The following article is from the February, 2001 issue of the Braille
monitor. The scanning test at the end found that Open Book had a higher
performance than the k1000. As the article suggests, one should be leary
about applying this metric in making a buying decision. Ideally, several
versions of the document type should have been used. Then we can have
greater confidence that the objective score is representative of the
documents in the category. With the current test, it could be said that
poor performance was a result of the particular document in the category
and not of the category as a whole. For example, one product that did not
read a paperback book as well as the other could be said to have a problem
with the paperback book chosen by the tester rather then paperback books
as a whole as only one book was tested. Because of these limitations in
the test, end users should test frequently used documents on both systems.
Instead of forcing readers on a search for back issues, the author could
have summarized key ideas on why a specialized scanning system for the
blind is better than buying off the shelf ocr software for windows and
using it. One does not need to plow through thousands of words for this
answer.
finally, it should be said that we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of
the ability for blind people to read print independently from a scanning
system. The first scanning system became available on january 6, 1976 and
drew major national attention at the time, making it one of the lead
stories on all of the television network news broadcasts. The NFB helped
Ray Kurzweil secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding to develop
and bring to market the Kurzweil reading machine. It is regrettable that
this disclosure and relationship did not occur with this article.
kelly
Comparing the Openbook and the Kurzweil 1000
by David Andrews
**********
From the Editor: The following is another in Dave Andrews's series
of comparative examinations of access technology. For some years Dave
directed the International Braille and Technology Center at the National
Center for the Blind. He has moved on from that position, but he
continues his willingness to share with the rest of us what he has
learned from his knowledgeable comparisons of competing products. This
time it is reading systems. This is what he says:
**********
Introduction
**********
As computers become an ever-increasing part of our lives, we can
divide what we do with them into a few categories. As blind people we
use computers to read or write text, to communicate with others using
e-mail and other methods, to surf the World Wide Web, and to keep track
of things. This article will concentrate on one of these areas, the
reading of text--more specifically, the reading of printed paper
documents such as books, magazines, bills, and letters. In particular we
will compare and review the Openbook produced by Arkenstone--a division
of Freedom Scientific, Inc. and the L&H Kurzweil 1000 produced by
Kurzweil Educational Systems Group--a division of Lernout and Hauspie
Speech Systems, N.V.
**********
Background
**********
Unless you follow the machinations of the access-technology field,
these names may be unfamiliar to you. The L&H Kurzweil 1000, which we
will call the K1000, was formerly known as the Omni 1000. It was
developed by Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., a company founded by
Dr. Raymond Kurzweil, who is familiar to most of us who are blind. Dr.
Kurzweil sold this company to Lernout and Hauspie Speech Systems in
the fall of 1998. L&H is a Belgian company involved in speech and
language technologies worldwide.
Open Book, also known as "An Open Book" and "An Open Book Ruby
Edition," was developed by Arkenstone, Inc. Earlier this year the
holdings of Arkenstone were acquired by Freedom Scientific, a new
access-technology conglomerate which also
includes Henter-Joyce, Inc., and Blazie Engineering. Now that you know
who's who, we can begin.
For this review we looked at version 4.9 of Open Book and version
5.0.02 of K1000. At the time of this writing, September, 2000, Freedom
Scientific is selling version 4.02 of An Open Book Ruby Edition.
However, in mid-August it released a public beta of version 5.0,
numbered 4.9. While it is not normally our practice to review beta
copies of software, we decided to do so in this case for a couple of
reasons. First, this is a public beta, which means it will receive wide
distribution aimed at uncovering major bugs or defects. It is unlikely
that we will see additional features or major changes between versions
4.9 and 5.0. Except for major fixes, what we now see is what we are
likely to get. Freedom Scientific expects to release version 5.0 in late
September or early October of 2000. [It has, in fact, now been released
and is available.] If we were to review version 4.02, it would be
outdated by the time you read this. The K1000 folks are also working on
an upgrade but don't expect to have something out until around the first
of the year. It should also be noted that there are other adaptive
reading systems on the market; however, Open Book and K1000
dominate the market in the United States, hence our concentration on
them.
