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RScan: for blind fellows, who find identification of things through OCR too slow and inefficient (1/2)

Have you ever been impatiently waiting, until your phone reads through all the information in all sorts of languages about the manufacturer, compounds, source, distributor and finally gets to the name and flavor of the chocolate you're holding in your hand?
I had. And some kinds of goodies are just like fabricated for this, say bottles. I don't even know where the title is in the first place, the fact that the OCR software can have problems with the curvy surface doesn't help much either, when the bottle is full the recognition may be hard to do in air as I struggle to keep it still in one hand, and even if I finally get to the desired info, hoping I would hear also say the bottle's volume is hyperoptimistic at best.

Thus, I developed RScan. Simply point your device to the product, and in few seconds, you will hear the brand, name, type and sometimes also the related metric information like volume, weight etc.
How does it work? RScan is a barcode reader for Android, that is looking for barcodes - an identification mark that every commercial product needs to have. When it finds one, it automatically looks it up on DuckDuckGo, and using a special algorithm, tries to figure out which search result would be most useful for the user.
Designed for speed and convenience, from my experience, it correctly identifies 90% of products and thanks to swift operation, can be used to quickly sort through whole groups of goodies you need to classify.

1/2

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RastislavKish

RScan: for blind fellows, who find identification of things through OCR too slow and inefficient (1/2)
@Piciok the main screen contains a list of the currently made scans. Double tapping on any of them should bring a screen for attaching your own description to the barcode.
This screen contains a list of suggestions, which are basically DuckDuckGo search results for that barcode.
Double tapping on any of them will fill out the field on the bottom of the screen with that result, it saves typing or copying.
For purposes of debugging the automatic suggestion algorithm, the list of the suggestions present on this screen is a good aid because these are basically the options the automated recognition is choosing from, so we can see if the algorithm has made a good choice or not.
@Paweł Masarczyk
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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 19 - made in Poland
And so we arrived in the last week of advent so this calendar has only six windows left. To finish it off nicely, from now on I'll try to post some smaller projects that nevertheless have an impact on the quality of life for the blind and partially sighted people somewhere. Let's start with another Polish invention:
Totupoint is an in-door navigation system created by Jan Szuster, a blind engineer from Warsaw. It revolves around Bluetooth beacons placed at key points in a building or at a points of interests such as bus stops, administrative buildings or other venues that are key infrastructure. Those can be discovered through the Totupoint mobile app or an additional module attached to the user's white cane. As soon as you find yourself within the range of a beacon, it is triggered and plays the assigned recording so that you exactly know where it is located. You can repeat the message as many times as you need to locate the point you're looking for or in case of the mobile app read the attached information such as opening hours or address and phone number of the place you're at.
The system also supports tiny interactive HTML apps that can be operated from within the app so it can be adapted to turn on the traffic lights or request line number on public transport. Many successful installations happen at an increasing number of venues in Poland. You can learn more and see the complete list of active locations at:
totupoint.pl/
In other news: as soon as Apple flicks the verification switch, I will have something to share that potentially all of you might find useful so watch this space.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Poland #UrbanEnvironment
#Accessibility #blind #Poland #adventcalendar #urbanenvironment

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If you maintain an open source project, even as a solo developer, I highly recommend writing descriptive commit messages. These messages help others understand what changes you're making and why you're making them, and will help you in the future if you return to a codebase after a long time.

I find myself not wanting to contribute to projects that don't have good commit messages, as it's harder for me to get a grasp on the codebase.

If you don't know how to write a good commit message, this guide is a good start: wiki.gnome.org/Git/CommitMessa…

Git/CommitMessages - GNOME Wiki!

wiki.gnome.org

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Chris 🌱

@andyholmes I usually don't squash commits if they aren't just fixes for previous commits. So if I have the following commits:

  • Change set A
  • Tweaks to change set A
  • Fix for crash in set A
  • Change set B

I'd only keep:

  • Change set A
  • Change set B

at the end (as a very simplified example)

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Just a little note in case you didn't know that I'm a person who REALLY likes this particular mashup to like an Unhealthy Degree
youtube.com/watch?v=DhvXST1Rc3…

Taylor Swift vs. Nine Inch Nails - Shake It Off (The Perfect Drug)

DL: http://audio.isosine.com/Isosine%20-%20Taylor%20Swift%20vs.%20Nine%20Inch%20Nails%20-%20Shake%20It%20Off%20(The%20Perfect%20Drug).mp3FB: http://facebook....
YouTube

