Centre for Internet and Society

Report on training workshop at NAB Delhi R K Puram

nirmita — 2015-07-20T14:53:03Z

The workshop was held at the National Association for the Blind, Sector 5 R. K. Puram, New Delhi on December 17, 2014. The objective of the workshop was to help the staff members understand NVDA and its functioning with the Indian languages so that they efficiently attend to the queries of the visitors and the callers at helpdesk.

Five staff members lead by Mr. Ajay Sharma, Project Manager of the technical unit at NAB R.K Puram Delhi had attended aa training workshop. Concepts related to the NVDA were discussed in the workshop. It was an interactive workshop. Ms. Suman Dogra had conducted the workshop. The staff members had certain doubts with NVDA, that were cleared. Some new information was imparted to the staff members. The helpdesk was made to understand the functioning of the language section of NVDA. This will help callers to configure their native language on their machines.

Some tips were given to the staff members on imparting training in NVDA in coming training modules at NAB. Object navigation was explained to the computer instructors. The team at NAB is informed that they can inform about any of the problem in NVDA to the Indian development team.

The following individuals attended the workshop:

Ms. Bharti
Mr. Yogesh Chhabra
Mr. Rajesh
Mr. Rajneesh
Mr. Ajay Sharma

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-workshop-at-nab-delhi-rk-puram

Report on Training on the Use of eSpeak Hindi on Windows and Android Platforms

nirmita — 2015-07-21T14:30:54Z

Indian Association for the Blind conducted a one day workshop on the use of eSpeak for Windows and Android platforms on May 28, 2015. Twenty-seven delegates attended the training programme held at Indian Association for the Blind, Delhi. Kaifee Asami was the trainer. The programme introduced eSpeak for reading and writing in Hindi on both computers and mobiles.

The session started with introduction to NVDA and its advantages as a screen reader. This was followed by demonstration of reading Hindi text using eSpeak. Different variants of eSpeak were also demonstrated.

A hands on session was conducted following the comprehension, where in the participants were made to type the Hindi characters and a few simple words. This was followed by demonstration of the Android platform and its versatility. The participants were shown how to download eSpeak from the Google Play store and how to configure eSpeak in the keyboard and language settings.

A few of the participants who had internet connectivity on their android devices were then able to read Hindi newspapers on the internet. The overall satisfaction of the students was appreciable. Most of them expressed deep satisfaction on the day's event.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-use-of-espeak-hindi-on-windows-and-android-platforms

Report on Training of the use of eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-03-10T02:12:55Z

NVDA team organized a workshop for training participants on using eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA software. The workshop was held at Asha Kiran Training Institute on February 20 and 21, 2015. Twenty-three delegates attended the workshop. NAB, Chandigarh was the training partner.

The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Tilak Raj, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Punjab. The salient feature of this programme was that except for one all the participants were connected in the use of Punjabi in their academics, and hence the enthusiasm for learning the use of Espeak with NVDA was noticeable.

The Punjabi typing session was conducted by the developer of eSpeak Punjabi, Mahesh Inder. The workshop also introduced the participants to use of assistive devices and the advantages of technology in a professional’s life.


Pictured above: Faculty imparting training on laptop to use the NVDA software as delegates listen keenly.


Pictured above: One of the delegates is seen asking questions to the faculty during the training session

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-of-use-of-e-speak-punjabi-nvda

Report on Training in the use of eSpeak Oriya with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-03-18T17:05:46Z

NVDA team from the Centre for Internet and Society conducted this workshop at Orrisa Association for the Blind, Bhubaneswar from February 8 to 10, 2015. Thirty six individuals attended the training.

The workshop received an overwhelming response from participants. The participants acknowledged the importance of Oriya support for their career growth. This was evident from the excitement and curiosity of the participants to read and type in Oriya language.

The eSpeak training was preceded by a Career Counselling Workshop, which highlighted the importance of reading and writing in the local vernacular language for a career growth.

The main challenge faced during the training was that there was virtually no material available in Oriya on the internet in Unicode font, for the participants to practice reading. Hence, the participants had to first learn typing and then create their own sentences to read.

The training was conducted by Ganshyam Mohante, who also was the tester for Oriya language.

The inauguration was attended by the whole managing committee of Orrisa Association for the Blind.

Orrisa Association for the Blind is also very keen on organizing a 15 day follow up programme, where more delegates could be trained in reading and writing in Oriya, along with the knowledge of using computers.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-use-of-e-speak-oriya-with-nvda

Report on Training in the Use of eSpeak Gujarati with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-07-20T14:30:24Z

The training was imparted at Blind Peoples Association, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad on November 17 and 18, 2014. Thirteen delegates underwent the training. R.P.Soni was the local coordinator.

