Do you see what I hear?

Speech Recognition as Closed Captioning

Do you see what I hear?

Speech Recognition as Closed Captioning

Chad Leaman

NEIL SQUIRE SOCIETY

Member of Liberated Learning Consortium

Accommodations for sessionAccommodations for session

Does anybody need any accommodation to

participate in this session?

•Deaf or hard of hearing?–Type /cc into Wimba’s chat box

•Blind or limited vision–Type /sd into Wimba’s chat box

AgendaAgenda

• What and who is the Neil Squire Society?

• How we use Wimba

• Some additional technology we use with Wimba– Liberated Learning / ViaScribe

• Wimba Closed Captioning

• Liberated Learning demonstrations

We use technology, knowledge, and We use technology, knowledge, and passion to empower people with physical passion to empower people with physical

disabilitiesdisabilities

IntroductionIntroduction

For over 20 years, the Neil Squire Society has served more than 20,000 people

Neil Squire, a 24 year old

medical student and basketball

star injured in a car accident and

paralyzed from the neck down.

After his passing in 1984, Neil’s

life and story inspired the

creation of the Neil Squire

Society that is dedicated to

ensuring that all physically

disabled persons in Canada can

achieve to their full potential.

• Developers of the first Breath Switch

(Sip and Puff) to enable Morse Code

input to a computer

• “Jouse” & SARAW literacy software

• Brain Interface Project

• Adaptation of wireless technologies

• Nokia – Accessible cell phones

• Introducing Seniors to Technology

Research and DevelopmentResearch and Development

Assistive TechnologyAssistive Technology

• AT – Assistive Technology, Adaptive Technology, Accessible Technology, Alternative Technology, Enabling Technology

• Technology which minimizes or eliminated barriers faced by a person with a disability

• In Burnaby, we have fully equipped lab with over 200 input and output devices, software, hardware and other accommodations

AccessWorksAccessWorks

•Vancouver is the host city to the 2010 Winter Olympic games

•AccessWorks:

– Ensuring Technology at 2010 Olympic Games is accessible

– Leading multiple disability organizations in placing people with disabilities in employment and volunteer opportunities at both the Olympic and Paralympics games

EA - EmployAbilityEA - EmployAbility

• An 12 week program to assist people with disabilities in determining a vocational direction and achieving their goals

• Four course modules– Career Development

– Employment Liaison

– Personal Wellness

– Assistive Technology

• Majority of course utilizes computer technology for assignments

• All client’s leave program with a vocational direction, marketing materials, and an action plan

Distance EmployAbilityDistance EmployAbility

ANY TIME, ANY WHERE, TO ANY CANADIAN

WITH A PHYSICAL DISABILITY

• Leverage Community Partnerships

• Blended Classroom Environment – – 2 hour classes, 4 days a week, in Wimba

• Online AT training and assessments with community partners

• Online Training Sessions are recorded and transcribed

• Participant’s PC can be accessed remotely by the instructor

• Closed Captioning through Speech Recognition

E-A DL: Active Clients by MonthE-A DL: Active Clients by Month

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Jan-

06

Feb-

06

Mar

-06

Apr

-06

May

-06

Jun-

06

Jul-0

6

Aug

-06

Sep

-06

Oct

-06

Nov

-06

Dec

-06

Jan-

07

Feb-

07

Mar

-07

Apr

-07

May

-07

Jun-

07

Jul-0

7

Aug

-07

Sep

-07

Oct

-07

Total Active DL

E-A DL: Yearly StatisticsE-A DL: Yearly Statistics

Distance Total Served

2005 – 2006 67

2006 – 2007 105

2007 (to October) 76

The Real Statistic: Participant SuccessThe Real Statistic: Participant Success

• Our face-to-face program, delivered in our regional offices– Return to work rate: 44% *

