Centre for Internet and Society

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

Report on eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA Training Workshop at Tiruchirappalli

nirmita — 2015-07-21T01:32:10Z

The training workshop was held from May 4 to 8, 2015 at Centre for Differently-abled Persons, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. Seventeen delegates attended the workshop.

Inauguration

The eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA Training workshop planned for 5 days (4th May 2015 to 8th May 2015) extensively for visually challenged college students and teachers was inaugurated on 4th May 2015 morning by respected Dr. M. Ravichandran, Registrar (In charge), Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. Dr. R. Mangaleswaran, Syndicate Member, Bharathidasan University felicitated with august presence and speech. Mr. S. Shankar Subbiah, Assistive Technology Consultant and representative of National Association for Blind, New Delhi and The Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore, and the sponsors for workshop gave a talk on the purpose of the Workshop and need for Tamil computing among the visually challenged in the present educational and employment context. Dr. M. Prabhavathy, Asst. Professor and Centre Head gave the Welcome address and Vote of thanks, thanking the Guests for their interests on empowerment of visually challenged and the participants for their earnest efforts to get trained on new technologies.

The well-equipped and accessible ICT lab of the Centre for Differently Abled Persons, at Kajamalai Campus, Bharathidasan University served as the venue for training. In order to facilitate the participants with more concentrated and time efforts, High Tea and Lunch were also served for the Training days at the Centre. Volunteers with Computer Science background were there to assist the Trainees and served them enthusiastically. The participant trainees were from Tiruchirappalli district and nearby districts like Karur, Pudukottai and Thanjavur of Tamilnadu state.

The workshop began with Resource persons, Mr. K. Navarasan, Mr. S. Shankar Subbiah and Mr. G. Kumaresan, Assistive Technology Expert continuing with the training activities on their expertise areas. The below were the activities conducted during the training period.

Day 1 - 04/05/2015

Forenoon

The whole group of Trainees were divided into two groups based on their previous knowledge on computer.
The former group consisted of the persons who were beginners to computers and the latter consisted of the trainees who have previous knowledge on computers.
A general overview on keyboard and its layout was introduced to the trainees to ensure readiness among the beginner trainees by the Resource person.
The keyboard layout and key mapping for alphabets, numeric, special keys and functional keys were taught to the trainees.
For those with previous knowledge exercises were given for reading, writing in English using computers with newspaper content, answer to question kind of comprehensive paragraphs with the Resource persons and volunteers coordinating.

Afternoon

The beginner trainees typed the keys that were taught on the previous session and practiced simple words dictated the Resource person and volunteers assisted on difficulties.
For those with previous knowledge, the exercises were elaborated and assessed for their readiness.

Day 2 - 05/05/2015
Forenoon

Tamil keyboard layout of Microsoft Windows for default Unicode Tamil Font typing were introduced to the trainees by the Resource person.
The whole group of Trainees were trained to identify the keys for vowels and consonants of Tamil language, type and practice by themselves with the volunteers supporting them, when they had difficulties.

Afternoon

The Trainees were trained to identify the keys for combinations, type and practice by themselves with the volunteers supporting them, when they had difficulties.
A play and learn session was organized to spell out connected words for typing practice.
To make the training workshop more live, the participants also were requested and exhibited their Tamil native talents and knowledge.

Day 3 - 06/05/2015
Forenoon

The Trainees were trained by giving large sets of two letter, three letter, and four letter units of words to type and practice. The Resource persons and volunteers corrected them when they had difficulties.
It was followed up by smaller sentences to be typed by the Trainees.

Afternoon

The trainees were made to listen to the Tamil text phrases with the help of NVDA screen-reader supported by eSpeak voice
The trainees were suggested to type out the phrases listened on a separate document
The trainees were trained on file operations like folder creation, saving to required folder and retrieval of the particular file. Similarly, for navigating, opening the file saved and continuing editing

Day 4 - 07/05/2015
Forenoon

Introduction on DAISY books and knowledge sharing on the available resources to read a DAISY book was done.
Demonstration on using Android based tablets and mobile phones to access the Tamil DAISY books given to the Trainees using Bookshare.org. The Trainees were also given information to subscribe for Bookshare membership and Book search and retrieval.

