Centre for Internet and Society

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 15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Oriya

nirmita — 2015-05-10T13:41:20Z

This programme was the first of its kind in the state of Orissa. The participants were mostly completely new to using computers and were also completely from the vernacular background. This training demonstrates that many more such regional level trainings should be organized in order to reach the untouched population of persons with blindness, and expose them to the advantages of today’s technology.

Newspaper Report

Post News Network

Bhubaneswar, April 16: Several visually impaired citizens living in the state Thursday got a reason to celebrate. The Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped (VRCH), an outfit of the Central government, launched a training programme on the day for a bunch of men and women suffering from visual imparity. They would be imparted training on e-learning software, which can assist them in getting acquainted with the different aspects of computer operations.

The 15-day e-learning programme witnessed coming together of several physically challenged citizens of diverse age groups, from different parts of the state. The training is being provided by the government unit free of cost. The software, which will help the blind read texts on a computer, is known as Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA). It helps in bridging the chasm between die visually impaired people and the technology It facilitates communication between them through a» audio device. The software reads out text on the screen to the differently able, who are unable to read screen texts due to vision difficulties.
“Although the software came into existence in 2006 but it gained popularity slowly. The main advantage of this software is its diversity. It has now inculcated several other Indian languages, including Oriya into it. So now people from different ethnic groups can access texts in their mother tongue.

Moreover, the software is free for its users and can be downloaded easily from the Internet. Users of this software can now read computer files, use social networking sites and can even read all available resources on cyberspace,” said Mrutunjay Kumar, Member of All India Association for Blind who will impart teaching on the software to the blind students. Kumar himself suffers from visual imparity. Similar e-learning software, however, already existed to help the blind people use computers, but its high annual subscription amount and limited language options narrowed the usage of such software.

NVDA being subscription free and diverse is expected to cater to the larger interests of the visually impaired citizens of the state and the country Pokhariput-based VRCH on whose campus the training programme is being held was overwhelmed by the response it garnered from the public. Officials of the institution also assured all possible support for the participants. “The main aim of the training-programme is to give them a platform to strengthen their skills. The whole programme is totally free. No participation fees will be levied on the trainees. Moreover, special arrangements have been made for free accommodation and food for the trainees so that they can focus only on training,” said Ram Kishore Sharma, assistant director, VRCH.

Earlier in the day, many outgoing trainees, who completed some skill development training at the institution, were felicitated by the institution. Ashok Behera, deputy director, State Directorate of Welfare of Persons with Disabilities, was present during the occasion as chief guest and felicitated several students who had successfully completed their training at the institution.

Venue: Institute of Social Work and Research, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
Dates: 16th – 29th April 2015
No. of Participants: 30
Trainer: Mritunjay Kumar.

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

Report on 15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Gujarati

nirmita — 2015-05-10T11:23:42Z

This programme was aimed at high school students who were completely new to computers. The aim of the workshop was to empower the students to at least read and write using eSpeak Gujarati with NVDA within the 15 day duration.

Venue: Shree Navchetan Andhajan Mandal Madhapar - Kachchh.
Dates: April 2 to April 16, 2015
Trainer: Mahendra Chudasma.
Language: Gujarati
Number of Participants: 15

Most of the participants achieved the target and were also able to manage simple tasks like opening and saving documents in Word and also had the opportunity of gaining knowledge of the use of Android phones. Our thanks to Mahendra for ensuring that the participants came out with flying colours at the end of the workshop.

Training Schedule

April 2

Introduction
Information about Computer and its Parts
Keyboard orientation. Function keys, alphabets keys and number keys and number pad
About desktop, start menu, notification and taskbar
2: how to press 2 keys windows plus M. and alt plus F4

April 3

How to start Microsoft Office and Word
How to type words and how to read it. And modify delete and add alphabets and word
Modify spellings

April 4

Practice on topics covered in the first two days
How to start narrator without screen reader and how to install screen reader
How to read NVDA's commands by its help

April 5

How to formatting file by title, bold, increase and decrees fonts, make underline and justified and save it
How to make folder on desktop and how to search and copy file in the documents and paste in folder

April 8

Information about notification
How to set clock by notification and control panel
Difference between file and folder
How to play song with media player, VLC and Winamp
How to search in file and folders in your computer
Run Windows

April 9

Internet's information
Internet short commands
Read news in English, Gujarati, and Hindi newspaper through online

April 10

How to short navigate in internet by h for heading, t for table, l for list and insert f7 for links
About check box, combo box, radio button and button
How to create mail, and read it and compose mail and send it. With bcc and cc