The participants were teachers for the blind, teaching various subjects like Computers, History, Languages, etc., representing 5 organizations.

Training Objectives

To identify at least two individuals who are conversant with typing in the local language and are also screen reader users; for conducting this training under supervision and then conduct similar trainings across the State of Gujarat.
To train the teachers of the blind in the use of reading and writing in the local language, with the help of eSpeak and NVDA.
To create awareness about the aids and appliances available for Persons with Blindness.
To share information about different resources for gaining knowledge.

Need for Training

The participants expressed the following reasons for attending the training:

Wanting to compose their own question papers for the subjects that they taught.
To read the newspapers in the local language for updating themselves in about current affairs.
To be able to write letters and communicate with the State machinery in the local language.
To scan and read material in local language.

Training Sessions

The following sessions were conducted during the 2 days of training:

Introduction of Participants.
Introduction of CIS and DFI.
Introduction to NVDA and Espeak.
Advantages of NVDA.
The Regional Language development programme in local language’s supported by CIS.
Gujarati Commprehension using Espeak
Interaction over phone with Mr. Praful Vyas [Tester for Gujarati Espeak]
How to configure NVDA, Language options in Windows, Selection of Keyboards etc.
Typping using Phonetic keyboard.
Typing using Traditional Keyboard.
Hands on demonstration of Aids and Appliances such as Smart Cane, Plextalk Vachak, HV Pro, Sonic Labeller, Liquid Level Indicator, Nexus 7 Tablet, Android phone, etc.
Information about the ADIP scheme and how to obtain the above mentioned devices.
Information about Bookshare and other sources of resource materials.

Future Trainers

The 2 individuals who were identified during the training as future trainers were:

Gignesh Pokar.
Mahendra Chudasma.

The following feedback was received from the participants on completion of the 2 day training:

Training was found to be very helpful.
The training met their expectations.
They were satisfied with the training content and style.
The inclusion of hands on demonstration of Aids and Appliances was appreciated.
They did not have complete information about the ADIP scheme and the participants found it to be useful.
The duration of the training was found to be adequate.
Only 2 of the participants were Bookshare members. The rest have shown a desire to join and 4 have already submitted their applications.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-e-speak-gujarati-with-nvda

Report on Training in eSpeak Marathi

nirmita — 2015-07-16T01:48:09Z

The NVDA team conducted a training at SIES College, Sion, Mumbai on June 28, 2015. Thirty-four delegates attended the training programme. Harshad Jadhav was the trainer.

Voice Vision conducted workshops on June 27 and 28, 2015 for persons with visual impairment in Mumbai. These workshops were in partnership of National Association for the Blind (NAB) Delhi which has been a pioneer in the spread of Assistive Technology for the blind and Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) Bengaluru which has been conducting the project for development of Indian Language support for eSpeak TTS (Text-to-Speech) which is bundled as the default TTS with NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access). The workshops were held at SIES college of Arts, Science & Commerce, Sion, Mumbai.

The inauguration of the event was done by the Chief Guest from the social justice & special assistance ministry, Yashwant More, Regional Deputy Commissioner, Department of Social Welfare, Konkan Bhavan.

This was followed by the training session on NVDA which was conducted by the CEO of NAB Delhi himself, Dr. Homiyar Mobedji. It was a practical training session for the participants on how technology can be used for the non-visual access of computers. Dr. Homiyar and his team along with the zeal of the participants to learn about NVDA made it a wonderful session as recorded from the feedback received.

The NVDA training was followed by a lunch break. Post the lunch break there was a session on eSpeak TTS in Marathi language and was conducted by Harshad Jadhav, Marathi Tester for the eSpeak project.

A total of 34 people attended the workshop held on the June 27, 2015 at SIES college of Arts, Science & Commerce, Sion, Mumbai.

The workshop saw participation from people from every walk of life, students, job seekers, special educators and the like. More than 45% of the attendants were students and 12% of them were trainers in professional life.

Forty-nine per cent of the attendants said their overall experience with the workshop was excellent, 43 per cent said it was very good while 8 per cent of the attendants felt their overall experience to be good.

Sixty-three per cent believed that the workshop was highly helpful for them personally and professionally, while 37 per cent believed that the workshop was surely helpful somewhat suggesting that they were very much satisfied with the workshops.

A whopping 74 per cent of the respondents were highly impressed by the trainer and termed him ‘excellent’, 23 per cent said he was very good and 3% said he was good.

