[Kde-accessibility] Accessibility Summer of Code projects

David Bolter david.bolter at utoronto.ca
Fri May 5 16:47:55 BST 2006


Peter Korn wrote:
> Hi Henrik,
>
> Cool stuff.
> For the on-screen keyboard, please consider doing something like "gok 
> --simple" (assuming folks like David Bolter agree).  

Yes. This is difficult though, since I can understand both sides of the 
fence here. My biased (gok maintainer) opinion is that we can go further 
pooling our efforts.  A gok --simple, or gok --kiosk flag has been 
discussed a lot but we haven't had the spare cycles... and of course I 
would welcome any help there!  I know gok could only benefit from having 
Henrik's help.

best,
David
> There is enough overlap that keeping common code common would be nice 
> (vs. fragmenting approaches).  Also, with your use case for the 
> student Liza, I think she would want most of the current features of 
> GOK, though without necessarily the configuration GUI.  The last 
> sentence of the Liza use case confuses me - how does she navigate the 
> GNOME desktop and web perfectly without using an on-screen keyboard.
> For the magnifier, I'd be very keen to work with whoever you find on 
> this.  I was involved in the inLARGE magnifier for Macintosh, and have 
> been thinking a lot about magnification for UNIX.
>
> Also, you might consider a fourth project: technology for people with 
> cognitive impairments - something that's a big hole right now in 
> UNIX.  Please see things like Read&Write Gold from TextHelp, which 
> provide assistance for folks with dyslexia, and with a variety of 
> other print disorders.  See 
> http://www.texthelp.com/rwg.asp?q1=products&q2=rwg
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Korn
> Accessibility Architect,
> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>>
>> (sorry for cross-posting again)
>>
>> The Ubuntu Accessibility Team is hosting up to three development 
>> projects during this year's Summer of Code. The SoC scheme is an 
>> opportunity to  break some new ground and so we are focusing on new 
>> tools. There are  technologies coming on line such as XGL/compiz 
>> which we should take advantage of to provide a higher level of 
>> accessibility.
>>
>> The three main ideas are:
>>
>>  * An XGL/compiz-based desktop magnifier
>>  * A simple and user-friendly on-screen keyboard
>>  * A common Assistive Technology configuration utility
>>
>> See the Ubuntu SoC2006 page for details: 
>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GoogleSoC2006
>>
>> There is still time for students to submit their applications here:
>> http://code.google.com/soc/student_step1.html
>>
>> I'll be acting as official mentor for the students, though I'm also 
>> hoping for support from the wider AT community. So if you know any 
>> suitable students please encourage them to apply or if you think you 
>> can help in some other way such as with testing or advice, please 
>> join in! Let's welcome these students to our community and give them 
>> a good start on their projects!
>>
>> - Henrik
>> Ubuntu Accessibility Team
>> _______________________________________________
>> kde-accessibility mailing list
>> kde-accessibility at kde.org
>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-accessibility
>>   
>
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