• Our distance program, delivered online and with some face-to-

face classes by our distance partners– Return to work rate: 44% *

• * Statistics based on fiscal year enrollment and reporting

• Over three year tracking, 89.7% of participants that complete the

program return to work, school, or volunteer activities

WimbaWimba

•Employ-Ability (Pre-employment program)– 4 days a week, 2 hours a day

•Assistive Technology Partner Training – 1 hour every 2 weeks

•National Staff meetings

•Piloting Liberated Learning technology

Neil Squire Society OfficeNeil Squire Society Office

• Burnaby, BC

• Regina, SK

• Ottawa, ON

• Fredericton, NB

• Moncton, NB

Employ-Ability DLEmploy-Ability DL

• Pembroke, ON

• Penticton, BC

• Vernon, BC

• Saskatoon, SK

• Sudbury, ON

• In participants

homes

ATEC: Where we are (BC)ATEC: Where we are (BC)

• Abbotsford

• Burnaby

• Duncan

• Prince George

• Vernon

• Victoria

• Williams Lake

• Whitehorse

SOS: Seniors on Seniors TechnologySOS: Seniors on Seniors Technology

• Burnaby

• Penticton

• London

• Kitchener / Waterloo

• Fredericton

• Inkerman

• Saskatchewan

Additional Tools to Wimba - VNCAdditional Tools to Wimba - VNC

•To assist student’s, the facilitator has remote access

to their PC through VNC technology

•RealVNC is a free remote access program– Server runs on their PC

– Viewer runs on facilitator’s PC

– Password protected

• I believe Wimba utilizes this technology in an

optimized fashion for connectivity and app sharing

•http://www.realvnc.com

Liberated LearningLiberated Learning

• “LIBERATED LEARNING© is a unique application of speech recognition

technology that began as a method for enhancing accessibility for students

with disabilities in the university classroom.”

Liberated LearningLiberated Learning

• Multimedia Accessibility Project to improve access to information

through speech recognition (provided by IBM’s ViaScribe)– Software listens and types

• Real Time Speech Recognition – Real time computer captioning of the speaker

• Prerecorded media– Provide speech recognition for captioning of recorded lectures, speeches, etc

• Recorded class given to you in a variety of file formats

Wimba: Closed CaptioningWimba: Closed Captioning

•Three ways to do it– Text Chat

– Through a web browser

– Through opening a port on your Wimba server and passing text through it

•For a user to turn on and off closed captioning,

type /cc in the chat box

Wimba: Closed CaptioningWimba: Closed Captioning

#1 - Through the text box– In the Text Chat Input Field, type /closedcaption <message>

Wimba: Closed CaptioningWimba: Closed Captioning

#2 - Through a webbrowser– http://<server.wimba.com>/main/closedcaption.epl

Wimba: Closed CaptioningWimba: Closed Captioning

#3 – Through port 8500 on your Wimba Server

“Note: Most clients generally do not use this method, as it requires more in depth knowledge

about the product. We have provided a sample program.”

– Can accept input to from an outside source…..

Liberated Learning ConsortiumLiberated Learning Consortium

• Mini Open Source Community– 18 partners across 4 continents

• Developed:– ViaScribe - IBM

– Engine Controller / RT3A - IBM

– Captioning Editing System - IBM Japan

– Dragon Dictation Text Editor - Cambridge College

– Extended Voice Commands - IBM China

– Multiple Speaker Support - University of Southampton, St. Mary’s University

– Note Finder - Saint Mary’s University

– Personal Display (Pass across a network to a PC) – University of Southampton

Liberated Learning PilotLiberated Learning Pilot

• A pilot focuses on enhancing Wimba and our Distance initiatives

through utilizing voice recognition

• Speaker’s voice is generated as text in real time by IBM’s

ViaScribe

• Fed into Wimba’s closed captioning system generated by

ViaScribe to Close Caption the class’s webcasts.

• Create a series of accessible lessons that can be accessed by

past or future students as needed.

Let’s work together!Let’s work together!

• Expand the use of ViaScribe and Liberated Learning through

Wimba?

• Transcribe the audio of recorded Wimba sessions?

• Real time transcription of your classes?

• Value of searchable notes of all classes

• Speech-to-text increases all learners retention rates

Thank YouThank You

Thank you for your time and providing opportunities to people with disabilities

•Chad Leaman

•NEIL SQUIRE SOCIETY

•1 – 877 – 673 – 4636

•chadl@neilsquire.ca• http://www.neilsquire.ca

• http://www.liberatedlearning.com