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Metamorphosis is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit foundation based in Skopje, Macedonia. Its main goals are development of democracy and prosperity by promoting knowledge-based economy and information society.
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Home  News Presentation of the screen reading software for the blind and visually impaired
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Presentation of the screen reading software for the blind and visually impaired |
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20.12.2007. |
As it was previously announced, a press conference was held in the Macedonian Association of the Blind on the 19th of December, 2007, in order to familiarize the public with the project for development of software for the blind and visually impaired persons, and to present what has been achieved so far in this line.
The software which is already available to the users enables recognition of the letters on the screen and converts them into speech. As a result of the recognition of the Cyrillic letters, the blind persons will be able to communicate via e-mail, talk with their friends by using the popular chat programs, and listen to contents of web sites.
It is worth mentioning that the software is compatible with many computer programs, including the tools from the office package and the ones necessary for working on the internet.
During the press conference, Katerina Blazevska, editor-in-chief of the “Dnevnik” newspaper, which is the media sponsor of the project, called for assistance from the organizations that would be willing to contribute to the further development of the software. Namely, all the persons that consider themselves adept can work on the further development of the software, be part of the computer trainings intended for providing the users with the necessary skills for working on a computer, and the trainings for using the program itself.
The activities related to the project had been initiated 6 months ago, with the support of foreign countries, mostly Croatia and the UK. The project was an idea of Marjan Janev, employed in the Macedonian radio and member of the Macedonian Association of the Blind, who was persistent in his desire to see it implemented.
The project is supported by the Government as well. Mr. Ivo Ivanovski, M.Sc., Minister without portfolio in charge of information society in Macedonia, hailed the idea and announced government assistance in the future, which would be in the form of computer donations and organization of appropriate trainings for the end-users of the software.
At the end of the press conference, the software was presented by using a text that was read from the website of Dnevnik, as well as a scanned text which, despite the imperfections obtained in the course of its digitalization, provided comprehensibility of the content.
So far, the quality of the speech is good. The visually impaired persons in our country can now use computer programs, particularly for working on the internet.
What is most important is that this is open source software; therefore every one who is competent can be included in its improvement.
The introduction of emotions in the spoken text and better recognition of the punctuation are some of the main goals projected for the future. The software will soon be available for download at the website of Semos - the implementer of the project, and at the official website of the Association of the Blind.
A great number of NGOs, including the Metamorphosis Foundation, are already interested in providing assistance for the successful realization of this project.
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