Ninety-one per cent of the respondents were overwhelmed by the quality of work put in by our volunteers and termed them ‘excellent’. Nine per cent said the volunteers were very good.

Fifty-one per cent people regarded the content material provided as excellent, 34 per cent said the material was very good whereas 15 per cent said it was good.

					Pictured above: Participants undergoing training in eSpeak Marathi at the workshop in Mumbai

Learnings from the Workshop

Forty-two per cent of the respondents felt that the Marathi typing session which was conducted would immensely help them in their career and the overall response was that all the activities which happened in the workshops would help them in their profession.

Thirty-seven per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the workshop content and thought nothing more is required. Some other responses were directed towards need for more of such workshops as well as workshops in various other regional languages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-e-speak-marathi

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA at NAB, Delhi

nirmita — 2015-06-04T01:19:28Z

The objective of the workshop was to help the staff members understand NVDA and its functioning with the Indian languages so that they efficiently attend to the queries of the visitors and the callers at help desk.

Five staff members lead by Mr. Ajay Sharma, Project Manager of the technical unit at National Association for the Blind, R.K Puram, Delhi had attended a training workshop. Concepts related to the NVDA were discussed in the workshop. It was an interactive workshop. Ms. Suman Dogra had conducted the workshop. The staff members had certain doubts with NVDA, that were cleared. Some new information was imparted to the staff members. The help desk was made to understand the functioning of the language section of NVDA. This will help callers to configure their native language on their machines.

Some tips were given to the staff members on imparting training in NVDA in coming training modules at National Association for the Blind. Object navigation was explained to the computer instructors. The team at National Association for the Blind is informed that they can inform about any of the problem in NVDA to the Indian development team.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-nvda-at-delhi

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Tamil

nirmita — 2015-07-20T15:23:42Z

The training programme was conducted on January 27 and 28, 2015 at Karna Vidya Technology Centre, [KVTC] Guindy, Chennai. A total of 15 delegates attended the show.

We are extremely grateful to Raghuram, Coordinator, KVTC and Shankar from Bookshare, Chennai for organizing the Tamil training within 48 hours of notice, as the said workshop was originally planned at NIVH, Chennai. Due to last minute widrawal of NIVH, Raghu and Shankar excepted the challenge of hosting the training.

The 15 participants mainly comprised of computer teachers and students pursuing higher studies. The Tamil reading and writing training was conducted by E. Sakthivel and S. Pandiyaraj.

The follow up 15 day training for Tamil will be conducted at Coimbatore and it will be conducted by the above mentioned trainers. The 15 day event will be planned by Shankar and Raghuraman.

The participants of the workshop were also shown the assistive devices and made aware about the ADIP scheme. KVTC has now started registering persons with Blindness for the ADIP scheme and shall send in their data to Saksham Delhi.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-e-speak-in-tamil

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Marathi & Konkani

nirmita — 2015-06-03T15:47:18Z

The training programme was organized at International Youth Hostel and Estrila du Mar, sponsored by Rotary Club of Goa and Estrila Du Mar from April 20 to 22, 2015. Seventy-seven delegates attended the training programme.

The Rotary club of Goa organized a RYLA for the visually challenged youth of Goa and Maharashtra. The event was sponsored by Estrila Du Mar. The event had components of career counselling, introduction to assistive technology, demonstration of assistive aids and appliances and reading and writing in Marathi and Konkani. The participants were extremely eager to learn about the different reading and writing solutions. They were given hands on demonstration of all the assistive devices.

The programme was inaugurated by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Goa. This was followed by a session on "Needs Assessment" from the participants. Most of the participants expressed a strong desire to learn "How to Read and Write in Marathi and Konkani". The main sessions were conducted by Taha Haaziq, Resource Centre Coordinator, Central Library, Goa, Miss Zainab, Coordinator, Bookshare India and Dr. Homiyar.

The second day of the programme was dedicated to demonstrations of reading solutions. Participants were encouraged to listen to the eSpeak Synthesiser and understand the comprehension in Marathi. Most were comfortable listening to an e-copy of Sakal, a Marathi daily.

Many participants who had Android phones with them tried to read in Marathi using eSpeak at the end of day 2.

Day 3 was reserved for writing in Marathi. The participants who had basic knowledge of computers were encouraged to practice the in-script keyboard layout. They managed to write simple words at the end of the session.

