The Emergent Institute

HP hosts 'hackathon' for autism

Don Whittecar — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:08:17 +0000

In a crowded conference room on the Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) campus in Cupertino, a team of volunteer computer coders huddled around a big, white notepad, tossing out ideas for a touch-screen application that will teach an autistic child how to follow traffic signals and safely cross a street.

A few steps away, a young woman with an autism disorder happily chatted with strangers by typing out words on an iPad. Just a few years ago, her mother said, Kayla Takeuchi, 20, could not speak.

Nearly 100 tech professionals and advocates for people with autism took part in an unusual software "hackathon" that HP hosted this week to develop touch-screen apps for autistic children and their families. Organizers invited the Takeuchis and others to share their own insights on the challenges created by autism.

Ideas were submitted by families and advocates to the Hacking Autism website over recent months, after HP executive Phil McKinney announced the project at two "Maker Faire" tech conferences earlier this year. McKinney said volunteers will continue to refine the apps in coming weeks before they are distributed at no cost over the Web.

Hacking Autism http://www.hackingautism.org/

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19098013

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Hewlett-Packard

autism

hackathon

touch-screen apps

autistic

Liberated Learning Consortium Announces Nuance Joining the Effort to Advance Information Accessibility in Higher Education through Speech Recognition

Don Whittecar — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Using innovative speech recognition and language understanding developments from Nuance for lecture transcription, consortium aims to advance aqual learning access for students of all abilities

BURLINGTON, Mass., – October 5, 2011 – Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN) has joined the Liberated Learning Consortium, (LLC), an international group of technology providers, colleges and universities working to advance information accessibility in higher education through the use of speech recognition technology. Nuance Communications, the maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, joins IBM as the second technology company to contribute expertise in support of the Consortium’s mission.

The Consortium was formed to support the diverse higher-education learning needs of people with disabilities by improving access to class lectures. Consortium partners - which include IBM, Nuance, Saint Mary's University (Canada), Purdue University, University of Massachusetts Boston, Macquarie University (Australia) , University of Southampton (UK) - research and develop platforms for speech recognition-based captioning and transcription of education media in support of the LLC mission.

“We continue to be incredibly fortunate in the support that we receive from the technology and educational communities,” said Keith Bain, international manager of the LLC. “Nuance in particular brings years of experience, deep research and technology assets in speech to the Consortium, which we know can only help to propel our research forward. The vision and collaboration that we share with companies such as Nuance - and all of our Consortium partners - are fantastic to see in action.”

Representing between 10-20 percent of all postsecondary students, higher education learners with various disabilities face significant challenges when it comes to capturing class notes or accessing information from class lectures. Many colleges and universities use volunteer note takers, but this is typically a very inefficient process, and also forces students with disabilities to rely on others. There are also outsourced services that can transcribe class lectures, however this is typically costly and inefficient. The rapid rise of online multimedia based courses further increases the need for technology solutions focused on accessibility.

The Consortium's aim through its research is to apply speech recognition technology to deliver real-time captioning and transcription of class lectures and other education media, to provide equal access to information for students of all abilities. In many countries, access to assistive technology in higher education is mandated by the government, and this is quickly becoming the norm around the world.

"Globally, access to higher education is a critical driver of economic growth, societal competitiveness and individual qualify of life," said Frances West, worldwide director of the IBM Human Ability & Accessibility Center. "As a founding member of the LLC, IBM remains focused on researching and developing advanced technology solutions that create fully inclusive and productive learning environments for students of all ages and abilities. We are delighted that Nuance will join us in this important endeavor."

“The Liberated Learning Consortium gives us the opportunity not only to work with some of the best and brightest minds from around to world; but also to apply our experience in speech and language understanding to further new technology developments that put education within reach of all students - regardless of ability.” said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager, Dragon, Nuance Communications. “Speech recognition technology has the potential to transform the learning process for so many people, and we are thrilled to support the Consortium in this endeavor.”

Current Consortium partners hail from every corner of the globe and include Algonquin College (Canada), Australian National University (Australia), Special Education College Beijing Union University (China) Hiroshima University (Japan), Landmark College (US), Macquarie University (Australia), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Purdue University (US), Saint Mary’s University (Canada), Trent University (Canada), Universita di Bologna (Italy), University of Massachusetts, Boston (US), University of Southampton (UK), University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia), Universität Ulm, (Germany). The LLC was founded by Saint Mary’s University and IBM Research through a Joint Study Agreement to respond to the increasing need (and mandates) for accessibility in higher education. Nuance has recently joined the LLC as a technology partner, and will work closely with IBM and the other Consortium partners to leverage innovative speech recognition solutions to support research and ultimately introduce new solutions for captioning and transcription of educational media.

