James And The Dragon
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday July 27, 1999
JAMES Sidebottom, author of The Greenhorns chapter, is fast becoming a wizard at data entry with the help of a dragon.
Dragon System's Naturally Speaking for Teens , that is.
James, who became a quadriplegic after an accident at the age of seven, uses this voice-activation software to achieve a greater degree of independence.
Essentially, a computer will respond to spoken commands, via a headset microphone, when the user accesses the software.
It's the `spoken commands' bit that can be tricky!
For example, your computer is not likely to respond to a command such as `No! Not you'.
It may, however, be more forthcoming if you ask it to `Correct that' or `Open quotes'.
A concise set of commands allows the user to access a program virtually hands-free.
In James' case, someone else needs to turn the computer on, plug the microphone in and sit the headphones on James' head ? but from there on, James can do it himself.
To become a proficient user involves hours of practice.
First you have to `teach' the computer to recognise your pronunciation by spending `about 30 minutes' (it says so in the instructions) talking to the computer.
This will create your `user profile', which is saved for future reference. Sounds easy so far, but have you tried talking to an unresponsive `thing' for half an hour?
All jokes aside, it's not easy.
So why not just read to it?
Some reading is OK but it's not going to teach the computer to recognise your pronunciation in spontaneous speech patterns, as when creating a narrative.
This is what can happen:
James: `Jonah said.'
Monitor shows: Jonah's head.
James: `Scratch that . . . Jonah said.'
Monitor: Joan is dead.
James (sotto voce): `I don't believe it!'
Helper (quietly giggles).
James (louder): `Correct that.'
Monitor (list of options appears): 1. Jonah's head. 2. Joan is dead. 3. Johah Stead.
James (a tad frustrated): `Will you please type it in for me?'
These kinds of misunderstandings happen quite frequently when the user is learning.
`It's a bit like talking to someone who is hard of hearing,' James explained. `You have to really think before you speak.'
James has benefitted greatly from tuition by Trevor Wilks from the Adaptive Technology Centre at Newcastle University.
Mr Wilks has spent four hours teaching James how to get the best from the software, bought by the school earlier this year.
Mr Wilks believes adaptive technology is essential if students with disabilities are to compete with non-disabled peers both educationally and vocationally.
`It's a way of levelling the playing field,' he said.
James attends Toronto High School three days a week.
It's hoped voice activation software, installed on a powerful lap-top, will give him a virtually independent method of note-taking and assignment preparation.
© 1999 Newcastle Herald