This project has now also become my final project for Developing Assistive Technology class with Amanda Syarfuan. We looked at a lot of available technology out there and theres a lot. The problem is most of it isn't really assistive. Also, for us it's not just about the technology but the experience. We want to recreate the feeling of actually reading while holding a book or paper. Now we can't recreate the physical touch or smell but we can help adding sound effects and such.
You're probably asking...well what about the "page turner's" that exist in the world. Two words. They suck. Probably not the most appropiate terminology but it's true. They're about $3000. THREE GRAND!!! These devices are for handicapped people who need help, they have enough costs. Also, the page turners don't even work well. So why bother!? Now as I calm down, I would like to talk to you about the Flash page flip.
The flash page flip is a flash component that can be incorporated with xml and actionscript. This is great news for us because we need actionscript to make the program assistive/switch enabled. With xml we can hook it up to the web and make it available to everyone. The flash page flip even comes with page turning sound effects. How cool right!?
You can check out the Flash pageflip and demo at http://www.page-flip.com/
So then what's the next step?
Well...there are many steps. We need to create a user friendly interface where the user can easily maximize, minimize text, change colors, etc. There's a big problem with formats...pdf, doc, and so on. I think it'll be really difficult to find a way to make this program be able to read many different formats. I believe there are converters out there...and if we can figure out a way to implement that internally within the program so that the user doesn't have to do anything that would be brilliant.
Ok. So i didn't really answer the next step question in a fantastic manner but for now what we need to do is get pageflip switch enabled and put a book text on it because that way we can start user testing.
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