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 18 - Czech Republic
Back to the Czech Republic we go, where remote assistance of blind and partially sighted people was in operation years before AIRA was founded.
The navigational center of the Czech Union of the Blind assists their customers in many ways:
- by delivering help through the user's smartphone's camera via Skype;
- by looking up information on public transport routes and general information on places of interest;
- best of all: by researching routes that the user would like to take bearing in mind everything that is of importance when travelling independently with a white cane or/and a guide dog, including possible hazards or characteristic waypoints and landmarks.
It comes as no surprise that the service is available throughout the entire country. Pricewise, it works in two models: it is possible to buy packages of single uses of the service starting at less than six dollars for ten single uses; or a periodic subscribtion starting at around 13 dollars for three months.
portal-pelion.cz/aplikace-a-sl…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #CzechRepublic #Mobility #PublicTransport

Aplikace a služby využitelné při sebeobsluze a samostatném pohybu zrakově postižených - Pélion

V textu si povíme o aplikaci, která existuje již pár let, ale i tak se stává, že o ní někdo slyší úplně poprvé. Je to aplikace Be My Eyes.
Linda Albrechtová (Pélion - Vzdělávací portál pro zrakově postižené)
#Accessibility #blind #czechrepublic #publictransport #adventcalendar #mobility

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 17 - Poland
Today's highlight is not strictly accessibility-related but it is in itself accessible and definitely makes electronic payments in Poland quick and painless for everyone.
Blik is a Polish payment system that is based on six-digit codes entered as a confirmation of payment on the website where you want to make a transaction. The way this is used is the following:
1. You open the app of your bank on your phone and press the Blik button. Sometimes banks will place this feature under the app's shortcuts so starting straight from the homescreen or through a shortcut you yourself created is definitely possible.
2. A six-digit code is generated and it is read out to you. You can remember or copy it and from that moment you've got 120 seconds to finish the transaction.
3. You enter the code on the website or in the app where you're trying to complete a transaction.
4. You return to your banking app to confirm the amount to be paid through the biometric authorization method of your choice or a PIN code. In my banking app the time limit is counted down with each second being marked with a chaptic feedback of my iPhone.
Note: meanwhile regular payment terminals already support Blik and more and more shop assistants know how to activate it so the phrase "Poproszę Blikiem" ("By Blik, please") is more commonly heard.
Another component of the system are the P2P micropayments to a mobile phone where it is enough to enter the other party's phone number to make or request a payment straight from the banking app.
I believe similar systems function in other countries but are mostly QR-code based and require a separate app. I find this way much handier. Also, it is universal across all major Polish banks.
blik.com/en/how-to-use-blik
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Shopping #Banking #Mobile #Poland

How to use BLIK

BLIK in a blink of an eye! Pay for your purchases, wherever you are, in a few moments, with BLIK`s fast and secure payments!
blik.com
#Accessibility #mobile #blind #Poland #adventcalendar #shopping #banking

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Alan Walker, Emma Steinbakken - Not You (Forgiven Hardstyle Remix) #Hardstyle youtube.com/watch?v=yBOj3B7LJ6…

Alan Walker, Emma Steinbakken - Not You (Forgiven Hardstyle Remix) [Free Release]

#euphoric #hardstyle #rawkick...:..::..::: .Upload.Info. :::..::..:....Artist: Alan Walker, Emma Steinbakken.Title: Not You (Forgiven Hardstyle Remix).Labe...
YouTube
#hardstyle

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RT @CZ_NIC@twitter.com

Rozšiřujeme tým interních administrátorů! Hledáme kolegu se zkušenostmi s Linuxem a síťováním. Pozice je vhodná pro absolventy. Více informací na webu #karieraCZNIC: nic.cz/page/321/kariera-v-czni… #prace #job

🐦🔗: twitter.com/CZ_NIC/status/1603…

CZ.NIC - Kariéra v CZ.NIC

CZ domain registry.
www.nic.cz
#job #karieracznic #prace

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 15 - Austria
Welcome to Innsbruck, Austria again. This time we go to the main train station where I spent a part of my mobility training. Through this training I have learnt that there is a semi-independent way for blind passengers to operate the on-site ticket machine. How come semi, you might ask?
Well, on the front of the machine, there is a dedicated customer service number embossed in Braille where you can call and tell the representative where you would like to go. They are able to remotely operate the machine, find your connection, choose the right ticket options for you and bring you to the payment screen. Once the payment is complete, the ticket comes out as usual. Kind of makes me wonder: if the railway staff are able to access these machines remotely, why isn't this possibility open to those who might need it for accessibility reasons?
I am not sure whether this works in other Austrian cities, I haven't also heard of this implementation in any other place.
Unfortunately, I have never had a chance to use this so no recordings or first-hand experiences this time.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Railway #Transport #Trains #Austria #Innsbruck
#Accessibility #blind #trains #transport #adventcalendar #austria #railway #innsbruck

