bookshare files in DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) format. Mobile DAISY Player is the first and only mobile phone DAISY application to support both DAISY 2.02 and DAISY 3.0 (NISO) book formats. Users can adjust the speed of reading without changing the pitch, set bookmarks to favorite places in the contents screen, navigate by character, word, sentence or paragraph, and configure font sizes and screen colors.
Individuals with a Windows Mobile device can also read Bookshare books in BRF (Braille Ready Format) through the built-in Braille reader implemented in Mobile Speak Smartphone and Mobile Speak Pocket. The Braille reader application will read Bookshare BRF files in English through users’ active speech synthesizer whether or not a Braille display is connected. Users having a refreshable Braille display can read Bookshare books in Braille which is particularly useful for deaf-blind users.
Bookshare member Larry L. Lewis, Jr., President and Founder of Flying Blind, LLC, uses the Mobile Speak application to read Bookshare books on the go. “My Mobile Speak-equipped Smartphone is convenient and allows me to accomplish more tasks while carrying fewer devices,” said Lewis. “Code Factory's BRF reader allows me the flexibility to read Bookshare books with a wireless Braille display or to simply listen to the text while it is read by Mobile Speak.”
“Bookshare and Code Factory share a vision to provide individuals with disabilities around the globe with greater access to a vast collection of digital books and information,” said Eduard Sanchez, CEO of Code Factory. “We value this introduction from Bookshare, a social enterprise, to identify the latest mobile technologies as a solution that will raise the level of access for these individuals.”
Product Information Links:
Bookshare Membership – Code Factory Promotion Code
Bookshare offers memberships to individuals in the U.S. and around the world for a nominal fee. The library has tens of thousands of books including fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, educational reading, newspapers and magazines, plus two free software applications that read digital content. To learn more visit http://www.bookshare.org/signUpType.
Applicants, other than U.S. students who qualify for free memberships, will receive a $25 waiver on a set up fee. To receive this waiver, you must: 1) enter promo code: Codefactory in your registration form and 2) send an email to membership@bookshare.org to request the waiver. http://www.bookshare.org/signUpType?promoCode=Codefactory)
Mobile Speak Pricing and Distribution Information
Code Factory’s accessible solutions are available in the U.S. through several distributors, including AT&T. The price for Mobile Speak starts at $89 for AT&T customers. For more information about the AT&T and Code Factory partnership visit http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/disability-resources/mobile-speak-magnifier.jsp.
To find the closest distributor visit http://codefactory.es/en/purchase.asp?id=54
To download Mobile Speak screen readers, visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/downloads.asp?id=44.
To learn how to get a trial, visit http://www.codefactory.es/en/purchase.asp?id=285.
Mobile DAISY Player Information
To download Mobile DAISY Player for a free trial for 30 days, visit http://codefactory.es/en/downloads.asp?id=43#version_2_57
To buy Mobile DAISY Player, contact the following distributors or look for other Code Factory distributors at http://codefactory.es/en/purchase.asp?id=54:
- Adaptive Technology Resources at http://www.adaptivetr.com/
or call 262.375.2020
- Handy Tech North America at http://www.handytech.us/
or call 651.636.5184
- Vision Cue at http://visioncue.com/contact.php
or call 888.318.2582
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Friday, July 17, 2009
New Mobile Technologies Partner with Bookshare
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Assessing Formats and Eligibility for Accessible Instrcutional Materials, Part One
Getting curriculum to students in an accessible format can be a challenge, but it is a federal mandate. We are to provide materials in a timely manner which means, "At the same time as the other students".
In Oregon, we are working on a protocol for helping districts and educators streamline the process for identifying what type of format AIM (accessible instructional materials) needs to be in and how to access the materials in a timely manner and implement them.
If you are looking at qualifying some students you have, or you are a parent that knows your child needs textbooks, articles and handouts in an alternative format, but aren't currently getting them, this post might help.
Format:
What are the formats we are talking about? Most common are: Large print; Mp3 audio; DAISY files; text files in a .txt format that can be opened by a text reader (see past posts on my blog for text to speech tools); or a text file that can be opened in a program or web browser with different color text and background. (Access Apps has some great free tools for this)
These formats require an e-copy of the text book or other materials so that the text can be converted, manipulated by an assistant, parent, teacher or the reader.
Accessing the Format:
We will assume for this post that the student has already qualified and eligibility has been proven. Briefly though, the standard requirements for eligibility are that the student needs to 1.) either be blind or visually impaired, 2.) orthopedically impaired to the point where a book cannot be held or pages turned, or finally, 3.) the student has an organic brain dysfunction that causes a processing or reading disorder.
A doctor's letter supporting one of these three eligibilities is needed for accessing copyright protected files through a state authorized media provider of files coming from the NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Access Center).
Another option, Bookshare.org , requires that a competent professional make this determination and it doesn't necessarily have to be a doctor. A special education teacher, a specialist in the field of disability, etc. can make this determination. You can consult the Bookshare.org website under qualifications for membership eligibility for more information. Bookshare is working hard to expand their ability to locate and provide textbooks for students so check them out.
I recently had a visit from a young woman who was a nursing student who wanted to know about some tools to help her access her nursing textbooks. She was able to connect me with a regional school psych who had tested her in community college for eligibility on a learning disability. I was able to send him the Bookshare form and he was able to sign off on her eligibility and fax it in.
These are some of the foundational pieces to setting up access to instructional materials that are copyright protected. We will look at the process of assessing formats for students and implementing in part two.
All the best to you!
Lon
Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Bookshare Interview on No limits 2 Learning Live
Getting to Know Bookshare Live! Wednesday, April 15 at 1 PM Pacific time.