**********
Similarities
**********
When one works with these two systems, it soon becomes obvious
that there are more similarities than differences between the two
because both programs are fairly mature; that is, they both have been
out for a while and have had time to develop large, similar-feature
sets. The PC-based reading software market is quite competitive; and, if
one major player comes up with a good feature, the other one is likely
to implement something similar in its next release. Yes, there are
differences in philosophy, approach, and implementation; and we will
discuss them. But the similarities are more numerous.
**********
Speech Considerations
**********
Both programs are self-voicing applications. This means that you
do not need a screen-review program such as JAWS for Windows or
Window-Eyes to use them. You also do not need a dedicated hardware-based
peech synthesizer. While you will need a sound card, such as a Creative
Labs Sound Blaster or equivalent, each package comes with one or more
software-based speech synthesizers. Open Book comes with IBM's ViaVoice
Outloud 4.0, and K1000 comes with RealSpeak and TTS3000 from
Lernout and Hauspie. ViaVoice Outloud is based on the same technology as
Eloquence, which comes with JAWS for Windows. However, its performance
seems somewhat sluggish to me; that is, it doesn't respond to commands
as quickly as the JFW Eloquence does. Further, with a top speed of 350
words per minute, it isn't fast enough for some power users. But at the
price it isn't bad.
RealSpeak is a new speech engine developed by Lernout and
Hauspie--Kurzweil Educational Systems Group's parent company--which
became available with version 5.0 of K1000. Personally, I have very
mixed feelings about this speech engine. The technology apparently uses
digitized human speech sounds to create the synthesized speech. On the
plus side its inflection and flow are quite human-like and an
improvement over any synthesized speech I have heard to date. On the
negative side its performance or response to keystrokes is very
sluggish. It takes a good deal of system resources, and overall I find
individual letters and numbers difficult to understand. Is it saying
"tab" or "tap"? Or is it saying "53" or "63"? Overall RealSpeak
sounded muffled; it didn't have good high-frequency response, which in
large part accounts for the difficulty in understanding some things.
It also has some artifacts typical of digital synthesized speech.
The system requirements are a 300 MHz processor and 64 megabytes of RAM
above the basic requirements for K1000 itself. People with inadequate
memory or a slow processor have reported excessive speech stuttering, an
observation that my experience bears out. I did most of my testing with
a Dell Pentium 300 MHz computer with 192 megs of RAM. While my memory
was more than adequate, my processor speed was just
adequate, and I found using RealSpeak an unsatisfying experience. Its
natural inflection is a technological achievement worth noting, one
which we will benefit from in the future, I am sure. However, for now
most of us will probably prefer another speech engine.
**********
Self-Voicing Application Considerations
**********
While it can be convenient to have self-voicing applications,
especially if you do not have a screen reader, using them in conjunction
with a screen reader can also get complicated. The Open Book install
program does a good job of detecting whether or not you have a screen
reader running. It will speak or not speak, whichever is
necessary. The install program will also install appropriate files to
put your screen reader to sleep while using Open Book as long as you use
JFW or Window-Eyes. Open Book has an informative file on screen-reader
compatibility in its Help folder. It is possible to get Open Book to do
all its own speaking or to use your screen reader to do
this. It is also possible to get different speech engines to share the
same sound card and more, although it can get a bit tricky. The file
tries to explain it all.
K1000 can be used with or without a screen reader. In its default
mode it will be self-voicing and will take over the numeric keypad. You
can get it to be quiet and relinquish control of the keypad, or you can
put your screen reader to sleep. However, you will have to do this
configuring yourself; K1000 does not automatically install any
sleep-mode files as does Open Book.