Liberated Learning Consortium

The Liberated Learning Consortium is an international research network dedicated to advancing speech recognition technology and techniques to create and foster barrier-free learning environments to improve accessibility. The Liberated Learning Consortium conducts research and development on two interrelated applications:

Using speech recognition to automatically caption spoken language and display it as readable text
Using speech recognition to produce and disseminate accessible, multimedia transcripts

Consortium partners work collaboratively to find solutions to challenges, generate new knowledge, test, research and develop speech recognition technologies and actively raise public awareness about the Liberated Learning concept. For more information about the Consortium, including membership, please visit http://liberatedlearning.com/ email: liberated.learning@smu.ca or call +1 (902) 496-8741.

About Nuance Communications, Inc

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Trademark reference: Nuance, Dragon, and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Nuance Communications

Media Contacts:
Nuance
Erica Hill, 781-565-5218
erica.hill@nuance.com
OR
InkHouse (for Nuance)
Linda Walsh, 781-966-4117
linda@inkhouse.net

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speech recognition

Language Understanding Developments

Nuance Communications

Liberated Learning Consortium

disabilities

MacSpeech Dictate now Dragon Dictate

Don Whittecar — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:10:42 +0000

September 20, 2010 - Nuance, Inc. announced today the recently acquired MacSpeech Dictate has been renamed "Dragon Dictate" for MAC OS X and version 2.0 has been released. Among the new features being introduced in Dragon Dictate 2.0 is the ability to control the mouse with your voice using a unique grid system, patented by Nuance and first introduced in Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the PC.

The Emergent Institute remains committed to helping people become more productive with speech recognition technologies and is happy to announce that training is immediately available for Dragon Dictate 2.0.

For more information on Dragon Dictate for Mac, visit the Nuance web site.

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speech recognition technologies

training

The Emergent Institute Expands Speech Recognition Training

Don Whittecar — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:06:08 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stevensville, MT - January 22, 2010 - The Emergent Institute is pleased to announce the immediate availability of speech recognition training for Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Windows Speech Recognition.

After announcing the availability of one-on-one training for MacSpeech Dictate last month, The Emergent Institute received many requests for help with speech recognition software on Windows computers. Because of these requests, the company put its planned rollout of training for Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Windows Speech Recognition on the fast track.

"We had no idea there was such pent up demand for speech recognition training," said Don Whittecar, founder of The Emergent Institute. "So we decided to ramp up training for programs available for Windows as fast as possible."

Training is provided on a one-on-one basis from a highly skilled staff of speech recognition experts. Sessions last 50 minutes and cost $69.95 each. Training can be purchased directly from The Emergent Institute's web site at http://www.theemergentinstitute.org

About The Emergent Institute

The Emergent Institute provides resources and opportunities for those who will benefit from assistive technologies such as speech recognition, and makes it a practice to employ highly-skilled individuals with disabilities whenever possible.

For More Information:

Don Whittecar
The Emergent Institute
296 Meadow Road
Stevensville, MT 59870
info@theemergentinstitute.org
http://www.theemergentinstitute.org

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Emergent Institute

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Windows Speech Recognition

TEI Selected by MacSpeech as Reseller & Trainer

Don Whittecar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:04:38 +0000

Stevensville, MT, December 01, 2009 - The Emergent Institute announced it has been chosen as both a reseller and the first Certified MacSpeech Training Partner to offer one-on-one training for the MacSpeech Dictate series of products. Training will be provided to individuals who want to get the maximum benefit from MacSpeech Dictate. The Emergent Institute's expert trainers will cover how to create the perfect profile, using commands, working with a specialized vocabulary, or anything else, per the customer's request.

"MacSpeech is pleased to have The Emergent Institute as both a reseller and its partner in offering training to our MacSpeech Dictate customers," said MacSpeech president Andrew Taylor. "They have a great deal of experience in technology training, which makes them a perfect fit for us."

"The Emergent Institute has experience in offering opportunities for special needs artists and we are thrilled to be able to extend those offerings to training those who own MacSpeech Dictate," said Don Whittecar, founder of The Emergent Institute.

One-on-One training is available for anyone interested in increasing their knowledge of how to use MacSpeech Dictate and is priced at $69.95 for a 50-minute session.

Sessions can be purchased from The Emergent Institute's online store.

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Certified MacSpeech Training Partner

MacSpeech Dictate

technology training