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Microsoft partners with DAISY Consortium

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Microsoft Corp. and the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium have announced a development project that will enable blind or print disabled computer users to make better use of assistive technology.

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The collaborating project will enable the translation of millions of Open XML documents into DAISY XML, the lingua franca for digital talking books. The free downloadable plug-in will be released in early 2008, Microsoft said in a statement on Friday.

Dipendra Manocha, director IT and Services, National Association for Blind and president of the DAISY Forum of India, said, “With the largest blind population in the world, India needs initiatives like these to redress the problems faced by the visually challenged. This tool addresses a compelling need of the visually impaired - in all walks of life - who have so far been losing out on the benefits of the information-age.”

The structure within DAISY publications makes it possible to navigate quickly by heading or page number and to use indexes and references, all with correctly ordered, synchronized audio and text.

George Kerscher, secretary general of the DAISY Consortium, said, “The ability to create DAISY content from millions of Open XML-based documents using this translator for Microsoft Office Word will offer substantial and immediate benefits to publishers, governments, corporations, educators and, most important, to everyone who loves to read.”

DAISY material can be played on dedicated devices or on PCs by installing special software. Those with low vision, for instance, said that with auditory cassettes they could hear the words but not see how they were spelled. Accordingly, DAISY gives these users the option of visually following the text in large print as it is heard.

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