April 11

About job related sites and banks sites
Searching through Google

April 12

How to download
Some general questions on computer practice

April 13

Practice for last days and some questions answers
Information about some messengers Facebook and Skype with its demonstration
How to create account and how to use these

April 14

Practice of old topics
Information about scanner with its demonstration
And demonstration with EnAble India EYE Tool and EnAble India Spelling Tool

April 15

Revision for complete course of NVDA of 15 days

April 16

Information about Android on students demand

List of Students for Gujarati Training

Garva Ajay Valjibhai
Chauhan Jayendrasinh Popatsinh
Meriya Pravin Karamshibhai
Gadhvi Hari Karsanbhai
Jat Razak Haronbhai
Koli Mavji Ramjibhai
Ganava Mital Panglabhai
Chawda Bharti Popatbhai
Maheswari Sunita Sumarbhai
Goyal Dipin Ravjibhai
Jeda Hisan Samirbhai
Patel Ritesh Bipinbhai
Raval Bhumi Nitinbhai
Mokariya Shardaben Girishbhai
Jain Alpaben Manojbhai

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

Report on the Progress in Manipuri Language Testing

nirmita — 2015-05-10T09:38:57Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is doing a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages. This blog post captures the key updates of the work done by CIS team for Manipuri language.

Manipuri was added to e-Speak under this project. The language was refined to complete the basic support with the help of the language tester from Imphal, Manipur. Our team had visited Imphal, Manipur to work with the language tester on December 22, 2014. The following changes were made in Manipuri language:

Entire number dictionary was introduced and modified.
Specific pronunciation for 100 to 900 was added.
All alphabets were modified as per acceptable pronunciation.
Pronunciation of consonants was corrected.
Rules for consonants at the beginning without diacritical mark were added and corrected.
One word as example (fOl – fruit) was added as exception for /fO/ at the beginning.
Modification of nasal, sound generated bu /uNgo was done.
Modification of pronunciation of words with birsorga was done.
Modification of pronunciation for words ending / using /khandat-ta done. Was made.
Pronunciation of joint alphabet like "khio", "ra" done. Was added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-progress-in-manipuri-language-testing

Comments to the GIGW

nirmita — 2015-05-09T16:00:11Z

The Centre for Internet and Society submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre on April 30, 2015.

We the undersigned would like to commend the NIC for taking a leadership role in promoting eaccessibility through the notification of the Guidelines for Indian Government websites (GIGW) in 2009. Undoubtedly, web accessibility plays an ultimately crucial role in enabling and enhancing citizen participation and access to information. The development of assistive technologies both hardware and software has increased the potentiality of the constituency of persons with disabilities and elderly to become one of the largest consumer groups on the Internet. We use the word ‘potentiality’ because the current information ecosystem on the Internet, comprising information through text, electronic documents, audio, video and other multimedia presented through Indian websites are inaccessible for persons using screen readers and other technologies.

Despite the passage of 6 years since the GIGW, there has been negligible progress on the front for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards. An evaluation of accessibility of government websites carried out in 2012[1] demonstrated that the majority yet remained inaccessible, with very slow improvement in the situation thereafter. Our interaction with government departments and government web developers revealed that there was still a relative lack of awareness of the need to conform to these guidelines coupled with an absolute lack of knowledge on how to implement them. Given this background, we submit our recommendations as below:

Mandatory: Since experience has demonstrated that voluntary compliance has not worked to bring about accessibility in government communication through the Internet, it is necessary that these guidelines be made mandatory with a strict deadline beyond which noncompliance becomes an offence, to ensure that it is taken seriously. This is now partly in place since the notification of the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility[2] by the DEITy in Oct 2013. The legal mandate around this will only strengthen once the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill comes in force. Hence, the present recommendation.
WCAG 2.0 level AA compliance: We recommend that WCAG 2.0 level AA be specified as the standard for minimum level of compliance in the guidelines. This is recommended for several reasons.
a. These are globally accepted standards which have been well researched
b. These have assigned success criteria for each guideline, which is not present in the current draft of guidelines, thus enabling a developer to know whether the criteria have been adequately met.
c. The task of review is a constant one which is being undertaken by experts around the world through various study groups and technical committees, which will ensure that updates are timely and keep abreast of new developments. Hence, the burden of review will not be upon us. At present, we also do not have the domain expertise on this subject which is available with W3C and elsewhere globally. Instead, efforts may be focused upon making any additions to the WCAG 2.0 which are required to make them more comprehensive in the Indian context.
Meeting success criteria: For each accessibility checkpoint / guideline, there should be defined success criteria to ensure that the implementation meets acceptable levels. There should be Objective measures in place to have technical validation of all the websites. There needs to be a process defined to validate all websites on WCAG accepted tools to ensure compliance to technical standards. The recommended procedure provided by the W3C for evaluating websites known as the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology 1.0[3] (WCAG-EM) may also be followed in this regard.
Onus of implementation: The onus of complying with the Guidelines must be placed on the top management in an organisation/ department/ ministry. Someone like a board member or other senior person.
Accessibility audit: There should be an accessibility audit after the development of a website by a 3rd party entity independent of the website developer and website owner.
Accessibility audit agency: There must be a provision to setup an entity which can perform access audit for all government websites. The agency may include government officials from various departments, ministries or autonomous bodies, leading accessibility firms and must include end users.
Content updation: To ensure the accessibility of new content that is added to a website on a regular basis, there should be a defined accessibility process so that an existing system that is accessible is not broken.
Clarity in the specifications: There should be clear guidelines to make it easy to comprehend for all and not just a technical person. At present, some of the guidelines are ambiguous and may not be easily discernible even to an experienced developer or website development agencies who are not domain experts. For example, guideline5 states: ‘Information structure and relationship is preserved in all presentation styles’. This guideline could be clearer if it specified that tabular information should be specified with table tags, labels should be marked with label tags, Headings should be marked with heading tags. Etc. This reiterates the earlier point that adherence to WCAG 2.0 is best since it provides developers with resources such as Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0 documents. Another example is guideline 19- ‘There is adequate contrast between text and background colour’. However, it is unclear as to what is meant by ‘adequate’. WCAG 2.0 on the other hand, specifies the contrast for each level. IT specifies acceptable colour combinations for background, foreground and text which increase accessibility.
Stress on implementation: A lot of attention should be given to implementing the guidelines. The fact that there has been minimal success in adoption of the guidelines makes out a clear case for a stronger awareness strategy and adoption action plan, with a dedicated team or department in place within NIC which can work towards supporting training and retrofitting efforts with different government departments and agencies around the country. This also calls for a two tier team approach, one at the central level, with contact points set up for each state which are responsible for this implementation, with the time limit for enforcement of these guidelines. For this purpose, partnerships may be sought with private players and organisations serving the disabled and accessibility experts.

We are available to help this endeavour and are happy to provide support whether in the form of clarifications, feedback or any other manner. Our contact details are given at the end of this submission.

[1]. Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report (by CIS and Hans Foundation): http://cisindia.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india

[2]. Available at http://www.ncert.nic.in/announcements/notices/pdf_files/Nationalpolicyonuniversal.pdf

[3]. Available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-EEM/

Click to download the submission file.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-gigw

Inclusive Financial Services - Global Trends in Accessibility Requirements

nirmita — 2015-05-03T06:55:49Z

Inclusive Financial Services is a G3ict White Paper researched in cooperation with the Centre for Internet and Society. The research paper comprises a Foreword and Introduction, four chapters — Barriers to Access for Persons with Disabilities and Diverse Abilities, International Framework, Integrating Accessibility into the System, and State of Practice - Impact of the Convention on Inclusive Finance and Accessibility Efforts around the Globe.

Foreword

Global demand for accessibility continues to grow, due in part to the strengthening voice worldwide of more than one billion people with disabilities, including the aging population, and important frameworks, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. From a private sector standpoint, the Convention represents a unique opportunity to ensure equal access to information while achieving global harmonization of standards and economies of scale. Understanding that technology is the great equalizer for underserved populations and having a clear roadmap towards inclusive information and communications technologies (ICT), rather than simple compliance strategies, will benefit everyone in every industry.

Specifically, the financial services sector is faced with the need to transform operations while providing truly exceptional customer experiences. Disruptive trends -- such as the aging population, influx of mobile devices and global regulations – are driving demand for more human-centric technology, and creating an opportunity for innovation that are proving to be differentiators for the institutions embracing them. Consumer demand to be in control of interactions and information is forcing those in financial services to reconsider what’s important to stay competitive. By offering an online experience through any device personalized to individual needs, preferences and abilities, organizations can ensure they are reaching the broadest base of the population, especially the “unbanked” and “underbanked,” to enhance interactions and improve sales opportunities.

Customers with lifelong disabilities or age-related impairments represent an increasingly large population among the biggest markets in the world such as OECD countries and China. Also, in many countries aging persons are the holders of a majority of the assets and highly dependent on insurance, retirement and banking services. Ensuring they can use the services they need without encountering accessibility barriers is a powerful way to earn their loyalty in a highly competitive environment.

IBM has a long tradition and culture of accessibility and understands the importance of improving the user experience, managing accessibility compliance, and creating an inclusive workplace environment. Consistent with our own experience, this report highlights the organizational and process adjustments needed to ensure everyone has equal access to timely information they need for work and life.

