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Documentation

Reader Stations

Introduction

Reader stations allow users to scan handouts or printouts and convert them or electronic files into MP3 audio files. Reader stations use a program called Kurzweil 3000 to convert text and to mark up files for easier reading by those who are learning disabled. Reader stations are located in the Capen third floor Cybrary and Diefendorf 207.

What Works Best and What Doesn't Work

Materials placed on the scanner bed must be flat. If text is distorted because of binding, it may be read improperly, if at all.

Serifed fonts, such as Times Roman, have the greatest chance of being read properly. Artistic fonts that feature script writing or fanciful fonts have poor recognition. Some characters in sans serif fonts, such as Arial, may be misread. For instance, capital I is sometimes misread as the number 1. Handwritten text is not readable.

Text on a colored background or over a picture may not be readable. Pale backgrounds of a single color, such as ivory or very pale blue, sometimes do work, however. White text on a background of any color cannot be read.

Images are not read, but their captions are. The caption is read in line with the text around it. Text that fits around image shapes will be read as if the image has a box around it. Images that divide columns will cause text to be misread -- the text in columns above the image will be read before the text in columns below the image.

Footnotes may not be read in proper sequence.

Spreadsheets are read across rows.

Electronic PowerPoint presentation files that feature backgrounds should have the backgrounds disabled in PowerPoint before opening in Kurzweil 3000. To do so, open the PowerPoint file in PowerPoint. Select Format, then Background. Select Omit background graphics from master, then click Apply to All. Once opened in Kurzweil 3000, some slides may require rotation.

Foreign Languages

Some foreign languages do not read well with Kurzweil 3000. German, French, and Spanish have performed fairly well in our testing. Other languages may perform poorly. If scanning in a foreign language, you should select Read, Speaker Language, and choose from the available languages. Select Tools, then Options. Click the Scanning tab. In the OCR area, select the language of the document to be scanned. Click the Reading tab. In the Speaker area, choose from the available languages in the Language menu.

Scanning Printed Documents

You can scan a printed file and convert it to an audio format file. First, you must convert it to a Kurzweil format file. To scan existing printed documents to be converted to audio files:

1. Authenticate to the Reader Station by entering your UBITName and Password, as you would on any other Public IT computer.
2. Double-click on the Kurzweil 3000 icon on the Desktop. The Kurzweil 3000 window will open.
3. Place the printed document face-down on the scanner glass.
4. Click the Scan button at the top of the Kurzweil 3000 window, or select Scan, then Scan. To scan multiple pages in one file, select Scan, then Scan Repeatedly. There will be a pause between scans. To re-scan a page that did not scan properly, select Scan, then Rescan Page.

Opening Electronic Format Files

You can open an electronic format document, such as a Microsoft Word file, Adobe Acrobat file, or PowerPoint presentation, and convert it to an audio file. First, you must save it as a Kurzweil format file.

1. Double-click your file to open it in its original format, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat.
2. Select File, then Print.
3. From the Printer Name pull-down menu select KESI Virtual Printer. Click OK.
4. Double-click on the Kurzweil 3000 icon on the Desktop. The Kurzweil 3000 window will open, and your document image will will appear.

Setting the Reading Rate and Unit

Open your file in Kurzweil 3000 as described above. Click to insert the cursor at the point you want the document to begin reading. Click Read.

The Reading Toolbar will appear and the program will begin to read. To adjust the rate of speed or the reading unit, click Pause and select new settings from the pull-down menus.

Correcting Recognition Errors

Sometimes the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process mispronounces a word in your document. These errors can be corrected.

1. Open the document you want to edit.
2. Select Edit, Correct Recognition, then Edit Underlying Text.
3. Click on the word whose pronunciation you want to correct. The image of the word will appear in the Selected Word area to the left, while the underlying text will appear in the text box to the right.
4. Click in the text box and edit the word to correct the misrecognition.

If there are words that occur frequently, you can correct them all at once.

1. Select Tools, then Corrections.
2. Enter the word you want to change in the Find box, and enter its replacement in the Replace With box. Click OK.

Creating MP3 Files

To create an MP3 audio file of your document:

1. Select File, Utilities, then Create MP3 Files.
2. Select the number of pages for each MP3 file. If you have a large file, you can split it into several smaller MP3 files.
3. Select the desired Audio Quality setting. High quality is recommended unless space is a concern.
4. Choose the Destination Folder in which to save your file, such as a Jump Drive, a CD, or your UBFS space.
5. Click OK.

Document Information