Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 30, 2013

It turns out that traditional DRM mechanisms can’t tell the difference between access for the purpose of making an illegal copy and access for the purpose of sending the text to a braille notetaker/display or a voice synthesizer program that will read the text aloud.

Accessibility 171

Accessibility eBook New York City Social 171

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 19, 2009

Our team has been explaining how to assist a disabled senior who doesn't have a PC, by empowering a PC-using child to download the book and load it onto a device like a Victor Stream (an ebook player that has a voice synthesizer that speaks our books).

eBook 100

eBook Children Press Stream 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 18, 2011

Then, I heard that one of our partners had just been recognized as the first recipient of the David Kato Vision & Voice Award , which honors the murdered Ugandan LGBT activist. Jamaican lawyer and activist Maurice Tomlinson of J-FLAG will be recognized next month.

Uganda 124

Uganda Africa Proposal Survey 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 17, 2008

I met a professor from Portugal who had a student who developed EasyVoice , software that makes it possible for someone who cannot speak to use Voice over IP via Skype to talk to people using a voice synthesizer. And that's just two examples.

Austria 100

Austria Accessibility Conference Portugal 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 9, 2012

I do have to say the Bookshare TTS voice for the mp3 format is great! For example, new Member Annette Moore wrote: the fact that Bookshare offers their books in mp3 format is why I decided to become a Member. I don't have a VR Stream or a Booksense; I just use the NLS digital talking book player.

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Comment Audio Files Evaluation 124

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 7, 2013

These ebooks can quickly be turned into Braille, large print or be read aloud by a synthetic voice synthesizer. Moreover, earlier this year we began offering books in MP3 format. This is a most exciting development: it means that anyone with a cheap MP3 player or a phone that plays MP3s can have access to our books.

India 225

India Literacy United Kingdom United States 225

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

OCTOBER 8, 2008

It has a built-in voice synthesizer in both Chinese and English. Lian let me play with her Sunshine player (all the products of the Press are marketed under the Sunshine brand): it cost roughly $100 and has a 1 Gig of storage (the latest version has 3 Gig). They are also planning on building an affordable Braille display.

China 113

China Press eBook Library 113

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Few were available, and he had trouble with the ones that were: they’d often be in a format that didn’t work well with his voice recognition software. It became a burden to his family and caregivers to constantly drop what they were doing to turn a page, so he began seeking out ebooks.

Life 147

Life Gift eBook France 147

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 22, 2013

This is especially acute for accessibility for the blind and disabled, where the TPMs cannot technically distinguish between accessing the content for the making of an illegal copy, or accessing the content to speak it aloud with a synthetic voice or to create a Braille version.

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Measure Technology Audio eBook 181

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 14, 2013

Wofford—I could hear Gandhi’s voice! These technologies, Gordon pointed out, make money for their inventors and owners but put multitudes of people out of employment. At this point, I couldn’t help but think about my conversation with Sen.

Technology 129

Technology Pledge Music University 129

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 31, 2006

The point I really resonated with was to "get out of the way" of the authentic voices of people from around the world. There was a lot of interesting stuff in the plenaries, but I especially enjoyed Ethan Zuckerman's talk about advocacy and citizen journalism.

Netsquared 100

Netsquared Conference Journal Voice 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

To keep abreast of what’s new at Benetech, please regularly visit Benetech’s Blog that features voices from across our organization or sign up for our monthly updates.

India 142

India Literacy Global Accessibility 142

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 21, 2007

Folks have set up, in addition to the traditional listservs, an online channel for the Bookshare.org community that allows both voice chat and text messaging in a way that is highly accessible to people with disability. I love technology for its own sake, but it's always good to experience how technology promotes connections among people!

Online 100

Online Teen Listserv Course 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

APRIL 14, 2008

The Alliance launched its media campaign shortly and Gore gave some previews of this when he met with the social entrepreneurs after the final keynote session (where Gore spokes and Paul Farmer was the fiery voice of the social entrepreneur). Gore was relaxed and funny as he and Jeff talked to us for over an hour.

Movie 100

Movie Brain Voice Audience 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

He never raised his voice, but didn't cooperate with being hauled away. I was busy taking pictures, and my companions thought I was nuts. Of course, I felt Rami was taking a much bigger risk! Rami had obviously studied nonviolent resistance. And, our plane got going almost an hour late.

China 104

China Local Course Children 104

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 20, 2006

These machines scanned books and read them aloud with a computer voice. So, the reading machine stopped working because it was halting before its voice synthesizer started asking for the current date. The first started with an email from someone using one of the Arkenstone reading machines, which was over ten years old.