Afternoon

As a reinforcement on the learning process, a Quiz Programme was conducted to the Trainees on Microsoft Tamil layout and key strokes required for different Tamil words, phrases.
Usage of Tamil in Internet, and the browsers supporting the Unicode formatted content and the NVDA development efforts to support Internet browsing was discussed.

Day 5 - 07/05/2015
Forenoon

The Trainees were provided with Tamil HTML content to use the NVDA navigation commands to read the content and practice.
Reading content received in Email, Copying content from Browsers and pasting on Word document were taught and practiced.

Afternoon

Oral as well as Typing Assessment for Tamil keyboard layout, key strokes, words and phrases typing, file and folder operations of a document were conducted for the Trainees to ensure the training and learning process have helped them.
The Resource persons and volunteers ensured that they have learned the intended content and were confident to move ahead in Tamil computing using NVDA and eSpeak

The Valedictory Function

The eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA Training workshop conducted for 5 days (4th May 2015 to 8th May 2015) had the Valedictory function presided by Prof. V.M. Muthukumar, Hon. Vice Chancellor, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli who delivered the valedictory address and got the feedback from the participants in the presence of Dr. D. Muthuramakrishnan,, Syndicate Member, Bharathidasan University who felicitated the gathering. Vote of thanks to CIS, NAB and the organizers was given by Dr. M. Prabhavathy, Asst. Professor and Centre Head and the training felt much useful ended up with the National Anthem.

Feedback
Mr. K. Nallusami, Government School Teacher, and Mr. R. Jeyaraj, Student from Bishop College gave the feedback, how the training was helpful and would be useful by implementing Tamil computing in their daily occupation. They also highlighted on the materials and useful tips by Resource persons while working with NVDA in MS Word, Internet using Tamil computing given and learned in the training workshop.

Mrs. J. Sumathi, a Teacher who was not knowing Computer previously explained how the Volunteers and Resource persons helped learn from basic Keyboard mapping to Tamil Typing and it was a kind of magic happening to her and sister. They both came 100 miles away from Tiruchirappalli and stayed with their relatives for training. But, really happy to spent these days’ worth getting trained and requested the Organizers to conduct more such trainings for other Teachers of their District too.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-espeak-tamil-computing-with-nvda-at-tiruchirappalli

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

Inclusive Financial Services

praskrishna — 2015-05-03T01:55:21Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/inclusive-financial-services.pdf

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

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

April 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2015-05-31T04:29:24Z

Newsletter for the month of April below.

We are happy to share with you the fourth issue of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) newsletter (April 2015). The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters.

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Highlights
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CIS received 35 engaging abstracts in response to the call for essays on 'Studying Internet in India'. The final essays will be published from June onwards. The ten selected abstracts can be read at http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-internet-in-india-selected-abstracts/ .

CIS submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre on April 30, 2015 bringing to notice the negligible progress on the front for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards, and gave recommendations to take the initiatives forward.
Nehaa Chaudhari has prepared a consolidated report that tracks the development of India's National IPR Policy and the requests by CIS to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the RTI Act and responses elicited from the Department.

Institute of Odia Studies and Research organised 2nd National Language Conference beginning on March 30, 2015 and ending on April 2, 2015 at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. This conference was organised in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Culture. Subhashish Panigrahi presented a paper in Odia language in this conference as part of a panel discussion related to Odia language computing.

Sunil Abraham's article titled "Shreya Singhal and 66A" was published in Economic and Political Weekly Vol-L No.15. Vidushi Marda helped in doing the research.

Sunil Abraham in an article in DNA titled " Multiple Aspects Need to be Addressed as the Clamour Grows for Network Neutrality " tells readers that there are four violations of Network Neutrality that are considered particularly egregious.

Jyoti Panday prepared an analysis of the Supreme Court judgement in Shreya Singhal and what it does for intermediary liability in India.
In February 2015, CIS had requested DeitY under RTI Act to provide information clarifying the procedures for blocking in India. The response elicited from DeitY has been published.

CIS sent a joint response to the TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services with scholars from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The response was sent on March 27, 2015.

► Vacancies at CIS

CIS is seeking applications for:

Internship : CIS is providing opportunities for students enrolled in graduate programmes to undertake internship at its offices in Bangalore and Delhi. Eligible candidates are welcome to participate in our internship programme.

