Microsoft and DAISY to Help Virtually Impaired People to Work Efficiently on the Computer
Microsoft and Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium have announced the development of standards-based project that would allow visually impaired or print-disabled users to work on computer systems.
This project is based on SourceForge.net and will Open XML-based documents into DAISY XML, which will enable visually impaired or print disabled people to read or publish multimedia content.
The new development will also enable the visually impaired section of the society to navigate complex pages quickly by the details of the heading or page number. Also indexes and references, with correctly ordered, synchronized audio and text are used.
“As CEO of the internationally recognized voice of blind and low-vision people around the world and as a reader of DAISY books, I believe this project represents a breakthrough for me both personally and professionally,” said Penny Hartin, CEO, World Blind Union.
“In our information age, access to information is a fundamental human right,” said George Kerscher, secretary general of the DAISY Consortium. “This is why leading organizations of and for the blind throughout the world are committed to the advancement of the DAISY Standard. The ability to create DAISY content from millions of Open XML-based documents using this translator for Microsoft Office Word will offer substantial and immediate benefits to publishers, governments, corporations, educators and, most important, to everyone who loves to read.”
Apart from Windows, the Open XML DAISY is compatible with Linux, Mac and Palm operating systems.
Solution providers who are interested in creating their own Open XML to DAISY XML translators can visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxml-daisy to download the application.
For the visually impaired and print disabled community the plug-in will be made available in January 2008.
RSS |
Permanent Link
|
Del.icio.us
|
Cosmos
|
Digg
|
|
