Development of Multimodal e-Slide Presentation to Support Self-Learning for the Visually Impaired

Authors: Rustam Asnawi, Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad

Abstract:

Currently electronic slide (e-slide) is one of the most common styles in educational presentation. Unfortunately, the utilization of e-slide for the visually impaired is uncommon since they are unable to see the content of such e-slides which are usually composed of text, images and animation. This paper proposes a model for presenting e-slide in multimodal presentation i.e. using conventional slide concurrent with voicing, in both languages Malay and English. At the design level, live multimedia presentation concept is used, while at the implementation level several components are used. The text content of each slide is extracted using COM component, Microsoft Speech API for voicing the text in English language and the text in Malay language is voiced using dictionary approach. To support the accessibility, an auditory user interface is provided as an additional feature. A prototype of such model named as VSlide has been developed and introduced.

Keywords: presentation, self-learning, slide, visually impaired

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1056108

References:

[1] W. Mike, "Learning Through Multimedia: Automatic Speech Recognition Enabling Accessibility and Interaction," in Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2006: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, 2006, pp. 2965-2976.
[2] N. A.Bradley and M. D. Dunlop, "An Experimental Investigation into Wayfinding Directions for Visually Impaired People," Journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 2005.
[3] M. Zainal, "Prevalence of blindness and low vision in Malaysian population: results from the National Eye Survey 1996," British Journal of Ophthalmology, , 2002.
[4] N. Aziz, "Assistive Courseware for Visually-Impaired," in LNCS 5857, IVIC Proceeding Kuala Lumpur, 2009.
[5] Michael Alley and K. A. Neeley, "Discovering the Power of PowerPoint: Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides from a Skillful User-s Perspective," in Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition,2005.
[6] April Savoy, et al., "Information retention from PowerPointTM and traditional lectures," Journal Computer & Education, Elsevier, vol. 52, pp. 858-867, 2009.
[7] Microsoft. (2011, July, 29th). COM: Component Object Model Technologies. Available: http://www.microsoft.com/com/default.mspx
[8] Microsoft. (2011, July, 29th). Component Object Model (COM). Available: http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms680573%28v=VS.85%29.aspx
[9] Hilko Donker, et al., "The Design of Auditory User Interfaces for Blind Users," in Proceedings of the second Nordic conference on Humancomputer interaction 2002.
[10] Microsoft. (2011, July, 29th). Speech Software Development Kit 5.1. Available: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=10121#overview
[11] Rustam Asnawi, et al., "Design Architecture for IM-Player as a Tool for supporting Visual Education Presentation," in Lecture Notes in Computer Science-IVIC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2009, pp. 78-89.
[12] Rustam Asnawi, et al., "Development of Multipurpose Integrated Multimedia Presentation System Based on the CCM Algorithm," in Proceedings of International Conference on Computer and Automation Engineering, Singapore, 2010, pp. 716-720.
[13] Rustam Asnawi, et al., "Unifying Multimedia Player and Presentation System with Utilizing Dual-Display Feature," in Proceedings of The 4th International Symposium on Information Technology Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2010, pp. 70-75.
[14] Rustam Asnawi, et al., "Formalization and Verification of a Live Multimedia Presentation Model," International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 20(3), pp. 32-41, 2011.