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Paweł Masarczyk

The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 15 - Austria
@vick21 Thank you, Victor! Lately, I have found it hard to motivate myself to write longer forms, the idea appears compelling at the beginning but the execution feels a bit like a chore. I'll think of a way to archive this somehow, though, seeing by the reactions that there is some interest around it.
@victor tsaran
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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 14 - France
Since some time I have been drawn to research Minitel, a French Videotex-based system for accessing information that predates the Internet. It was a revolution in terms of digitalization which made activities such as buying train and plane tickets, signing up for classes and reading newspapers digitalized as early as the 80's. You can read more about it in the following Wikipedia article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
There were many devices invented to make Minitel accessible to the blind, although the system itself wasn't designed with this target group in mind. Mostly, they were external speech synthesizers like in the case of Lectel:
lemonde.fr/archives/article/19…
or the Valentine text-to-speech card for the Apple II:
blog.atalan.fr/valentine-carte…
The history of the Eurobraille company, the makers of the popular Esys, Esytime and B.Note Braille displays, starts also with a speech synthesizer for the Minitel terminals.
eurobraille.fr/notre-histoire/
As I found out, however, most of France's blind community at that time did not have access to this kind of technology and Minitel only became accessible on a global scale in the 90's when regular PC's did but then it was almost the time of the Internet so it never gained the same momentum as it did with the society at large. Pity as this could have been an opportunity to push the inclusion of blind and partially sighted people to whole new levels.
Always design with accessibility from the start!
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #France #Internet #Minitel #Videotex #RetroTech

Les ordinateurs ont la parole

Un Salon vient d'être consacré aux machines parlantes et aux innovations techniques destinées aux aveugles. Le matériel existe, pas encore le marché !
CHRISTIAN TORTEL (Le Monde)
#Accessibility #blind #france #Internet #adventcalendar #minitel #videotex #retrotech

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We’re finally back on Google Play!! Thanks to all the hard work by joseluismarti and Fuzzard! We have the Kodi v20 RC1 available if you opt into testing: play.google.com/apps/testing/o… and thanks to jogal/thexei, we finally have a new build in the MS Store which should work well again on Xbox! Keep in mind, we had to push our v20 RC1, so still a little rough around the edges.

Sign in - Google Accounts

play.google.com

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#FreeSoftwareAdvent for today: Hammerspoon. Another macOS tool that makes the platform usable.

Script the OS, add hotkeys, all from Lua, a not wholly unpleasant programming language. One thing that it desperately needs is good documentation, and if I had a few weeks of uninterrupted time and no responsibility, I'd write said documentation. Otherwise, you need to do a lot of googling to find blog posts and code samples because the API docs are a bit mystical.

hammerspoon.org/

Hammerspoon

Staggeringly powerful macOS desktop automation with Lua. Making the runtime, funtime.
www.hammerspoon.org
#freesoftwareadvent

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Encouraging to see the dream of #AccessKit (github.com/AccessKit/accesskit) becoming a reality. I just finished the first iteration of macOS support for text edit controls, and the work I did in egui, which I had tested with the AccessKit Windows adapter, only required a one-line fix to be fully functional on macOS. And even that change wasn't exactly Mac-specific, just something that didn't happen to be needed on Windows. Also, integrations in other GUI toolkits are in the works. #accessibility

GitHub - AccessKit/accesskit: UI accessibility infrastructure across platforms and programming languages

UI accessibility infrastructure across platforms and programming languages - GitHub - AccessKit/accesskit: UI accessibility infrastructure across platforms and programming languages
GitHub
#Accessibility #accesskit

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Any curious #Android users around? I just pushed the first early-bird code of my little sync tool to

codeberg.org/izzy/adbsync

Can be used to sync some data (documents & co, not intended for system stuff) without needing any app on-device. Uses rsync & adbfs (some details in the readme). You define per-directory whether it shall sync from or to the device. Supports bidirectional as well, but use that with care as it's rather hacky-wacky.


adbsync

Synchronize your Android device with your Linux machine using rsync and adbfs
Codeberg.org
#android

