Mobile Media Devices

Jayme JohnsonHigh Tech Center Training Unit for the California Community Colleges

Presentation online at:http://www.htctu.net/publications/conferences/main.htm

Dear Colleagues...

•OCR letter to administrators of higher ed institutions (http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20100629.html)

Adoption of Mobile Devices•95% of college-age students own cell phone

•Almost 75% have iPod or MP3 player

•Ebook readers slow growth - (<5%)

•Tablets account for approx 3%•Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project

(pewinternet.org)

Device Limitations & Capabilities

Device Classifications

•Dedicated reading machines

•“Smart” phones

•Tablets

•Netbooks & Laptops

Variability

•Beware of multiplicity - many differences between devices, even within a classification

•Data acquisition issues: on-demand vs. tethered

•Differences between devices, OS versions, & service providers

•3rd Party Applications

Mobile Devices as Accessories

• media

• web browsing

• calendar

• communications

• camera

• navigation

• games

• organization

•Mobile devices become VERY personal

•Integration with many facets of student life:

Audio Video Print

Android MP3, MP4WAV, Ogg

MP4 (h.264),WebM

Text, PDF, ePub, HTML, MS Office

iOS MP3, MP4,WAV, AAC

MP4 (h.264), M4V, MOV

Text, PDF, ePub, HTML, MS Office

Amazon Kindle

MP3 - Mobi, AZW

Plextalk Pocket

MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg

-Text, HTML, DOC, DAISY

Victor Reader Stream

MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg

-Text, HTML, BRF, DAISY

Devices & Technical Capabilities

VideoBraille Output

Visual Enhanceme

nts

TTS Content

TTS Interfac

e

Speech Recogniti

on

AndroidSubtitles(requires SRT

file)- Zoom Yes Depends Yes

iOSCaptions

, Subtitles

Yes(requires display)

Zoom, Contrast, Large Text

Yes Yes App

Amazon Kindle

- - Large Text Depends - -

Plextalk Pocket

- - - Yes Yes -

Victor Reader Stream

- - - Yes Yes -

Accessibility and AT Capabilities

Accessibility Concerns

•Inherent accessibility challenges

•Hardware limitations

•Buttons, peripherals, data transfer

•Software limitations

•OS issues

•App issues

Print-based File Types

DAISY NIMAS ePubMS

OfficeBookshar

eLearning Ally

Audible

Android Not Yet - App App - - App

iOS App - App App App App App

Amazon Kindle

- - - - - - Yes

Plextalk Pocket

Yes Yes - Yes Yes Yes Yes

Victor Reader Stream

Yes YesApp

(SoftPak)

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Apps for Students in Higher Education

Android & iOS: There’s an app for that...

•Competing platforms

•Similar capabilities

•Communities of users (fanboys & zealots)

•Bleeding edge of innovation

Educational Uses

•Note taking

•text entry vs. audio recording

•Reading

•mainstream media vs. specialized formats

•Studying

-3+ stars and greater than 60% positive reviews for current version

-No major bugs or crash issues in reviews or testing of current version

-Compatibility with common desktop applications

-Ongoing update cycle

App Evaluation Criteria

Sound Paper-synchronizes text with audio recording

Evernote-Cloud-based notetaking allows access to notes from different platforms

Auditorium Notes-records audio while entering text information, but not synchronized

Notetaking - iOS

Extensive Notes - Notepad-Supports audio recordings, media attachments, and TTS

Evernote-Cloud-based notetaking allows access to notes from different platforms

Catch Notes-Capture text, audio, images, and synch with web.

Notetaking - Android

•iBooks

-ePub and PDF reader

-Supports VoiceOver interactions

•Stanza

-ePub and PDF reader

•ReaddleDocs

-PDF, MS Office, and iWorks reader

Reading - iOS

•Aldiko Book Reader

-ePub and PDF reader

•FBreaderJ

-ePub and PDF reader

-online library support

•Moon+ Reader

-Supports txt, html, epub, umb, zip, opds

-Full visual control of color, line spacing, font size, orientation, and more

Reading - Android

•InDAISY

-Full-text/Full-audio DAISY player

-Supports DAISY 2.02 & 3 formats

•VOD (Voice of DAISY)

-Full-text/Full-audio DAISY 2.02 player

•RFB&D Player

-RFB&D Audio-only DAISY books

DAISY Players - iOS

Idea Mapping - iOS

iThoughts HD-Mind Manager/Inspiration-style interface-Import & Export support for many desktop applications(e.g., MindManager, Freemind, MindGenius)

Idea Mapping - Android

Thinking Space-Mind Manager/Inspiration-style interface-Import & Export support for many desktop applications(e.g., MindManager, Freemind, xMind)

Flash Cards

AnkiMobile-Expensive, but desktop application is free-Supports variety of media formats

Study Cards-Text-based flash card interface

Flash Cards - Android

AnkiDroid-Free-Compatible with Anki 1.2.5-Many free decks available

Any Memo Free-Supports many media formats (audio & image)-TTS support-Import & Export between Mnemosyne, Supermemo, CSV, QA txt, and more

Institutional Concerns &

Considerations

A word of caution...•Understand the difference between

acknowledging the existence of mobile devices vs. actively designing and supporting any mobile technology.

•Discrimination via technology? There’s an app for that- but only on the Palm Pixi...

Focus

•What are you trying to accomplish?

•What are you able to support?

•What are the expectations of your:

•students

•faculty & staff

•administrators

-Develop a check-in process...and then follow it

-Specify a procedure that resets the device back to original factory settings removing personal information

-Choose whether to support students if they override device settings

Equipment Loans

Alternate Media Workflows

-Text/HTML

-ePub

-Text-based PDF

-DAISY (with appropriate app)

-MP3

-ePubCalibre E-book Converter, OCR applications

-DAISYSave As DAISY add-in, DAISY Pipeline, online tools

-MP3TextAloud, Ghostreader, AT applications

Alternate Media Tools

Conclusions

In order to map out the intersection of maximum

benefit and minimal cognitive demands, the needs of the

individual must be considered in relation to the capabilities of the

technology.

Integration between mobile apps and desktop & laptop

applications offers great promise, but beware of the

dangers of riding the bleeding edge of technology.

Questions?

Special thanks to Sean Keegan of

Stanford University for helping create this presentation!

Jayme JohnsonWeb Accessibility InstructorHigh Tech Center Training Unit for theCalifornia Community Colleges

jjohnson@htctu.net

http://www.htctu.net