The three day event was validated by the President of Rotary Club of Goa. The participants expressed about their learnings from the event.Most of them said that they had gained a lot of new knowledge and wanted to attend a short term basic computing workshop, for improving their skills. All the participants received a gift hamper containing CD’s loaded with set up of NVDA along with its tutorials.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-e-speak-marathi-konkani

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Hindi

nirmita — 2015-06-04T01:58:34Z

The training programme was held on February 5 and 6, 2015 at National Association for the Blind in R.K. Puram, New Delhi. Fifteen delegates attended.

The training at NAB at Delhi had representations from organizations serving the blind from all across Delhi. Those who took part were either Heads of IT Department or computer instructors. The aim of inviting the IT heads and computer instructors was to promote the use of NVDA in their training programmes and also facilitate the reading and writing in Hindi.

The workshop at the Blind Relief Association was mainly attended by Special Educators for the Blind. The aim of promoting use of NVDA and knowledge of reading and writing in Hindi using eSpeak amongst these special educators was that these special educators would be working closely with the blind community. If the special educators are sensitized, the use of regional languages can be maximized.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-espeak-hindi

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Assamese

nirmita — 2015-06-03T02:44:33Z

This training was held at Monfort School in Guwahati on May 9 and 10, 2015. Laishram Lingappa was the trainer. Eleven participants attended the programme.

Situated in the backdrop of steep hills, Monfort school was the perfect location for training in use of eSpeak Assamese. The delegates came from all across Assam, and represented various organizations. The participants were extremely impressed with the quality of the eSpeak Assamese, and were able to follow the text-to-speech (TTS) very fast.

The visit to Gauhati University’s Cell for the Differently Abled was also a grand success. A presentation about the power of NVDA and eSpeak was made in front of the Chairman of Gauhati University, Registrar, Joint Registrar, Head of the Cell for the Differently-abled, Chief Librarian and the Chief of the Computer Section.

At the end of the two hour presentation, it has been decided that the Cell for the Differently-abled will take the lead in the following aspects:

Preparing a complete list of Persons with Blindness studying in various Colleges of Gauhati University

Organizing a Sensatising workshop for the identified Persons with Blindness.

Negociate with the Publishers associated with the Gauhati University, for Accessible Bookks.

Identify staff who could be trained in making books Accessible in both English and Assamese.

NAB – Delhi will provide Technical support to the Cell for the Differently Abled, as and when required.

A visit was also undertaken to the Gauhati Blind school, where in the students were presented with the different accessibility solutions. They were shown the Smart Cane along with the Plextalk Vachak. Most of the students took keen interest in knowing about the various solutions including eSpeak Assamese. Fortunately the school is supported by some very enterprising young Blind persons, who are extremely good in Technology. These volunteers have taken up upon themselves to teach computers to the students of Gauhati Blind School.

A 15 day follow up training will also be organized either at the sister organization of Monfort school in the district of Tora or the Cell for the Differently-abled in Gauhati.

Our thanks to Laishram for organizing the four day trip to Gauhati.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-espeak-assamese

Report on Training in Basic Computing with use of eSpeak and NVDA in Oriya

nirmita — 2015-06-03T01:24:53Z

This training was held at Orissa Association for the Blind at Bhubaneswar from February 8 to 10, 2015. Thirty six delegates attended the programme.

The highlight of the training was that we received an overwhelming response from the participants. The training had to be conducted in the main auditorium of the Orissa Association for the Blind, instead of the computer lab, which had only a capacity of seating 10 trainees. The participants acknowledged the importance of Oriya support for their career growth. There was a lot of excitement amongst the participants to know how to read and type in Oriya.

The eSpeak training was preceded by a Career Counseling Workshop, which highlighted the importance of Reading and Writing in the local vernacular language for a career growth. The main challenge faced during the training was that there was virtually no material available in Orriya on the internet in Unicode font, for the participants to practice reading. Hence the participants had to first learn typing and than create their own little lines to read.

The training was conducted by Ganshyam Mohante, who had also contributed as the tester for Oriya. The Inauguration was attended by the whole managing committee of Orissa Association for the Blind, who had specially assembled for the event.

The Orissa Association for the Blind is also very keen on organizing the 15 day follow up programme, where in more persons will be trained in reading and writing in Oriya, along with the knowledge for using basic computers.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-espeak-nvda-odia

Report on Training in Basic Computing for using eSpeak Hindi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-06-08T02:28:25Z

The training was held at the Conference Hall and Computer Lab, Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow from January 20 to 22, 2015.