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 13 - Sweden - expand the content warning to open the window for today
Today's one might be familiar to some of you as this has received a bit of media attention bacccccccccccccccccback in 2016 when Sweden hosted the Eurovision Song Contest.
To celebrate another win, for the time of the contest's duration, the audible traffic lights at some of Stockholm's locations have been revamped to play Loreen with "Euphoria" (winner of the 2012 ESC) when the lights are red, then when they turn green, they ticked to the beat of Mans Zelmerlow's "Heroes", the song that brought the contest back to Sweden in 2015. What a fun twist on an accessibility feature!
youtube.com/watch?v=pj3V06Thvo…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Sweden #Eurovision #ESC #UrbanEnvironment #Music #SoundDesign

Music Traffic Lights Stockholm Eurovision Song Contest 2016 (Take 1)

This was take 1 - I decided to re-record this a second time.
YouTube
#Accessibility #blind #music #Sweden #Eurovision #sounddesign #adventcalendar #urbanenvironment #esc

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 12 - Poland - expand the content warning to open the window for today!
Somehow we made it through the first half of this calendar. Thank you for all of your interactions and encouragement. It's very motivating to see how far these little posts can reach.
So I realized that all the time I have been doing this calendar, I haven't mentioned Poland, where I come from, once. Shame on me! Let's try to make it right.
Inpost is the pioneer as the provider of parcel locker technology in Poland. It's quite common to order something and, instead of requesting that the package is delivered directly to your door, have it dropped at one of the lockers which are often located quite centrally, at a post office or another place of significance in a given city, town or village.
Inpost have come up with quite a clever way of allowing blind people to open these lockers and find the right door. Not only is the app itself accessible so you can track your delivery all the way through but once your order arrives, all you have to do is go to the place where your locker is located, open the door for your parcel from within the app and read the instruction telling you which door is yours E.G. third up, sixth to the left of the touch screen. The system has become so useful for the general public that in order to become more sustainable, Inpost have begun installing screenless lockers so that everything has to be done with the app. This way, it is also possible to send a package somewhere without the need to stick a physical label on it. Other accessibility accommodations include the "easy access zone" as per the link below.
inpost.pl/en/help-easy-access-…
What are you ordering this Christmas and how is it delivered to you?
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Poland #Shopping

Easy Access Zone - we answer your questions | InPost

inpost.pl
#Accessibility #blind #Poland #adventcalendar #shopping

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Zažívám nesmírnou radost naše distribuce CachyOS se ukázala na Phoronixu a to i s vyšším výkonem pro gaming.

Na začátku roku 2021 jsme začali jako menší partička kamošů - Já, Ptr, Hamad a pár uživatelů s tím, že cheme Arch Linux více optimalizovaný pro nová CPU a přinést gamingu na linuxu svěží vzduch.

Zda se povedlo, to posoudí každý sám. To je teprve začátek, máme další nápady, jak zlepšovat optimalizace. Co je nejlepší, lze je aplikovat na vanilla Arch Linux.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf​

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@app Hey, could we please get an ability to set our post language up on submission? Sometimes I would want to post something in Polish, Russian or Chinese but it will always show as a post in English which will spam people's timelines with some uncomprehensible garbage (for them), a beautiful language (for me). I understand Tweesecake doesn't mean to be a full-on Mastodon client but that should be one more API query param. TC users, I kindly ask you to boost.
@TweeseCake

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 10 - Luxembourg - expand the content warning to open the window for today
Today's is more of a handy implementation rather than best practice example per se. Still, I haven't seen it anywhere else and I find it a socially mindful design.
You know the talking info boards at public transport stops, right? The ones that you press a button on and it reads the next few lines that will depart even when all you really need is the next one? I'm pleased to tell you that Luxembourg is doing it differently:
The spoken information is given only as long as you hold down the button that activates it so it is a kind of walkie-talkie that does the talkie part instead of you. This way, you can hold it down, listen to the next train or two arriving then release the button and be done with it. Not a perfect design as it excludes those with limited dexterity but it is a start.
Sadly, the information is given only in French which goes to show that accessibility should also include those who can't speak the country's language. This is in Luxembourg which boasts three official ones so most of the native population has grown multilingual from the start. Unfortunately, I have seen these info boards only at some train stations in the Luxembourg city - would be amazing to see the availability expand.
Again, no links and also sadly no recordings so have some more interesting facts instead:
1. Luxembourg is the first European country to make the public transport completely free of charge to everyone. Bear this in mind if you ever come to visit.
2. The city of Luxembourg has been awarded the European Commission's Accessible City Award of 2021.
#Accessibility #Blind #Adventcalendar #Luxembourg #PublicTransport
#Accessibility #blind #Luxembourg #publictransport #adventcalendar