By creating a holistic strategy for embedding accessible technology across the entire enterprise - from processes to product development to people – organizations can reinvigorate individual channels and harmonize them across the bank. G3ict has written this timely publication for the financial services sector that provides a clear picture of the global forces at work that are transforming how employee- and client-facing applications, products and services are delivered to reach the broadest set of customers. The report also serves as a useful benchmarking source for governments and advocates based on its review of existing solutions already implemented around the world. We applaud G3ict for taking this first step on the road of advocating for greater accessibility of financial services in cooperation with stakeholders from around the world.

Ian Hurst, General Manager, Global Financial Services Sector, IBM Corporation
Frances W. West, Chief Accessibility Officer, IBM Corporation

Introduction

Financial services play a necessary and important role in societies by enabling access to products, resources, and services, enabling savings and asset creation, and facilitating economic self-sufficiency. Access to financial services for all is a necessity in today’s world not simply at the community or household level, but at an individual level, to open doors to banking services, credit services, stocks and shares, insurance, and other markets. Access to and inclusion in financial services is crucial to poverty reduction and participation in economic prosperity and growth and development.

The increasing pervasiveness of technology in the delivery of financial services and the disruption of traditional channels of delivery through ‘FinTech’ (technology for financial service delivery) have generated new enthusiasm and newer ways for reaching out to persons who remain unbanked. Similarly, the increasing nature of services now available through technology has triggered growing demand among persons who remained marginalized from traditional paper-based banking services, as well as calls to ensure that they do not in turn create new barriers to access. Accompanying this growth spurt in technology there has also been an increasing recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities and the utmost importance of providing equal access to them to all services, including financial services.

Persons with disabilities and diverse abilities have been amongst those traditionally marginalized from the financial services sector through a mix of inaccessibility, presumptions of limited need and capacity to manage finances, and mindsets that did not view them as a profitable consumer base. This paradigm is now rapidly changing with growing evidence of their demand and need for access to services as well as the increasing income base of persons with disabilities around the world. Persons with disabilities and diverse abilities are demanding better and easier access to the entire range of financial services. Access to and inclusion in financial services is important to persons across the economic spectrum. And for persons with disabilities who live under the poverty line, it is essential that they are involved in financial inclusion initiatives and programs that will empower them and enable them to become financially independent.

A range of factors are serving as drivers to enhance the inclusion of persons with disabilities and diverse abilities through accessible financial services including demographics, attaining a competitive advantage and improving market share nationally and globally, Corporate Social Responsibility, regulations, legislation and compliance, enhancing business value, ensuring and increasing an inclusive workplace for employees with disabilities, maximizing on technology advances, and ensuring diversity and inclusion for all.

This report offers an introduction and overview to the need for, and mechanisms to achieve accessibility in financial services:

Chapter 1 offers an understanding of the barriers posed by inaccessible financial services to persons with different disabilities.

Chapter 2 highlights the different international mandates and frameworks that are accelerating the promotion of financial inclusion for persons with disabilities.

Chapter 3 offers in-depth descriptions of the accessibility needs based on the type of technology in use, along with examples of effective practices and solutions to promote inclusion. It also offers a look at how different countries are striving to achieve the accessibility mandate.

Chapter 4 focuses on the state of practice of financial inclusion for persons with disabilities across countries and the implementation of the Convention’s requirements for ICT accessibility and financial inclusion. This chapter describes findings from two major studies undertaken by G3ict that paint a picture of the state of financial accessibility today and offer a glimpse into the financial sector’s commitment to incorporate accessibility into their work and services in the future.

Finally, in the Conclusions section, the report offers recommendations for relevant stakeholders to incorporate the principles of inclusion to drive accessibility through product design and delivery, policy and legal structures, and distribution channels and pathways.

Download the report

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/inclusive-financial-services-global-trends-in-accessibility-requirements

Report on 15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Hindi

nirmita — 2015-04-10T02:33:56Z

The highlight of the session was that the students on completion of the 15 days training, were able to write passages in Hindi. All the participants were able to do basic computing, such as opening files, saving them in different locations, surfing the Internet, etc.

The university officials appreciated the work of the students as they showed a resolve to learn Hindi typing. This would enable them to write their own examination papers using eSpeak Hindi. This is a historic step, as till now the students had to depend upon their scribes to write their exams.