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Accessibility and Inclusion
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Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

# Monthly Updates

April 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; April 30, 2015).

# Language Testing Reports

Hindi Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 10, 2015).
Gujarati Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 16, 2015).
Oriya Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015).

►Other

# Submission

Comments to the GIGW (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015).

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Access to Knowledge
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As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

# Blog Entries

Methodology: Patent Landscaping in the Indian Mobile Device Market (Rohini Lakshané; November 10, 2014). The list of standards and specifications found in sub-USD-100 Internet-enabled mobile phones sold in India" (Annexure 2 in the post) has been updated .
Conference on Standards Settings Organizations (SSO) and FRAND, NLSIU (Rohini Lakshané; April 5, 2015).
National IPR Policy Series: RTI Requests by CIS to DIPP + DIPP Responses (Nehaa Chaudhari; April 15, 2015).
Pervasive Technologies Project Working Document Series: Literature Review on IPR in Mobile app development (Anubha Sinha; April 29, 2015).

Media Coverage

CIS gave inputs for the following:

One reason startups are moving out of India (Evelyn Fok and Varun Aggarwal; The Times of India; April 10, 2015). This was also mirrored in Economic Times .
Indian businesses crave IP certainty, but better patent values are tempting them overseas (IAM Magazine; April 28, 2015).

►Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).

# Participation in Event

2nd National Language Conference, Bhubaneswar (Organized by Institute of Odia Studies and Research; Institute of Physics; Bhubaneswar; March 30 - April 2, 2015). This conference was organised in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Culture. Subhashish Panigrahi presented a paper in Odia language in this conference as part of a panel discussion related to Odia language computing.

# Blog Entries

Hindustani Language: We Are Wikipedia (Syed Muzamiluddin; April 10, 2015).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ଅସୁବିଧା (Subhashish Panigrahi; April 15, 2015).
Wikipedia Campus at Oxford College (Subhashish Panigrahi; April 28, 2015).

# News and Media Coverage

CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Odia waits for Google Translate debut - Nine Indian languages available (Anwesha Ambaly; Telegraph; April 6, 2015).
Now you can search Google in Kannada, in your handwriting (Apurva Venkat; Bangalore Mirror; April 18, 2015).

►Openness

# Event Co-organized

NASA International Open Data Challenge 2015 (Co-organized by CIS and Team Indus; Bangalore; April 11-12, 2015).

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Internet Governance
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As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.

►Freedom of Expression

India's Apex Court in a landmark decision struck down section 66A of the IT Act. The judgment provided great relief for advocates of freedom of speech on the Internet. The development attracted lots of media coverage to which CIS gave its inputs:

# Articles

Shreya Singhal and 66A (Sunil Abraham; Economic and Political Weekly Vol-L No.15; April 11, 2015). Vidushi Marda helped in doing the research.
Don't Do Nothing. Take a Stand on Net Neutrality. (T. Vishnu Vardhan; NDTV; April 13, 2015).
Multiple Aspects Need to be Addressed as the Clamour Grows for Network Neutrality (Sunil Abraham; DNA; April 16, 2015).
The Hazards of a Non-neutral Internet (Geetha Hariharan; April 18, 2015). A modified version of the blog entry was published as an article titled " A must for free speech " in the Week.

# Blog Entries

The Supreme Court Judgment in Shreya Singhal and What It Does for Intermediary Liability in India? (Jyoti Panday; April 11, 2015).
DeitY says 143 URLs have been Blocked in 2015; Procedure for Blocking Content Remains Opaque and in Urgent Need of Transparency Measures (Jyoti Panday; April 29, 2015).

# Event

Freedom of Expression in a Digital Age: Effective Research, Policy Formation & the Development of Regulatory Frameworks in South Asia (Organized by Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Observer Research Foundation and CIS; Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi; April 21, 2015).

# Participation in Event

Financial Express hosts #NetNeutralityDebate: 'Price discrimination can be allowed, but not for the same packet of data' (New Delhi; April 24, 2015). Pranesh Prakash participated in the discussion.

►Privacy

# Participation in Event

Privacy International Network Meeting (Organized by Privacy International, UK; April 22 - 23, 2015). Sunil Abraham attended the meeting.

