[stylist] October Telephone gathering- voice Input as a Writing Tool

[Robert Leslie Newman]

On Sunday October 30th, we will have a very interesting demonstration of how
a person can use our voice to write. Over the years, I have gotten many
inquiries about if this option was available and how good was it? We have a
member who uses it and says that today, it works quite well. Pranav Lal, our
member from India is going to demonstrate it, using JAWS and Dragon
Naturally Speaking and a special program that bridges the two. Below, Pranav
gives us a short write up of what he will show us:

 

 

Hi Robert,

 

Until very recently, speech-recognition technology could not play well with
screen readers. You could use speech but it was the last resort. Things
changed with bridging technology called J-Say which bridges jaws for windows
and Dragon Naturally speaking. You can control the computer hands free
including navigating the desktop and operate applications such as Microsoft
Word, Internet Explorer, Excel and Firefox.

 

My focus will be on Microsoft Word since we are dealing with writers. You
can proof read text, navigate by sentence, paragraph, word etc. It is even
possible to navigate the ribbon interface via speech. 

 

Having said that, J-Say can mask significant portions of the user interface
so the learning curve for new user is not that steep irrespective of the
version of windows and office being used. Commands remain consistent across
applications. There is plenty of context-sensitive help and the J-Say
documentation is comprehensive.

 

There are other technology combinations such as System Access with windows
speech recognition and the Dolphin Guide but as far as I know, Dragon
Naturally Speak is the most evolved program out there and it is what I use.

 

J-Say is made by a British company called T&T Consultancy Limited. You can
see their website at http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/ 

 

I have no affiliation with the company except being a  satisfied customer
and beta tester.

 

Pranav

 

Robert Leslie Newman

President, Omaha Chapter NFB

President, NFB Writers' Division

Division Website

 <http://www.nfb-writers-division.> http://www.nfb-writers-division.net

Chair, Newsletter Publication committee

Personal Website-

 <http://www.thoughtprovoker.info/> http://www.thoughtprovoker.info