Some documents of the final day's work of the students are listed below:

Story

एक जंगल में एक खरगोश और एक कछूआ रहता था। वे दोनो अच्छे दोस्त थे। पह खरगोस बहुत घमंडी था। वह हमेसा कछूए को यह कहता रहता था कि तुम तो बहुत धीरे चलते हो और मै तो बहुत तेज चलता हूं। और कछूए को निचा दिखाने के लिए खरगोश ने कहा कि चलो हम रेस लगाते हैं।और एक दिन सुबह वे दोनो रेस के लिए एक पेड़ के निचे मिलते हैं।और रेस सुरु करते हैं।जैसा की हम सभी जानते हैं कि खरगोस बहुत तेज दौड़ता है तो वह तेजी से दौड़ के आगे निकल जाता है और कछूआ पिछे रह जाता है।जब खरगोश पिछे देखता है तो ऊसे बहूत दूर तक कछूआ दिखाई नही देता है।तो खरगोश सोचता है कि कुछ देर तक आराम कर लेता हूं।तो खरगोस एक पेड़ के निचे आराम के लिए बैठ जाता है।और उसे नींद आ जाती है और वो सो जाता है। और कछूआ धीरे धीरे चल कर खरगोस से आगे निकल जाता है और धीरे घीरे कर के अपने लक्ष्य तक पहूंच जाता है।और खरगोस सोता रह जाता है।और जब उसकी नींद खुलती है तो खरगोस देखता है कि कछूआ रेस के आखरी लक्ष्य तक पहूंच चुका है।और इस तरह कछूआ धीरे चल कर भी रेस जीत जाता है और खरगोस तेज चल कर भी हार जाता है।

सीख-नीरंतर प्रयास करने वाले को सफलता जरूर मिलती है।

अतुलित भलधामम्, हेम शैला भजेहम, दनुज वन किसानम ज्ञान नमामि द्रिगड़्यम वह शक्ति हमे दो दयानिधे, कर्तव्य मार्ग पर डट जावेँ पर सेवा, पर उपकार मेँ हम, जग जिवन सफल बन जावेँ हम दीन दुखी निवलोँ विकलो के सेवक बन सँताप हरेँ जो हैँ अटके भूले बटके, उनको तारेँ खुद तर जावेँ थल दँभ द्वश पाखड झूठ अन्याय से निश दिन दूर रहे जीवन हो शुद्ध, सरल अपना, निश प्रेम शुधारल बरसावेँ निज आन मान मर्यादा का प्रभु, ध्यान रहे अभिमान रहे

जिस देश धरा पर जन्म लिया, बलिदान उसी पर हो जावे सकल गुढ़ा निदानम, वानराढ़ाम धीषम रघुपति प्रिय भक्तम वातजातम नमामी

The Training in Brief (As Provided by the Trainer)

Day 1: Keyboard orientation and introduction to computers
Day 2: Typing
Day 3: Hindi Typing
Day 4: Introduction to Desktop
Day 5: Introduction to Dialogue Boxes and Menus
Day 6: Saving Documents and Creating Folders
Day 7: Content Editing
Day 8: Opening and Closing Programs
Day 9: Concepts of Internet
Day 10: Google Search, Gmail Account, Book Share and Websites
Day 11: Tying Paras in Hindi
Day 12: More Tying Exercises
Day 13 - 15: Revision Exercises

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

Report on the Progress in Bengali Language Testing

nirmita — 2015-04-05T16:23:35Z

Indian Bengali was added to eSpeak by the Indian team. The language was added and improved based on user testing and review.

Conjunct consonant pronunciation when (ba) is conjunct was corrected.
INHERENT vowel PRONUNCIEATION SOME TIMES NEED TO BE SUPPRESSED. It was made possible programmatically.
Changed phoneme rules for য dZV modified to ্) যা :&
sissue with য়/ Oj eg; desired pronunciation /Poi'sa but was being pronounced as 'payosa'
Modified the [phoneme to jV and phone,me rules C)য় (C j
Issue with 'ja'fala, that should double the pronunciation of the preceeding consonant, was rectified. Eg; Onnay was pronounced as 'onyai' as against the desired pronunciation
The Bengali files sent by the developer on 20th December and Third January had been updated in the version.
71 Bengali Exception words had been included with their pronunciation rules - where inherent vowel even being between two consonant is not pronounced.
Changed phoneme rules for য dZV modified to ্) যা :&
issue with য়/ Oj was corrected. eg; desired pronunciation /Poi'sa but was being pronounced as 'payosa'
Issue with 'ja'fala, that should double the pronunciation of the preceeding consonant was rectified. Eg; Onnay was pronounced as 'onyai' as against the desired pronunciation, The Bengali files sent by the developer on, 20th December and Third January had been updated in the version.
4/Auguest/2014Few exception words had been added দশটা , তিরিশটা, চল্লিশটা, পঞ্চাশটা, ষাটটা, সত্তরটা, করবে, বলবে, চলবে, শুনবে, শুনব, মানকচু, ওলকপি, ফটকিরি, চরণপদ্ম.
In eSpeak Indian test build 1.11, the following exception words were added:

অমরসঙ্গী O:mor'SongI
চুপচাপ cup'c,ap
পাগলা pa',g'la
পাগলামো pa',g'la'mo
মর্যাদা mO:rJ,ada
আমপাতা 'ampa,ta
আকাশবানী akaS'banI
বিদঘুটে bi,dg#Ut.e
দেবদেবী deb'debI
অথচ O:t#oco
আমরাই am,rai
খেলা k#&'la
খেলবো k#el'bo
চারটি car,t.i
একটি ekt.i
একটা &kt.a:
দরকার dO:r'kar'
দেখছি dek#'c#i
বলছি bo,lc#i
করছি ko'rc#i
শুনছি Sun'c#i
ভাবছি b#a'bc#i
ঘুরছি g#U,rc#i
দিনরাত din'rat.
সবরকম SO:b,rO:kom
কাজকর্ম kaJ,kO:'rmo
দুঃখ duk#'k#o
তিনটে tin't.e
চারটে car't.e
পাঁচটা p~ac't.a
সাতটা Sat't.a
আটটা a:t.'t.a
দশটা dOS't.:a
একুশটা ekuS't.:a
বাইশটা ba:iS't.:a
তেইশটা tei'St.:a
চব্বিশটা co'b'biS't.:a
পঁচিশটা p~o'ciS't.:a
ছাব্বিশটা ch:a'b'biS't.:a
সাতাশটা Sat.aS't.:a
আঠাশটা a:t.#a:S't.:a
উনত্রিশটা un'triS't.:a
তিরিশটা tiriS't.:a
একত্রিশটা ek'triS't.:a
বত্রিশটা bot:riS't.:a
তেত্রিশটা tetriS't.:a
চৌঁত্রিশটা c~ou:triS't.:a
পঁয়ত্রিশটা p~oj'triS't.:a
ছত্রিশটা chot:riS't.:a
সাঁইত্রিশটা S~ai'triS't.:a
আটত্রিশটা a:t.triS't.:a
উনচল্লিশটা uno'col'l:iS't.:a
চল্লিশটা col'l:iS't.:a

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-the-progress-in-bengali-language-testing

Report on the Progress in Assamese Language Testing

nirmita — 2015-04-05T16:16:05Z

Assamese was added to eSpeak by the Indian team. Rules for the language were introduced and after testing and review, modifications were carried out to ensure basic support. The present document lists issues which were addressed under this project.

Pronunciation rule changes for - 40 - 49. 52 - 56 57 - 59 61 - 64 66 - 69 72 - 75 78 - 80 82 - 86 88 - 89 92 – 99 were corrected.
Pronunciation rule for Hundreds _0C rule were also added and improved.
Conjunctives in asamese were added.
Simple Assamese words following general rules of pronunciation were reviewed.
Finalized pronunciation of joint words.
Modification of rules for (sO) becoming (hO) when in the beginning of the word was done.
Modification of rules for /Ja falaa was done.
Revised the rules for /khio.
Fixed the pronunciation of individual alphabets.
Fixed the pronunciations of "ব" when a vowel is suffixed.
Fixed the pronunciation of "ূ" suffixed to a consonant.
Fixed the pronunciations of "ৱ" in words.
Fixed the pronunciation of a few words with combination of three consonants.
Fixed the pronunciation of "চ" and "ছ" in a word.
Fixed the pronunciations of "ষ" in a word.
Words end with "ত" has an additional sound of "ো" were removed.
The pronunciations of "স", "শ" and "ষ" when it is contracted with another consonant (juktakhor) in a word was made similar to Bengali pronunciation (utcharon).
Pronunciations of "প্ৰ", "ক্ৰ", "শ্ৰ", "ত্ৰ", "গ্ৰ", etc in a word without any suffix of vowel was made clear.
Pronunciation of words ending with "jophola (য)" were rectified.
Pronunciations of Words with "jophola" in the middle were corrected.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-progress-in-assamese-language-testing

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

nirmita — 2015-03-19T01:24:34Z

The training programmes were conducted at the National Association for the Blind, New Delhi on February 5 and 6, 2015 and Blind Relief Association, Delhi on February 13 and 14, 2015. Fifteen participants attended the first training programme at National Association for the Blind. Seventeen participants attended the second training programme held at Blind Relief Association.

The training at National Association for the Blind, Delhi had representations from organizations serving the blind and visually impaired 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 reading and writing in Hindi.

The training programme at 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 sensetized, the use of regional languages can be maximized.