►Miscellaneous

# Announcement

IIGF Recruitment : The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) conducted walk-in interviews on May 16, 2015 at NIXI Jasola office, Flat No. 6B, 6th Floor, Uppals M6 Plaza, New Delhi. NIXI sought candidates to fill the posts of Technology Analyst, Policy Analyst, Research Associate and Executive Assistants.

# Participation in Events

Global Conference on Cyberspace 2015 (Co-organized by Dutch Government, City of the Hague and One Conference; The Hague, Netherlands; April 16 - 17, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a panelist. He also participated in an expert roundtable conference .
CII Digital India Summit (Organized by Confederation of Indian Industries; Taj Mahal Hotel and Pragati Maidan, New Delhi; April 21 and 24, 2015). Pranesh Prakash attended the summit.

------------------------------------
News & Media Coverage
------------------------------------
CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

'Smack' the Trolls! (Marianne De Nazareth; The Citizen; March 31, 2015).
The block heads (Sibi Arasu; Hindu Businessline; April 3, 2015).
Smriti Irani brings back focus on voyeurism prevailing in our country (Amrita Madhukalya; DNA; April 6, 2015).
Surveillance rises, privacy retreats (Namrata Acharya; Business Standard; April 12, 2015).
People voice their support for net neutrality, say Internet a utility not a luxury (IBN Live; April 13, 2015).
Net neutrality: Trai receives over 2 lakh mails (Sandhya Soman and Jayanta Deka; April 14, 2015).
Net neutrality: Debate rages on (Surabhi Aggarwal; Business Standard; April 11, 2015)
Net neutrality debate rages (Lalatendu Mishra and Pradeesh Chandran; The Hindu; April 15, 2015).
Net neutrality: Net activism packs a punch (Sandhya Soman; The Times of India; April 19, 2015).
Net Neutrality debate in India: Here are all the arguments you need to know (Indian Express; April 23, 2015).
Freedom struggle 2.0 (Zara Khan; Hindu; April 25, 2015).
Cry, you nasty trolls (Prasun Chaudhari; The Telegraph; April 26, 2015). Net Neutrality: The argument continues (Deepak Ajwani and Debojyoti Ghosh; Forbes India Magazine; April 29, 2015).

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Researchers at Work
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The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

# Blog Entries

Studying Internet in India: Selected Abstracts - CIS received thirty five engaging abstracts in response to the call for essays on 'Studying Internet in India.' The final essays will be published from June onwards. These are the ten selected abstracts: Studying the Internet Discourse in India through the Prism of Human Rights (by Deva Prasad); Indic Scripts and the Internet (by Dibyajyoti Ghosh); The Internet in the Indian Judicial Imagination (by Divij Joshi); Dharmasala Networked (by Laird Brown); WhatsApp Economy (by Maitrayee Deka); Citizens and their Internet (by Purbasha Auddy); The Many Lives and Sites of Internet in Bhubaneswar (by Sailen Routray); Quantity over Quality: Social Media and the New Class System in India (by Sarah McKeever); Governing Speech on the Internet: Transforming the Public Sphere through Policymaking (by Smarika Kumar).

--------------------------------
Telecom
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CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

# Submission

Response to TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-Top (OTT) Services (Pranesh Prakash; March 27, 2015). The response was sent in March but mirrored on our website recently.

---------------------------------
About CIS
---------------------------------
The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2015-bulletin

Report on One day Workshop on Use of eSpeak Hindi with NVDA

nirmita — 2015-06-04T15:43:22Z

This workshop was organized on April 11, 2015 at All India Confederation of the Blind (AICB) and was attended by 19 participants

AICB conducts one year, Advanced courses for Computing for the Blind and Stenography in Hindi and English. The participants of this workshop were the students of this courses.

The workshop began with introduction to NVDA, as most of the participants were new to it. The important configuration’s of NVDA were explained to the participants, who later installed NVDA on their desk tops and selected their preferred settings.

The participants were than given a text in Hindi for comprehension, and a small quiz was conducted on the understanding of the E-speak synthesizer.

This was followed by introduction to the Hindi inscript Keyboard. The students were also taught how to configure the Hindi Keyboard.

This was followed by typing practice. The students were well versed in Godrej and Remington formats, so they were made to understand the advantages of Inscript typing.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-one-day-workshop-on-use-of-espeak-hindi-with-nvda

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 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 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