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The accessibility for the blind advent calendar: Day 9 - Belgium - expand the content warning to open the window for the day.
Back in 2018 I spent a month in Brussels. It was the first time I lived in a capital city so it was quite a stressful experience: not much time, a couple of routes to learn, pretty loud and congested streets and trash bags put directly on the pavements - an easy target to hit with a white cane. I enjoyed it though and one takeaway I've got is how easy to read the tactile plans at the Brussels central station are.
Normally, I have difficulties relating what I touch on a tactile plan of a building to the real world. That station made a heavily simplified version of the experience by placing a pole at each crossroad of the tactile floor marking, with a simplified tactile plan at the top telling you where each of the forks of the floorline would take you. It looked a lot like the four navigation keys and the confirmation key on a classic mobile. Each of the arrows ended with a Braille description of the destination in both French and Dutch. This was a great help.
Also QDos to the sound designers who created the jingle for the Brussels public transport company. It's a pretty dancey beat of five notes played on a synthesizer which would make a nice text tone. Find it at the end of the company's promo video below:
youtube.com/watch?v=kmNBW0jdms…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Belgium #PublicTransport

Go Easy MIVB

http://goeasy.mivb.behttp://www.stib-mivb.be/https://twitter.com/STIBMIVBhttps://www.facebook.com/lastibhttps://www.facebook.com/mijnmivbhttps://www.linkedin...
YouTube
#Accessibility #blind #publictransport #adventcalendar #belgium

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Accessibility for the blind advent calendar: day 8 - Austria (Part 1) - expand the content warning to open the window for today
For almost one year and a half I had the pleasure of living in Innsbruck, the charming Austrian city which is the capital of the Alpine region of Tirol which is very popular with tourists. While my stay there was heavily marked by the Covid situation, lockdowns and a really difficult start to building a stable social life, it presented me with some highlights of interest to us so here are they:
- A tiny version of the Czech remotes system, at that time capable of triggering the audible traffic lights, currently also the talking public transport info boards;
- an exceptional training of the public transport drivers who always stopped the bus right in front of you as long as you stood at the designated, tactile spot; opened the door and told you the bus/tram line they were driving;
- a tactile line going across what seemed to be all of the city's market square which made for a nice walk through the city center;
- the general feeling of safety that encouraged me to take long walks and explore the city by myself;
- the amazing community around my former workplace, Freirad, the social, community-driven radio station that focused on giving voice to those who wouldn't find it in the mainstream media. This meant tons of content from marginalized groups, a wealth of diverse cultural, music and linguistic spectrum and plenty of social initiatives on air. Of course, blind and partially sighted radio hosts were more than welcome and I was happy to be a part of this journey, organizing workshops for prospective hosts with visual impairments, including a really fun group of kids and spreading the word about the importance of accessibility which was always well-received. My former show on Freirad aired for the last time today so it's a bit of a chapter closing.
#Accessibility #Blind #Austria #BuildEnvironment #PublicTransport #Radio #AdventCalendar
#Accessibility #blind #radio #publictransport #adventcalendar #BuildEnvironment #austria

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Paweł Masarczyk

Accessibility for the blind advent calendar: Day 8 - Austria (Part 2)
As there were no links today, have a binaural audio postcard from Amras, a village that became a part of Innsbruck itself some hundret years ago. The recording was taken in the lovely park near the Schloss Amras castle which is located somewhat uphill and makes for a good basic hike for starters. Recording made using the Ambeo Smart headset hooked up to an iPod touch 7th Gen.
The recording is a 1:26 long collage of several clips taken in the park.
Clip 1: Birds chirping with some cars driving past in the background (the park was located directly over a highway);
Clip 2: The call of a group of peacocks mixed with footsteps and somewhat strong wind blowing into the mikes;
Clip 3: A waterfall flowing to my right and footsteps over a wooden bridge;
Clip 4: Moving further past the waterfall so that it's moving in the stereo spectrum and a white cane hitting the wooden bridge;
Clip 5: Another perspective of the waterfall;
Clip 6: Clearly can't get enough of waterfalls;
Clip 7: The last sounds of a waterfall, peacocks and the white cane;
I recommend listening in headphones for the best spacial experience.
#Accessibility #Blind #Austria #AudioRecording #BinauralRecording #FieldRecording #Nature #AdventCalendar

#Accessibility #blind #nature #adventcalendar #austria #audiorecording #BinauralRecording #fieldrecording

