Benetech: A Leader in Developing a Web-based Digital Library
Palo Alto, CA -- Benetech is a unique bridge that connects the social sector with business and technology leaders. It joins together the heart of social mission with the mind of high-tech process and project management. Leveraging the vast technical skill in Silicon Valley, the company has project managers and engineers proficient in almost every area of software development. Together, Benetech is using technology to serve humanity. One way Benetech serves humanity is through Bookshare®. Bookshare® is a web-based digital library that gives people with print disabilities the same ease of access to books and periodicals enjoyed by those without disabilities. In the United States alone, there are more than 10 million people who have a disability that prevents them from reading a traditional printed book. Bookshare® allows a book to be scanned once and then shared in digital formats that are easy to download, search and navigate. The Bookshare® library provides people with print disabilities in the United States legal access to more than 50,000 books and 150 periodicals that can be converted to Braille, large print or synthetic speech. Originally created by a community of volunteers, Bookshare® is a subscription-based service operated by Benetech®. Many of the titles in the Bookshar®e collection are available to people living outside the U.S. including books in Spanish.Bookshare® texts and periodicals are organized in collections by subject area, just as they would be in a physical library. Members can search by title, author and subject. The virtual bookshelves at Bookshare® feature a wide assortment of reading material including a broad collection of children’s literature, titles from the Oprah Book Club booklist, and an array of textbooks. Bookshare® staff and volunteers take pride in making sure that the library includes bestsellers such as the Harry Potter books which become available on Bookshare® just hours after they are released to the public. If a particular book is not yet available in the Bookshare® library, Members can ssubmit the title to a wish list for Volunteers to scan and upload to the library. According to teachers, the textbooks offered by Bookshare® help students with print disabilities keep up with their classmates. High-quality digital books in accessible formats also encourage students to study independently and develop their tastes in recreational reading outside the classroom. Bookshare® works with state education agencies and schools to get digital books to students in a timely manner. The library also partners with authors and publishers who contribute digital content with global permissions to make books available to print disabled readers worldwide. These partnerships allow Bookshare® to deliver the best quality content possible at the lowest cost. The Bookshare® library also makes extensive use of textbook files provided by publishers using the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), to create high quality student-ready materials in digital audio, large print or Braille. In addition to texts, the Bookshare® website offers free assistive technology software that Members can use to read digital texts in a range of formats. Benetech advises the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) advisory committee which develops etext standards for K-12 textbooks. The company also works closely with assistive technology vendors and leading technology firms such as Amazon and Google to make books more accessible. Free Membership For Students In 2007, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education awarded the Bookshare® project $32 million over five years to expand the availability of accessible electronic books and the software for reading those books. This funding gives all qualified disabled students in the U.S., regardless of age, access to the library without charge. Students can download and read as many books as they wish from Bookshare® on their home computers. Funding from OSEP will allow Bookshare® to add more than 100,000 new educational books to the Bookshare® collection in the next several years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobii ATI to Exhibit at CSUN
Tobii ATI, a developer of Augmentative and Alternative Communication products will exhibit the following products at CSUN: C15, C12, C8, S32 and Lightwriter SL40 (http://www.tobii.com/en/assistive-technology/global/) at CSUN’s annual conference. These products benefit anyone who needs a speech generating device. Through the company’s eye tracking and speech technology, children and adults with communication disabilities are able to communicate via eye gaze or a touch screen of symbols or text. Tobii ATI’s reason for exhibiting is expressed byTara Rudnicki, President of Tobii ATI; “We feel that CSUN is one of the best conferences on the Western half of the United States. As Tobii ATI strives to give individuals with communication disabilities a way to live more fulfilled, integrated and independent lives, it’s great to participate in a conference that coincides with our mission. CSUN promotes not only the awareness and education of various disabilities, but also of the assistive technologies available that are changing lives.” The idea of eye tracking came from a research project at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Tobii was founded in 2001. Innovation is at the heart of the firm’s business and Tobii has a strong focus on R&D. It invests in sharpening its core technology and in developing new products. Its eye tracking technology has revolutionized research in many fields and has enabled communication for thousands of people with special needs. Its goal is to always be first choice in any market and it is expanding its offering beyond eye tracking and eye control. The company’s mission is to bring eye tracking into broader use. Some of that future is already here. It provides market-leading eye tracking technology to industrial partners in areas such as hospitals, diagnostics, vehicle safety, gaming and computer manufacturing. The company’s booth is No. 713.