COMPUTERIZED TEXT STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM TO FACILITATEEDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED EFFORT IS TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF MERGING THE CAPABILITIES OF EXPERT TEXT HANDLING SOFTWARE FOR DATA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL WITH OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION AND SPEECH SYNTHESIS TECHNOLOGIES. PRESENT SCANNING SYSTEMS ARE EFFECTIVE IN CONVERSION OF TEXT BASED INFORMATION INTO FORMS IMMEDIATELY USABLE BY THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED. IN ADDITION, THESE SYSTEMSEVEN ALLOW EXPORT OF SCANNED TEXT INTO WORD PROCESSING SYSTEMS SO THAT RESCANNING IS NOT NECESSARY FOR REPETITION OF THE COMPUTERIZED RECITATION. HOWEVER, IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE FUTURE USEFULNESS OF THE ACTUAL INFORMATION, USERS MUST BE ABLE TO QUICKLY REACCESS PARTICULAR TEXTS BASED ON SUBJECT CONTENT. THIS WOULD INVOLVE CREATING TEXT STORAGE SOFTWARE WHICH ALLOWS THE USER TO QUICKLY SELECT TEXT PASSAGES AND ASSOCIATE KEYWORDS WITH THESE PASSAGES. TEXT RETRIEVAL WILL ENCOMPASS ALLOWING INSTANT ACCESS BASED ON TITLE, KEYWORDS, AND SUBJECT CROSS REFERENCING. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL DISCOVER THE POTIMAL FASHION WITH WHICH THESE TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE SYNERGISTICALLY COMBINED TO CONSTRUCT A "PERSONAL LIBRARY" - CUSTOM TAILORED TO THE VISUALLY-DISABLED'S NEEDS. THE COMBINATION OF SYNETICS AND XEROX/KURZWEIL CAPABILITIES WILL RESULT IN EFFICIENT GENERATION OF A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION AND A REPORT ADDRESSING THE SCOPE, DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION ISSUESAND BENEFITS OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM. THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS FOR PHASE I WILL BE A DISCOVERY OF THE BEST METHODS FOR INCREASING INDEPENDENCE OF THE BLIND INHANDLING ALL FUNCTIONS REQUIRING LARGE AMOUNTS OF INFORMATION. THIS WILL CULMINATE IN DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE OFA DATABASE MERGED WITH THE OCR AND SPEECH SYNTHESIS TECHNOLOGY. IN PHASE II A SYSTEM WILL BE FULLY IMPLEMENTEDFOR THE VISUALLY DISABLED STUDYING AND WORKING IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. THE ENHANCED ABILITY OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO HANDLE MEMORY INTENSIVE TASKS WILL FACILITATE ATTAINING POSITIONS WITH GREATER RESPONSIBILITY BASED ON IMPROVED LEARNING SKILLS AND ABILITY TO ACCESS LARGE AMOUNTS OF RECORDS. THIS SYSTEM, ONCE DEVELOPED CAN BE EFFICIENTLY MODIFIED TO ASSIST VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE WITH INFORMATION HANDLING IN ANY PROFESSION OR DISCIPLINE. THIS SYSTEM CAN BE EMPLOYED BY EDUCATORS TO ORGANIZE LESSONS FOR TEACHING PURPOSES.