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The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 7 - Australia and New Zealand - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day
A lot of countries employ voting templates to allow blind votees to cast a ballot in local or state elections. It's the same in Poland and in my experience it has been pretty much prone to mistakes such as the ballot paper slipping a fraction underneath the template. This is why I was happy to learn that Australia and New Zealand employed the "voting by phone" system. Blind citizens of these countries are one of the groups elligible to vote by phone. In order to do that, one calls the central voting committee to register, is assigned unique credentials that allow the person taking the vote to identify the elligibility in an anonymous way. On the day of voting, the elligible person calls another number where only the previously agreed credentials are taken from them, the ballot paper is read and the vote is cast by telling the committee representative. Sounds simple and flawless but perhaps there are some security flaws I am not aware of that made it not a more globally adopted solution. Thoughts?
ecq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/p…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Australia #NewZealand #Voting #Phone
#Accessibility #blind #voting #australia #phone #newzealand #adventcalendar

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Did you know Monopoly was invented by a woman named Elizabeth Magie in 1903?

Originally ‘The Landlord’s Game,’ it was designed as a protest against the big monopolists like Carnegie & Rockefeller.

But it was Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman, who eventually sold it to Parker Brothers after playing a version.

Parker Brothers credited Monopoly with saving their company. Magie died in 1948 without recognition. Darrow became very wealthy & his legend lives on. #history #women #HistoryRemix

Lizzie Magie (1892). Photo is in the public domain. Photographer unknown.
#history #women #historyremix
This entry was edited (2 years ago)

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Send umí bezpečné sdílení souborů bez registrace. Poté je sám odstraní

👉infoek.cz/send-instance-2022/

@nolog

Send umí bezpečné sdílení souborů bez registrace. Poté je sám odstraní

Pamatujete ještě na službu Firefox Send? Jednalo se o moc hezky zpracovanou službu pro bezpečné sdílení soubor
Adolf Pupík (Infoek.cz)
@NoLog.cz 🏴

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The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: Day 6 - France with potential global impact - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day.
The 6th of December is traditionally the day when Santa comes and brings small gifts to children in Poland and several other countries (not to be confused with the 24th of December which is also when gifts, bigger ones, are distributed). Obviously somebody's got to pay for all these nice things so how to do it in an accessible way?
I thought of including Handsome, a French fintech dedicated to serving customers with visual impairments, as a part of this calendar, as it offers an accessible voice payment card; a dedicated concierge service, insurance in case of damage to assistive devices or stranding with no immediate mobility options. They can be found at:
howtobehandsome.fr/
Imagine my shock this morning when I discovered that through cooperation with the Tales Group, Handsome's voice card has become global so it's a matter of time before banks start introducing it.
The card is equipped with a Bluetooth LE chip, connects to the customer's smartphone either through their banking app or a specially designed one; then, once its inserted into the terminal, it delivers all of the status messages to the app E.G. the amount to be paid or the current state of the payment process. This way it is possible to avoid being scammed on the amount and we can make sure all is well with our transaction.
I'm curious if any banks are going to introduce this any time soon.
thalesgroup.com/en/markets/dig…
#Accessibility #Blind #France #Banking #AdventCalendar

Thales Gemalto Voice Payment Card

Discover how visually impaired people can make each payment transaction more secured and trusted.
Thales Group
#Accessibility #blind #france #adventcalendar #banking

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Braille!
I know that the below post might sound random but here goes.
The Unicode braille block starts from U+2800. The U+2800 character himself is a so called “blank braille pattern” which translates to a space sign in most cases. Stuff get more interesting if you want to make a braille pattern. In computer braille (8 dots) there are 256 possible patterns, it sounds like a byte, right? Right! Cause if you want to make a braille pattern, you just at a byte to the base character U+2800 as we already discussed. The bits in this byte are encoded in column order, so that 11100000 is the letter L, and 1101000 is letter F. The exception to this rule are of course dots 7 and 8. They have been added later and so putting them between dot 3 would break the compatibility with existing software. So, to reassume the encoding order is as follows (from bit 0 of the byte)
Dot 1
Dot 2
Dot 3
Dot 4
Dot 5
Dot 6
Dot 7
Dot 8
Tell me guys if you like such #programming and/or #accessibility posts from me.
#Accessibility #programming

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Something that has worked really well for librsvg - and now I'm happy to have for at-spi2-core as well - is a development guide for the internals. Not a library manual, but an internals guide.

It's available at gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/a…

I want to make it a good reference for the implementation details of #accessibility - for how the system is built, the roadmap and the cleanups we're doing, how to make toolkits accessible, that sort of thing.

