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Web Browsers and Text-to-Speech Solutions?
JZ_o8 asks: "I work for an online education company that needs to be able to accommodate students who, in some cases, are several grades behind in their reading level. We are investigating screen reading technologies that might serve as a supplement for these students. We have considered technologies such as AT&T Natural Voices Text-to-Speech Engine but the process is time-intensive and cumbersome. Development requires a desktop application which encodes text into a web audio format such as MP3. This of course raises issues about page updates and dynamic content which would render any accompanying speech files, obsolete. It seems like the best solution would be browser support, perhaps via a plug-in, that would give the user Text to Speech capabilities. Something like selecting a passage of text with the mouse and right-click to select 'Speak'. Or maybe a server-side solution that would dynamically generate media files for pages on the fly? Or just when they're changed? Does anyone have any suggestions - solutions that I am overlooking. This seems like a useful and logical piece of technology....if it doesn't exist I wonder why not."
teh frist poster owns j00
kopykatz.org sucks dick
Access Mozilla should be a good starting point...even better is that ViaVoice is free for the disabled...
Blind Linux is also a good start...
As a side note, if these students are not disabled, then it might be better to use a browser to teach them to read rather than have it read for them...
second post for all my peeps
kehsihba
I've been looking for something that'll take my eBooks on my iPaq and read them to me while I'm driving...
as for webpages... At least on windows, wouldn't it be possible to use the Microsoft Agent program and make your own plugins? I remember back in my mIRC days, you could integrate the agent with your scripts and sort of do what you want, but it wasn't really that good.
In OS X all you have to do is highlight text, go to Services, select Speech, and there you go. This sounds perfect for your needs.
the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the U of Maryland might be a place to look. I don't know that they have exactly what you are looking for, but the are spending a bit of effort working on interfaces specifically for learning and special access needs and they are designed with commercialization of their products in mind.
I just selected your article contents in my web browser (happens to be Safari, but this works in any browser) Then I chose the menu item Safari->Services->Speech->Start Speaking Text
Even better, you can enable os X to speak the selected text via a user-defined keystroke, or even all the text underneath the cursor. (in the Speech Preference Panel)
If you're using windows though, I dunno..
"What thou shalt not, I shalt did!" -Bart Simpson
That someone could be "several grades behind in their reading level" and would need to have their lessons read to them?
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
I know that your only looking to fufil the request of your customers (in this case the schools), I find it incredibly worrisome, that people are worried about how to get around the fact that the student can't read instead of attempting to actually teach the student to read at the appropriate level. Especially since the ability to read is probably more important then absolutely anything they will learn thru the computer system. Learning to read would enable them to learn anything they want later in life on their own, without some damn computer to read to them....
Kirby
MacOS X has this handy little 'services' menu.
;)
Services -> Speech -> Start talking now
Will convert any text highlighted in just about any application into speech.
Its real wierd getting it to say some unix stuff from terminal
Not sure if such a solution exists for windows, however.
Still, letting them play with Apple's and MacOS X would be almost like rewarding them for not being able to read.........
D.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
mac classic had text to speech like almost forever. I used to use it sometimes when I was like cooking in the kitchen and wanted to "hear" the news or a long forum thread from someplace when I was away from the keyboard.
Never really went anywhere, but feel free to check it out...
http://www.cloudcitydigital.com/resense/
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
http://www.festvox.org/
I tried the Edinburgh version a few years back. It sounds computerish, but understandable. I used lynx to dump web pages to it. I had it set it up to read articles from the Christian Science Monitor's web site to me while I washed dishes. That fell by the wayside after my son was born...
Don't both Windows (at least XP) and MacOS both already have built in TTS and other accessability features that pretty much acomplish just this. Reading web pagess and other documents shouldn't be to difficult.
MoRe... LaTeR... -=PJK=-
That said, shouldn't kids be learning how to read? There are a number of games that help kids develop reading skills, and it's certainly a very useful skill. Not all books are in electronic form, after all...
Open simpletext. Leave the blank untitled document window open. Slelect the text that you wish to have read. Drag it to the simpletext doc and drop. Apple-J to speak selection.
Not perfect, but perfection could do less to encourage them to find a better solution.
Liberty uber alles.
A couple products immediately come to mind; excuse the debian-isms:
Konqueror is certainly easier (for me) to get running, YMMV.
ID-10-T is a way of life
actually you have already started playing with/sconsidering something that might be of use. I use textaloud mp3 as a front end for the att natural voices engine (with which I am MOST impressed) to actually read project gutenberg e-texts to mp3. I then burn 4 or 5 books to cd and listen to them on my commute. There is a server component of this that can be hooked into. They actually do something similar to this one the ATT natural voices web site you should be able to use wget your favorite means to get a page interactively, scrape the contents (a few perl Regex's perhaps) and then pipe it through the server component ont he fly to spit out wav or mp3 files. This would allow you to have any given page read out loud in real time.
I reject your reality
They're an online learning company... Very possibly "thinkcage," which appears to be getting revved up to launch in early 2002 "or sooner." Sarcasm aside, they do not appear to be in the process of buying hardware solutions, or choosing the platforms that their clients will be utilizing.
Is there a way to enable a speaking engine across browsers, so that anyone can listen as well as read? Sure, use Flash. But it will drive your costs through the roof.
Offer a flash-based reading course available and get them some reading proficiency first. Nobody should graduate without the ability to read enough to learn at a high-school level. High-school textbooks aren't exactly Heidegger, and your through-the-cracks targets will probably require simplified language usage anyway. In simple terms, you can't use big words anyway. You would be reading to them because they can't read at all, not because they can't understand the language. If they can't read at all, learning that Ronald Regan was the 50th president of the United States won't do them any good, as they won't have the capability to actualize on that knowledge.
Don't do it. Focus on the kids you *can* help. Improve your curriculum, and do extensive studies with students to find out their patterns / needs / successes / weaknesses. And yes, offer a reading course. But quite frankly if your students are graduating your course (and highschool) while remaining entirely or functionally illiterate, you might as well just sell diplomas.
I tend to think that the person who Asked Slashdot doesn't want to be in the business of selling diplomas. And judging by hir comments about hirs cirriculum director, I would think ze too would rather students become literate rather than graduate without useful knowledge. I hope hirs cirriculum director is reading these comments with a critical eye: while Ask Slashdots do tend to draw fewer solutions to goals than people critical of your goals, in this case such criticism is warranted. Nobody should get a High-School diploma without being able to read. Period. Focus your limited funding on those people you can help, and leave those you can't to the system that bred them. Or, as I mentioned, make an online literacy course available to those people willing to put in the effort.
The ______ Agenda
Good guess, but Thinkcage is my personal space....as is my slashdot login. The company is Advanced Academics. We are already in business helping kids and school districts every day. Unfortunately, a remedial program is not an option, despite what you (and I) think. And I do agree with you. I'm looking for technology solutions here, not opinions about the methods.
From their write up, it sounds like it might be a solution.
For someone who is dyslexic learning to read may take many years beyond what is considered normal.
As a result, dyslexics tend to fall behind in other subjects since so much of our educational process involves written material. This product could help them bridge the gap that forms while they are catching up on their reading skills.