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Development of ICT-based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages

Development of ICT-based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages. Mamoru Iwabuchi Kenryu Nakamura Paul Blenkhorn RCAST, University of Tokyo, Japan. Main Theme. Promoting the use of ICT-based assistive technology (AT) including in countries where minority languages are used.

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Development of ICT-based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages

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  1. Development of ICT-based Assistive Technologyfor Minority Languages Mamoru Iwabuchi Kenryu Nakamura Paul Blenkhorn RCAST, University of Tokyo, Japan

  2. Main Theme • Promoting the use of ICT-based assistive technology (AT) including in countries where minority languages are used

  3. Present situation of AT • Small number of users • Limited range of products High cost → Challenging situation for industries

  4. Many countries, particularly developing countries, have not yet reached widespread use of AT • Financial difficulty • Language barrier (OS, text-to-speech) • Low support for people with disabilities Present situation of AT

  5. Our projects Use of existing and generally available mainstream technology as a form of AT • Development of AT, e.g., screen readers, for minority languages • Teaching people about AT • Promotion of the use of accessibility features of PC • Use of mobile phones for PWD

  6. (%) 2.7 Development of screen readers for minority languages 1.0 0.3 0.2 • Development cost in general: from US$100,000, or over US$1 million Screen reader is particularly Important for developing countries 4.0 2.7 0.3 0.2 Ratio of people with visual impairment in India, Nepal, Japan, and the UK(%)

  7. Basic structure of screen readers

  8. Front-end of screen readers • Sends on-screen text to the text-to-speech engine • Includes phonetic adjustment e.g., 2: do: → dui 6: che → cha • Requires additional feature according to each language • Can handle Unicode in recent years → Applicable to many languages in the world • Can be free for basic functions

  9. Text-to-speech engine It is desirable to provide TTS engines as a basic function of OS. • This is true for English environment. • It promotes the use of speech/reading software for PWD. But TTS engines do not exist for minority languages yet. Existing TTS engines also has a barrier for end users. The engines are bundled in other application packages. • License problem • High cost • Non-standard interface (non-SAPI)

  10. Development of screen readers for minority languages • Collaborative research with UK • Hindi text-to-speech • Thunder(free screen reader for Windows) • Phonetic adjustment using regular expressions • Collaboration with a graduate Nepali student who is blind • Infrastructure procurement • PC reuse → A model case of developing AT for minority languages

  11. Demonstration of Nepali screen reader

  12. Joint workshop • Held with the Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind (NAWB) in July 2010 • Contents • Nepeli screen reader for Windows • Text web browser (WebbIE) • Windows accessibility

  13. Toward promising practices • Development of assistive technology using existing technology • Teaching people about AT • Collaboration network → a good scheme to reach a widespread use of AT

  14. Contact address: mamoru@bfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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