Development guide for the accessibility infrastructure — Development guide for the accessibility infrastructure documentation

gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org
#Accessibility

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The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 5 - Italy - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day.
Is it possible to have audiodescription on TV if the broadcasting mode is analogue and the ability to employ several language audio tracks does not exist yet? Italy has had the solution, at least a decade ago still, where audiodescription for the movies aired by RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, would have the descriptive track delivered on a designated FM radio frequency. A blind person wishing to watch such a movie would turn on their TV to the right channel and then tune a radio receiver to the right frequency to enjoy both the original movie track and the audiodescription in sync. As it turns out from the paper below, keeping both in sync is difficult.
By the device of anecdotal evidence I know that a similar system existed in Slovenia.
Another thing that was available in Italy, and I haven't heard of it anywhere else before, are accessible audio menus on DVD's.
openstarts.units.it/bitstream/…
#Accessibility #Blind #Audiodescription #Italy #Slovenia #Radio #AdventCalendar
#Accessibility #blind #radio #AudioDescription #Italy #adventcalendar #slovenia

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Paweł Masarczyk

The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 5 - Italy - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day.
@jscholes I would be curious to know what software is used to generate that. I can imagine this being useful even for private projects. An accessible DVD of the wedding video sounds like the best gift for blind newlyweds.
@James Scholes
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miki

The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 5 - Italy - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day.
@jscholes I’ve seen these here (Poland) too. The way DVDs work, every item in the menu is a separate scene, showing an almost the same static picture, except with a different highlighted item. Pressing the arrow keys just moves you between such scenes. There’s nothing stopping you from putting an extra “play sound” instruction there, with the appropriate sample.
@James Scholes

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miki

The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 5 - Italy - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day.
I’ve heard of a similar system employed somewhere in the US, but I haven’t been able to find specifics. Considering that they used to have free or flat-rate local calls, and considering how low the latency was in the days of analog TVs and phone systems, it definitely seems believable.

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The #accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar, day 4: Slovakia - expand the content warning to open the window and discover the interesting fact for the day
Today's window comes a little later than usual but as there's still the 4th of December somewhere in the world, I hope it's forgiven.
Inspired by a conversation I had with @adela, I decided to dedicate this one to the central purchase receipts storage system in Slovakia.
The Slovak government runs a central point where all of the receipts issued by merchands and service providers are registered. Upon issuing, a receipt is assigned a unique number in that system which then is printed onto the slip of paper given to the customer. What you can then do is, using a dedicated app for this purpose, load that receipt onto your phone by entering that number or scanning the QR code printed onto your receipt in order to have all the details of your purchase presented on your smartphone. This is a great way for blind individuals to check whether their transaction has been dutyfully conducted or to help in obtaining the necessary data to maintain your spending tracking record, so even though this solution was not conceived with blind people in mind, it is a valuable enhancement towards a more independent life.
technologiebezzraku.sk/2022/07…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Slovakia #Shopping

Over doklad – prístupná aplikácia na čítanie príjmových dokladov - Technológie bez zraku

Over doklad je aplikácia vyvinutá Finančnou správou pôvodne určená na overovanie príjmových dokladov, ktoré prešli cez eKasu.
Michaela Dlhá (Technológie bez zraku)
#Accessibility #blind #slovakia #adventcalendar #shopping @adela

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The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 3 - The Czech Republic - expand the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, today's window opens up to one of my favourite treasure troves of good practices regarding accessibility for the blind - the Czech Republic which I am currently only one hour of a car drive away from.
Did you know that by 2004 Czech Republic was the second European country right behind Sweden with the widest network of audible traffic lights? Not only that but they already started installing tactile floor markings and my favourite invention, the remote controls for the build environment.
The Czech remote control is a tiny box with six buttons that each blind individual can purchase. Using this aid, a blind person navigating through a Czech city can check any public transport schedule available at any stop, confirm the line of the bus or tram that just came, alert the driver to their presence so that they can let them in or out of the vehicle, navigate around the Prague underground, trigger audible traffic lights to be switched on and locate some of the key buildings such as the Blind Union's HQ's.
Although many cities of Europe have meanwhile tried to implement a similar system, the Czech Republic is the only country I know of that offers such a wide range of services in the entire country this way. I was very impressed the first time I tested this and I love coming back to our southern neighbours. Ahoj a zdravim vas s Polska!
Below, an article of the Czech radio broadcaster back from 2004 explaining the accommodations along with audio samples in Real Audio, if you can still play that.
english.radio.cz/czech-blind-u…
#Accessibility #Blind #UrbanEnvironment #BuildEnvironment #CzechRepublic #AdventCalendar

