Android is an operating system for certain
smart phones and tablets (these terms are all explained in the glossary).
App is short for 'application' and is very often used to describe a small program that it installed onto a mobile phone or tablet device. It could be anything from a word processor to a colour detector or train times finder.
Assistive or access
technology is any additional software or hardware that is required by someone, because of a
disability, to enable them to use a computer. The two most common types of assistive technology for people with sight loss are
screen magnification and screen reading software. It is also known as access or adaptive technology.
A
braille display is
a line of cells, each with six or eight pins that move up and down to represent dots of a braille cell. The display is used to represent a line of text on the computer screen. It is also called an electronic, soft or refreshable
braille display.
Braille embossers/printers produce braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper. They connect to the computer in the same way as text printers but need special
braille translation software, and can also be connected to
notetakers and other devices.
CCTV (also known as a video magnifier) is a magnifying aid for people with some useful vision. Printed material and objects can be placed under a camera and the magnified image is displayed on a television screen or computer monitor. They are mostly used for reading, but can also be used for writing and other activities such as sewing.
DAISY stands for Digital Accessible Information System is a standard for digital talking books.
DAISY books are typically used by people have 'print
disabilities', including blindness, impaired vision and dyslexia. The DAISY format allows users to hear and navigate written material presented in an audible format. A 'DAISY player' is a device that will
play a DAISY book.
eBook stands for 'electronic book' (also known as a digital book). This is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices.
A specialist equiped to assess or advise a
disabled person for the best aids and equipment for
daily living, education and employment.
Agency or company supplying aids and equipment to aid
daily living.
A
modifier is a key that can be used in conjunction with a second key and modifies its behaviour. Assistive
technology may have its own modifier key so that its keystrokes do not conflict with the keystrokes used by the operating system (e.g. Windows) or other programs.
MP3 is a common
music file format. It stands for for "Moving Picture Experts Group Phase 1, Audio Layer 3".
A
notetaker is a specialist portable device that enables someone with a sight problem to take notes and retrieve them later in an accessible form. Electronic notetakers usually contain a diary and other applications and some have a keyboard for
braille instead of QWERTY keyboard input. They do not generally incorporate a screen display.
OCR software is used in conjunction with a PC and camera or
scanner to copy printed text to the computer and hold it electronically so it can be read by a
screen reader or magnified with software.
A screen is made up of thousands of dots, called
pixels ("picture elements"), arranged on the screen in columns and rows. The characters, pictures and shapes that appear on the screen are created by changing the colors of these dots. The resolution of a monitor is the number of pixels used within it, and is given as two numbers for instance "1280 by 800" (1280 across the screen and 800 down). With a larger number of pixels ("higher resolution"), screen objects can be shown in more detail and mor
A static or mobile place where technological aids and equipment are available variously to view, try out and purchase.
A
scanner is a device which captures an image of a page and enters it into the computers memory so it can then be manipulated as required. In conjunction with
OCR software the text in the image can be extracted and read back using a
screen reader.
Screen magnification software can magnify the text, menus and icons on a computer or mobile phone screen. Because screen magnification software increases the size of the image displayed on the screen, only a portion of the original screen image can be seen at one time. Normally the magnification will automatically follow the area of attention, for example the cursor.
Screen readers sends screen text displayed on a computer or mobile phone screen to be spoken by a speech synthesiser. Common features include the ability to speak text on the full screen, a user defined area of the screen,
a line, a word, individual letters or the phonetic equivalent of a letter and punctuation. A screen reader allows menus, dialog boxes, tool tips and system messages to be read back. A screen reader is designed to enable a blind person to use a computer fully.
A
smart phone is an advanced mobile phone, that allows you to do more than just make phone calls and send text messages. A typical smart phone might let you browse the internet and download
apps. The iPhone and the HTC are very well known examples of smart phones.
Social networks is a term used for websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You use a social networking site to expand your social contacts by making connections with individuals and creating communities. It's also a fun way to keep in touch with friends and maybe to make some new acquaintances!
Text-to-speech is often used interchangeably with "
screen reader" to refer to the vocalisation of information from a screen, but strictly speaking a TTS system reads nothing but text. While this can be a useful aid to partial sight, a blind user will need extra contextual information conferred through visual means (for instance that something is a button in a ribbon or dialogue) or formatting (such as a heading on a webpage).
A
touch screen enables you to control the computer by touching an area of the screen. This might be on a PC, tablet device, mobile phone or electronic kiosk.
A
video magnifier or
CCTV is a simple way of producing large text and images for people with some useful vision. Printed documents, handwritten materials or objects can be placed under a camera. The magnified image is then displayed on a monitor. They are most often used for reading, but some can also be used for writing, checking a price tag, looking at a timetable or to read a whiteboard in a classroom.
Voice recognition software enables you to have an alternative to typing text into a computer. This is where the user talks to the computer and should not be confused with a
screen reader where the computer talks to you.