List of Participants at National Association for the Blind

1	Bharti Kalra	bhartikalra56@gmail.com	Computer Instructor, National Association for the Blind
2	Jaikaran	dhaiajaikaran@gmail.com	Gail India Pvt. Ltd.
3	Shivani	shivaniharit@redifmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
4	Shabnam	shabnamdumh@gmail.com	Research Assistant, National Association for the Blind
5	Neetu	ng.neetugoyal@gmail.com	Computer Instructor, National Association for the Blind
6	Dr. R.S. Chauhan	chauhan.ddn@gmail.com	Freelancer
7	Varsha singh	varshactet@gmail.com	Volunteer, National Association for the Blind
8	Neelu Suneja	sunejaneelu@gmail.com	Head, IT Department, Blind Relief Association
9	Rajpal	rajpal007@gmail.com	Senior Computer Instructor, Blind Relief Association
10	Ganesh Bhatt	bhattg526@gmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
11	Maneesh sharma	sharma.manish445@gmail.com	Student, National Association for the Blind
12	Mohammad Sajid	mdsajidsdp11@gmail.com	Student
13	Sanjeev Luthra	sanjeevluthra737@gmail.com	Student
14	Nilesh varma	nileshvarma940@gmail.com	Student
15	Irfan Mir	meererfan@gmail.com	Student

List of Participants at Blind Relief Association

1	Rajpal	E-1/11B, Om Vihar Extn, Uttam Nagar	rajpal007@gmail.com
2	Arun Tiwari	Village Poterganj, Post Pathwali, Dist Gaunda	Mrtiwari1982@gmail.com
3	Rishoo Singh	House No.44, Meethapur, Badarpur	mr.rsingh2908@gmail.com
4	Vijay Tiwari	House No.62, Gokhle Nagar, Konch, Dist Jalaun	tiwarivijay322@gmail.com
5	Shiv Kumar	Village Post Padri, Distt Rewa	shivkumarrawat144@gmail.com
6	Sonia Setia	742/3, Ward No-14, GuruNanak Pura, Rohtak	soniasetia1986@gmail.com
7	Sandeep Kumar	Satyara ganj, Behind Bus stand, Dist. Rewa	sandeepkumarj61@gmail.com
8	Rini Singh	village post Jhanjhara, Pasraha, Dist. Khagriya	rinisingh2792@gmail.com
9	Rajbhan Saket	Gram Atarala Kala, Tehsil Hanmana, Dist. Rewa	rajbhan591@gmail.com
10	Rajbala Bhagel	Dubey Gas Agency, Dayalbagh, Agra	rajbalabhagel@gmail.com
11	Priyanka Devi	Town jhinjhana, Dist. Shamli	kashyappriyanka250@gmail.com
12	Pramod Kumar	Gram Atroley,Post Lakhua, Dist. Ghaziabad	pkpramodpk9@gmail.com
13	Mritunjay Kumar	Hingua, Miyatala, Dist. Chappra	mritunjay1942@gmail.com
14	Mary Mini	AICB, Braille Bhawan, sector-5, Rohini	minimary1994@gmail.com
15	Avnish Kumar	N166/122, J.J. Camp, Badli	avnishk910@gmail.com
16	Hidayat Husen	House No.311, Zakir Hussain Ward, Gohalpur, Jabalpur	Hidayatansari420@gmail.com
17	Biranchi Sahoo	Japharapur, G.P Khairabad, Dist. Jajpur	Biranchi.caviodisha@gmail.com

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

Training of Malayalam eSpeak with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-07-20T15:19:35Z

NVDA team conducted a two days training on January 24 and 25, 2015 in Tiruvananthapuram. The programme was inaugurated by Dr. Veeramanikandan, Pro Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University and the eSpeak new version was launched by Suresh S, PSC member, who is an advocate for the blind in getting jobs in Kerala government.

Felicitation speeches were delivered by Prof. L. Unnikrishnan, Head of Department, Economics Department, SB College and Dr. Sindhu Nair, Professor at St. Michales College. Both colleges were running a DAISY resource centre for their students. The programme was chaired Er. N.T.Nair, vice chairman of Chakshumathi.

Chakshumathi’s main trainer Akhil M. took espeak Malayalam classes and Dr. Homiyar took classes on NVDA and accessible equipment. The participants were first given a round of training on reading with espeak and then given a through training on Malayalam keyboard layout and combinations.

Naufal T N, trainer of Chakshumathi gave an orientation to all participants on using mobile phones to read Malayalam newspapers and reading contents.