"Czech Blind United" - making Czech towns and cities friendlier to the blind and visually impaired

Many foreign visitors to Prague or elsewhere in the Czech Republic are often puzzled by the ticking sound of traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. It is the acoustic…
Radio Prague International
#Accessibility #blind #czechrepublic #adventcalendar #urbanenvironment #BuildEnvironment

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Peter Vágner

The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 3 - The Czech Republic - expand the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
@Paweł Masarczyk Oh btw almost 20 years later some cities e.g. Prešov or areas (Banskobystrický samosprávny kraj) are trying to pursue these remote controls for their public transport services too. Majority of our country coverage is still ahead of us.
#Accessibility #blind @Paweł Masarczyk

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Paweł Masarczyk

The #Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 3 - The Czech Republic - expand the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
@pvagner That sounds great. Some Austrian cities are trying too. One city in Poland did pilot that. Sadly these remotes do not talk to each other and it's an effort that is pretty much scattered all over the place.
@Peter Vágner
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#Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 2 #Switzerland - open the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
When I was 9 or so, I discovered that one of the cineplex complexes in Poland operated a phone line with an IVR system that would let you explore the entire schedule of currently running movies. This was my first means of accessing information independently and on-demand. I was the movies expert in our house at that time and with movies like "Shrek", "Matrix", "Starwars" and "Harry Potter" coming out this was the time to be alive. I dreamt then that we will be able to access all of the info we want through a telephone. Turns out that's what #Switzerland is doing right now.
Voicenet is the service of the Swiss Union of the Blind, where you can call in and receive all the information you need to access culture, shopping, receive advice, benefit from the organization's services etc.
Some things you can find there:
- the current supermarket prospects with all of the weekly discounts and special offers read by volunteers;
- TV and radio schedule, including information on movies with audiodescription aired throughout the week;
- traffic and construction works;
- rail schedules;
- signing up for the Union's events;
- a voice forum where users can ask for advice and exchange information;
All of that provided by volunteers and an editorial team in three languages: German, French and Italian with the ability to navigate through content E.G. jumping from beverages to dairy products with the phone's keypad.
I realize that things like the NFB Newsline exist but it seems that, as Switzerland is a much smaller country, it is easier to offer much more local information.
sbv-bvas.ch/voicenet-2/
#Accessibility #Blind #Phone #languages #Switzerland #German #French #Italian #AdventCalendar

Voicenet des Schweizerischer Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Sektion Aargau-Solothurn

VoiceNet ein interaktives Hörmedium +41(0)31 390 88 88 und bietet umfassende Informationen des Schweizer Blinden und Sehbehindertenverband
Bith (sbv-bvas)
#Accessibility #blind #languages #german #french #italian #phone #switzerland #adventcalendar

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Paweł Masarczyk

#Accessibility for the #Blind advent calendar: day 2 #Switzerland - open the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
@JonathanMosen Interesting! Is there anywhere I could read more about it? I also like the idea of voting by telephone that New Zealand and Australia have: so brilliant in its simplicity, yet so few countries embraced it.
@Jonathan Mosen
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The accessibility for the #blind advent calendar - day 1: 🗾 Open the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
In #Japan, the concept of accessible phones has been known since the early 00's and has its own term, "Raku Raku Phones" and means simplified phones. Those are adapted for the needs of elderly users and those who don't feel as familiar with modern technology so a lot of concepts are, well, simplified. This is especially important given that the 00's saw the emergence of Japanese mobile phones with capacities comparable to today's smartphones. Sending emails, taking photos, mobile payments, music recognition and downloads; even TV watched on a phone were all there by 2005 and formed an important part of how the Japanese society accessed information. This is why the Raku Raku phones manufactured jointly by Fujitsu and NTT Docomo, the leading Japanese mobile carrier, were so important. Fujitsu called to the corporate social responsibility of other companies to follow suit and also formed the basis for accessibility guidelines for I-Mode, the gateway to all of Japan's mobile internet services. Apparently, 80% of Japan's blind population used these phones as they were equipped with a screen reader and allowed accessing I-Mode this way. fujitsu.com/global/documents/a…
#accessibility #blind #Japan #adventcalendar #mobile #phones
#Accessibility #mobile #blind #japan #phones #adventcalendar

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Paweł Masarczyk

The accessibility for the #blind advent calendar - day 1: 🗾 Open the content warning to discover the interesting fact for the day
@b_cavello Glad to be of service! Feel free to explore my other posts for the next days as I hope not to run out of content. Hopefully something that actually still works will surface in these.
@was B (this is my old account)
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