Guests who attended the inauguration

Dr. Nishith Rai (Vice Chancellor)
Dr. Akhilendra Kumar (Registrar of the University)
Dr. Avnish Chandra Mishra (HoD, Deptt of Special Education)
Dr. Adya Shakti Rai (Coordinator)
Dr. Vijay Shankar Sharma, Associate Professor
Sri Ashish Gupta

Number of participants: 50 students from various departments on the first day for the Bookshare and Training in Assistive devices and 20 during the eSpeak training.

The session on use of online libraries and use and demonstration of various assistive aids and appliances was done by Nirmal Verma from Perkins Products. This session was attended by the dignitaries, as it followed the inauguration.

Training in reading and writing using eSpeak Hindi was carried out on the 21st and 22nd of January. These sessions were attended by 20 students of the university. Most of the students were using JAWS as their primary screen reader till date. Hence NVDA was introduced in detail during the first session. All the participants were hand held in the installation and configuration of NVDA during this session.

The 2nd session on day 2 was dedicated to reading Hindi text using Espeak and NVDA. Most of the students were able to understand Espeak very easily, and were able to read and comprehend the given text.

The final day commenced with introduction of Hindi typing. The participants were guided for activating Hindi keyboard on their systems. This was followed by the introduction of the Hindi keyboard layout.

Important Achievements of the Training

A meeting was held with the Registrar and the HOD of Disability Cell of the University on the 2nd day of the training. The following points were agreed upon by the authorities during the meeting:

Formation of a dedicated Resource / Reading room for the Visually Challenged students of the University.
Permission was granted to the Visually Challenged students to utilize the main computer lab, till the establishment of the Resource room.
The University would allow the students to use Laptops for writing their own Exams in the future.
A 15 day training for new users of computers will be conducted in mid of March, after the semester exams are over.

The 2nd session was dedicated to typing in Hindi. The participants were able to type complex words by the end of the session. The training was concluded by solving queries of the participants and distribution of some softwares and participation certificates.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-using-espeak-hindi-with-nvda

Report on the Use of eSpeak in Urdu and Kashmiri

nirmita — 2015-07-21T15:39:50Z

NVDA team conducted a training programme at Kashmir University from June 15 to 17, 2015. Forty-four delegates attended the training programme. Kaifee Asami was the trainer.

Inauguration

The programme was inaugurated by the District Commissioner of Srinagar. He emphasised the importance of Technology in lives of persons with visual impairment. Head of Radio Kashmir, Head of Cell for the differently-abled students, Kashmir University, Head Librarian – Alama Iqbal Library and Head of Students Cell also graced the occasion.

The inauguration was followed by a press conference. At least 7 members of print and electronic media covered the function. The event also got a lot of publicity on Doordarshan Kashmir and Radio Kashmir.

The inaugural function was attended by more than 100 persons with blindness, parents of blind students, faculty and staff of Kashmir University and volunteers helping during the event.

The main training was conducted in the Reading / Training room of Alama Iqbal Library. Commendable efforts were put in by the library staff for arranging for the 2 day training.

Students from all across the Kashmir valley attended the training. They were overwhelmed by the technology presented. Most of them were very new to screen readers, whilst most had never imagined that reading and writing in Urdu was possible for blind persons.


Above: File photo of delegates posing at the end of the training session held in Kashmir

The event was declared as a grand success by one and all. There were numerous requests for conducting many more such trainings,as J&K has been left out of the technological revolution.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-use-of-espeak-in-urdu-and-kashmiri

Report on the Training in the Use of eSpeak Hindi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-10-04T10:52:40Z

This workshop was organized by the newly established NGO called “Lakshay for the Differently Abled’”. The main objective of the organization is to spread the knowledge of Assistive Technology amongst the Visually Impaired population of the State of Jarkhand.

The event was conducted on-line by Dr. Homiyar over skype, with local support from Mritunjay Kumar and Zainab.

The participants were a mix of Trainers and students from all walks of life. They had come in from all parts of Jarkhand and Bihar.

The event started by an inauguration by the local Municipal Deputy Mayor. The DY. Mayor of Ranchi promised a new premises for the newly formed NGO during his inaugural speech.

The main training began with a round of introductions and Expectations from the participants.

This was followed by sessions on Introduction to NVDA, Advantages of NVDA, Download and Configuration of NVDA and Configuration of Windows for Hindi.

The post lunch session was dedicated to explanation of different menus of NVDA, followed by comprehension of Hindi text using Espeak.

The last session was used to introduce the Hindi Inscript Keyboard.

Day 2 started with a quick revision of the Keyboard followed by an extended session on Hindi typing.

The post lunch session was dedicated to Bookshare and Reading and Writing on the Android platform.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-the-training-in-the-use-of-espeak-hindi-with-nvda