Closing ceremony on 25th was attended by Chakshumathi’s Chairman Prof. V.K. Damodaran, along with representatives IEEE SIGHT (Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technologies) who are the partners of Chakshumathi’s accessible eyes free science projects. IEEE was represented by their Humanitarian technologies former global chair Dr. Amarnath Raja and Ms. Holly Schneider Brown, SIGHT staff lead from New York headquarters. She was on a journey to Tiruvananthapuram and provided an update on the SIGHT program, as well as SIGHT group activities from around the world. Ms. Holy Brown distributed the certificates to participants.

Chakshumathi is now planning to conduct regional workshops on espeak and NVDA at their resource centres at Calicut University and Kochi office for local participants.

List of Participants

Ali Mon
Sudheer S
Sreehari Narayanan
Ajith Kumar
Subhin H
Abin H
Rajith Kumar
Nandhu C S
Kannan C S
Reshma S
Divya S
Marina Damiyan
Mariyumma C P
Nabeela M
Meharuniza S
Sreeja V.K.
Vineesh Kumar
Chandra Babu
Raghavan
Albert
Safi Saif
Santhosh
Robinraj
Mubina M
Sabeena M
Anil Kumar
Lijin A
Ashok Kumar
Prof. L. Unnikrishnan
Akhil M (Chief Trainer)
Noufal T N (Asst. Trainer)

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

Telugu eSpeak Training with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-07-20T14:59:38Z

NVDA team conducted a two-day workshop at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) for lecturers and students for reading and writing in Telugu using eSpeak with NVDA on December 1 and 2, 2014.

A total of 27 participants attended the programme, which was organized by Anavaram, AP – HCU and member of Empowerment Cell of HCU.
The event was inaugurated by the Pro. VC of HCU Haribabu and Dr. Rajgopal Chairman, Empowerment Cell, HCU.

The event focused on the following points:

Introduction to NVDA as a Screen Reader.
Advantages of Espeak.
Use of Espeak to access various content in regional languages.
Installation of NVDA.
Configuration of NVDA.
Installation of Espeak.
Reading in Telugu.
Writing in Telugu using Phonetic and Inscript keyboards.
Writing in Hindi using Phonetic and Inscript keyboards.
Demonstration of various aids and appliances.

The Telugu reading and writing sessions were conducted by Hanardhan Naidu, Telugu Espeak Tester. His contribution was acknowledged by one and all present.

Further sessions for eSpeak Telugu will be planned for Vijaywada in January 2015, by Janardhan Naidu.

The sessions were welcome by the participants, stating that eSpeak Telugu and Hindi will help them in their studies as many students were pursuing their graduation and post graduation in Telugu and Hindi. Till date they did not have any other source of reading or writing in the stated languages and hence had to depend upon readers for their studies. They also appreciated the fact that by reading and writing in Telugu and Hindi, it will enhance their chances for government and PSU employment.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/telugu-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014

Bangla eSpeak training with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-07-20T15:02:25Z

The NVDA team conducted an eSpeak training in Bangla on December 19 and 20, 2014 at Blind Empowerment Foundation (BEA) in Kolkata.

The host BEA, had invited 15 teachers and Computer trainers from all across Kolkata and 1 participant was from NAB Jamshedpur. The event was ably supported by two volunteers who helped in the Bengali typing.

The event began with the round of introductions of the participants. The participants also expressed various reasons for participating in the workshop during the introduction. This was than followed by introduction to NVDA and the importance of an Open Source software compared to piracy.

Out of the 15 participants, only two of the participants were using NVDA in their daily use. Hence the session began with the installation of NVDA and its basic configurations and settings. This was followed by the installation of eSpeak and a demonstration was given as to how to use eSpeak for different language options.

Participants were also shown the different advantages of NVDA, in comparison to other screen readers. This demonstration was received very well by most of the participants, as they had never expected NVDA to perform as well.

The post lunch session was dedicated to reading in Bengali. Each participant was given a word file containing current news items in Bengali. The participants started understanding the eSpeak TTS, but showed some reservations regarding its voice. It was explained in detail the reason for the same and why it was important to introduce NVDA with eSpeak to their students at the initial stage of their training in computers.

The host were very generous in their arrangements for lunch and other refreshments. All the participants enjoyed the hospitality, which included a generous serving of the Bengali fish.

Day 2 started with solving querries from day 1 and than typing was introduced using the Bengali Varnmala typing method. Participants were very receptive to this method and were able to type small sentences withing a few minutes. The volunteers who were helping with the typing also emphasized on special words which included special characters.

The post lunch session was dedicated to problem solving and introduction to various Aids and Appliances. The participants were also informed about the ADIP scheme and the appliances available under it.

The workshop was concluded with a round of photos and thanks from the trainers and the hosts.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/bangla-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014