Washington 100

Washington Accessibility Student Library 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

It doesn't know the difference between needing to access the text of the book to make an illegal copy, or to send it to a Braille notetaker/display, or a voice synthesizer program that will read the text aloud. Traditional DRM has the ironic effect of locking out people with disabilities.

Copyright 158

Copyright Social Law Student 158

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 21, 2006

Objective and scientific evidence of human rights violations gives voice to victims and witnesses who have the courage to come forward and tell their stories. In my recent blog postings, I documented personal impressions during my recent trip to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh 100

Bangladesh Data Analysis Policy 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 5, 2008

The voice synthesizer in the Victor Reader software did a good job on the English sentences, but drew many grins and smiles from the audience when it tried to speak the Chamorro. I picked one children's book, Grandma's Love , which is in both English and Chamorro. Not quite ready for students, yet!

Guam 100

Guam Micronesia South Korea Marshall Islands 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

NOVEMBER 9, 2007

He would like to see the disability community speak with one voice on these issues. Notes from a Brainstorm The overarching concern of Hiroshi is a potential split in the disability community over new technology, particularly in the broadband age. To some disability groups, Second Life is wonderful.

Second Life 100

Second Life Avatar Asia Life 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

DECEMBER 6, 2006

Technology we take for granted in English nowadays needs much more development, including optical character recognition, data entry, searching and voice synthesis. Leaning almost entirely on India's technology skill base, the work needed to make the other 22 official Indian languages accessible starts.

India 100

India Tunisia Language Phase 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

These ebooks can be instantly turned into the accessible format needed by the student with a disability, such as braille, enlarged print, or our most common format, audio through a computerized synthetic voice. We don’t have to ask for permission from the publisher or author.

Copyright 100

Copyright United States Library eBook 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 22, 2007

Occasionally, slow internet connections make people's voices choppy or difficult to understand. After the English lessons end, the native English speakers and the Hadley-China staff talk about the class and make suggestions for improvement. About ten students log on per chatting session. These chats typically last one to two hours.

China 100

China Skype Student Empowerment 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MARCH 10, 2009

But, we just saw Amazon fold when the Authors Guild pushed them to turn off the voice of these books: Amazon to flip on Kindle. The Kindle2's text-to-speech feature wasn't something that actually worked for blind people, but you could imagine how a software update could make this into an incredible product.

Amazon 100

Amazon Accessibility eBook Problem 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JULY 16, 2018

And data is voice. We need to see data as an expression of the voices. If we truly care, we need to listen to these voices. Now this vision is not just about more data. This is data in service to communities. Social change is not done to communities – it’s a partnership. And will of these communities.

Software 118

Software Data Change eBook 118

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

In 1989, a group of visionary Silicon Valley engineers and executives asked themselves a profound question: `Why couldn't the far-reaching power of the PC with voice synthesis be combined with scanning technology to create a usable, affordable reading machine for the blind?' "Benetech's origins start with its Arkenstone project.

Award 100

Award San Diego New York New York City 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 6, 2009

Looking Beyond Immediate Controversy My hope is that the current controversy surrounding the TRC report does not obscure the larger historical truths - and the voices of more than 18,000 victims and witnesses who gave the statements that we analyzed.

Liberia 100

Liberia Statistics Analysis United States 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

AUGUST 11, 2014

Although were talking about data, what truly is at stake is giving individuals a voice. Traditional aid and charity tend to be unidirectional: the voice of the beneficiary is rarely heard from. The essence of the social entrepreneurial approach is the partnership between the social entrepreneur and the community she or he serves.

Data 187

Data Impact Open Source Mobile 187

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

MAY 8, 2007

Navigating Bookshare.org with voice activated software a. Help to target aging population, people with physical disabilities using a voice interface b. Email encryption strategy: build plug-ins that automatically send encrypted email by implementing Simson Garfinkle's proposals (MIT) 5.

Challenge 100

Challenge Wisconsin Phone Voice 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 26, 2006

The Voices of Davos This meeting is all about conversations. I just want to share some of the voices I've heard so far this week. It's an opportunity to connect with interesting people from around the world, all with important perspectives. These are based on my contemporaneous notes.

South Africa 100

South Africa Nigeria Brazil India 100

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JANUARY 29, 2011

The most typical means of accessibility is to use software that reads the digital text aloud in a computer-synthesized voice. The legal framework for Bookshare is the Section 121 copyright exception in federal copyright law: all Bookshare users must have a disability that qualifies under that section.

Student 145

Student Accessibility New Jersey Learning 145

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

JUNE 18, 2010

The importance of supporting human rights in the DRC was underscored this month when it was reported that Floribert Chebeya, executive director of one of the DRC’s largest human rights organizations, Voice of the Voiceless (VSV), was found dead on the outskirts of Kinshasa.

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Congo Support Africa National 124