Texthelp Systems Ltd

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Digital Inclusion and G4

• Texthelp Systems Ltd
• Oliver McVeigh

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Agenda

• Introduction
• Priority Outcomes
• Digital Inclusion and e-Government
• What is G4?
• Why G4?
• Website accessibility through the eyes of the
  Print Disabled Community
• Why Redbridge Council consider browsealoud?
• Demonstration
• Questions Answers

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Who am I ?

• Texthelp Systems Ltd.
• Head office in Northern Ireland, US office in
  Boston
• Develop software helping users improve their
  reading and writing skills
• Industry leaders in literacy and assistive
  technology solutions
• ISO accreditation
• Microsoft GOLD Certified Partners.

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Digital Inclusion and e-Gov

• The power of the web is in its universality.
  Access by everyone regardless of disability is an
  essential aspect.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee W3C Director and Inventor of
  World Wide Web
• Significant group with poor literacy skills
• Significant group not aware of assistive
  technology
• Significant group who cannot afford assistive
  technology

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Dyslexia

• The Trades Union Council state that, "dyslexia,
  often known as the hidden disability, affects
  up to 2.9 million workers in the UK
• The Dyslexia Institute estimates that Dyslexia
  costs the UK economy 1 billion per annum.
• People with dyslexia and related reading
  disorders find it difficult, time consuming and
  intimidating to read online content.
• I couldn't read. I just scraped by. My solution
  back then was to read classic comic books because
  I could figure them out from the context of the
  pictures. Now I listen to books on tape.
• Charles Schwab, founder of stock brokerage
• I was, on the whole, considerably discouraged by
  my school days. It was not pleasant to feel
  oneself so completely outclassed and left behind
  at the beginning of the race
• Winston Churchill

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Literacy Levels

• 5.2 million adults (16 of the adult population)
  would fail to pass an English GCSE in autumn 2003
• (Source Basic Skills Agency report, May 2000)
• Nearly 4 out of 10 adults in some parts of
  England cannot read or write properly or do
  simple sums
• (Source National Needs and Impact Survey of
  Literacy, Numeracy and ICT Skills, DfES, October
  2003)
• Sir Claus Moser, describes 20 of adults as being
  "functionally illiterate"
• (Source Basic Skills Agency report, May 2000)
• Office of the e-Envoy commissioned research and
  found that 17 of the population's functional
  literacy level was not sufficient to allow them
  to interact with Government online.

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English as a Second Language

• 3 million people in the UK were born in countries
  where English is not the national language
• Estimated 1.5 million people living in the UK
  lack the English language skills required to
  function in society and employment.
• Some who speak English as a second language are
  better able to understand English when it is
  spoken rather than read it themselves.

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What is G4 ?
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What is G4 ?

• Priority Outcomes document published by the ODPM
  in April 2004 Defining e-government outcomes
  for 2005 to support the delivery of priority
  services National Strategy transformation
  agenda for local authorities in England
• Establishment of multimedia resources on local
  policy priorities accessible via public website
  (e.g. video audio files)

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Why G4 ?

• To assist print disabled community, where
  literacy difficulties prevent on-line inclusion.
• Dyslexic and other learning difficulties
• Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
• English is not the native language
• Mild Visual Impairments

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Visually impaired person reading web page
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Cataract Problems reading page
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Scotopic Sensitivity sees page
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Dyslexia viewing page
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Tunnel vision
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Blurred due to poor visual acuity
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Cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, macular
degeneration
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Literacy Difficulties

• People with dyslexia and related reading
  disorders find it difficult, time consuming and
  intimidating to read content.
• People with low literacy levels and some who
  speak English as a second language are better
  able to understand English when it is spoken
  rather than read it themselves.

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Why Redbridge considered browsealoud?

• Considerable population where English is not
  their first language
• Aid with website accessibility
• Promote digital inclusion
• Empower website visitors with the tool required
  to aid content understanding

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Browsealoud Technicalities

• Increases digital inclusion, accessibility and
  usability of the website to visitors with reading
  or literacy difficulties.
• browsealoud reads content on your web site aloud.
• A freely downloadable plug-in for your website
  similar to Adobe reader.
• To have speech on your site.
• Subscribe to service.
• Put download button on your homepage.
• Enabled on ALL pages hosted by your URL
• Works with Static and Dynamic (fed by a Content
  Management Sys) Websites

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Browsealoud Server Side

• Technology is Client side.
• No Bandwidth Impact.
• Zero effort for the Webmaster.
• No Security Impact.

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Browsealoud User Side

• Technology is free to ALL website visitors
• Customisable voices
• Customisable settings (Continuous Read)
• Free Technical Support for the lifetime of the
  Solution
• Community of websites

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Colour Highlighting

• Feature
• Dual Colour Highlighting.
• Users can select colours to suit requirements.
• Benefit
• Speech enabling electronic text is a proven means
  of improving comprehension.

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Continuous Read

• Feature
• auto continue so readers can listen to entire
  website text.
• Benefit
• Listen to the entire contents of the website page.

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Pronunciations

• Feature
• Webmasters can define the specific pronunciations
  for single words.
• Benefit
• The organisation has full control over the way
  the information on the site is spoken.

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Site Specific

• Feature
• We can include or exclude sub-folders of
  websites.
• Benefit
• Webmaster has control over what parts of the site
  they want to add speech to.

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What can it read?

• HTML
• Accessible Java
• Accessible Flash
• Alt Tags behind pictures
• Hyperlink
• Accessible PDF documents
• Mathematical Equations

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UK Customers

• www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
• www.dh.gov.uk
• www.nhs.uk
• www.homeoffice.gov.uk
• www.legalservices.gov.uk
• www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
• www.london2012.com
• www.uefa.com
• www.glasgow.gov.uk
• www.manchester.gov.uk
• www.preston.gov.uk
• www.stockport.gov.uk
• www.derby.gov.uk

• www.comet.co.uk
• www.bupa.com
• www.newstatesman.com
• www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk
• www.euro2004.com
• www.wrexham.gov.uk
• www.copelandbc.gov.uk
• www.chiltern.gov.uk
• www.brent.gov.uk
• www.Kirklees.gov.uk
• www.horsham.gov.uk
• www.lichfield.gov.uk
• www.warwickshire.gov.uk

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Summary

• Browsealoud encourages Digital Inclusion and
  promotes e-Government
• Increased Interaction with Public
• Zero effort for Webmasters
• All client side technology
• Free technology to website users
• Speech enabled in 15 minutes
• Demonstrates Social Responsibility

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• Demonstration

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• Questions Answers

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Thank You

• o.mcveigh_at_texthelp.com