An alternative approach, which avoids potential conflicts,
involves launching either program with a hot-key command, a feature both
systems offer. You first unload your screen reader from memory, then
execute the hot key command. You have to relaunch your screen reader
when you exit Open Book or K1000, a task you can also
perform with a hot key. Nevertheless, both Open Book and K1000 are
designed so that they can be used by computer neophytes. The potential
conflicts between self-voicing applications and screen readers are
numerous and complicated. In addition to these programs, other
self-voicing applications include PW Web Speak and IBM's Home
Page Reader. Everybody, including application developers and
screen-reader developers, needs to cooperate and work out a system that
is automatic and seamless for the end user so that all these programs
can work together.
**********
Common Features
**********
Several common features shared by both these programs include a
speech-friendly and simple install process, automatic scanner detection,
multiple OCR (optical character recognition) engines; two major control
systems, including one using the 17-key numeric keypad and a second
using standard Windows commands; support of multiple speech engines;
file management and library systems; multiple scanning
modes including scan and read, batch scanning, image scanning, repeated
scanning, support of automatic document feeders, etc.; editing of
recognized text; importing and exporting of multiple file formats;
bookmarks; dictionaries; thesaurus; OCR error correction lists; spell
checking; pronunciation dictionaries; identification of paper
currency; deleting, inserting, and renumbering of scanned pages; visual
display settings designed to assist low-vision users; ability to scan
from within another application; find-and-find and replace? text; the
launching of other programs from within Open Book or K1000; and more.
As you can see, this is quite a long laundry list of common
features and includes virtually everything that a scanning/reading
program needs. However, there are some differences between the two
programs, even with the commonly held features. I will discuss some of
these, including those that are noteworthy. I will also talk about
features unique to each program.
**********
Installation
**********
Open Book and K1000 will both perform an automatic install, that
is, using a default set of choices which are right for most people. Also
either will allow you to do a custom install, making installation
choices yourself. Of the two programs K1000 has the simpler, more
automatic install even in the custom mode. It presents you with an
option, and, if you want to change it, you hit the Enter Key. If you
want to accept the choice, you can either hit the Escape Key or do
nothing, and that choice will then be accepted. Open Book's
custom-installation process uses a more standard Windows approach,
allowing you to make choices from controls such as dialog boxes and
check boxes.
**********
Scanner Considerations
**********
In the past most people purchased Hewlett-Packard scanners for use
with programs like Open Book and K1000. However, some of the newer HP
scanners do not work well with Open Book or K1000. Like most things with
computers, a standard which isn't completely standard has emerged for
communicating between scanners and the software applications they use.
This standard, called "TWAIN," stands for a "technology without an
interesting name," an acronym I always get a kick out of. There
are many good TWAIN scanners on the market. Some work with Open Book and
K1000, and some don't. I conducted my tests with an Epson Perfection
1200U, a TWAIN scanner using a USB connection. You should check with
Freedom Scientific or Kurzweil to see if your scanner or proposed
scanner is compatible.
**********
OCR Engines
**********
Until recently programs like Open Book or K1000 came with one
optical character recognition engine, the software that takes an image
from a scanner and turns it into actual text. In version 4.5 Kurzweil
Educational Systems Group upped the ante, adding a second engine, and
now Arkenstone has upped it again, adding a third. Version 4.9, soon to
be 5.0, of Open Book ships with CAERE MTX, FineReader, and Recognita
engines while K1000 includes RTK and FineReader OCR engines. Kurzweil
tells us that it added a second recognition engine because in some
instances the Fine engine offers improved accuracy at the cost of longer
processing times. I found this true during my tests in at least one
instance. Using RTK, I got quite a good scan of a hardcover book. There
were a few mistakes, though. When I switched to the Fine engine, I got
perfect text, although the processing time was approximately 10 seconds
a page longer.
Now Open Book includes a third engine, Recognita, but I am not
sure why. Recognita, while inexpensive, is not considered one of the
better performers on the market, such as the CAERE, RTK, or Fine
engines. In my limited tests I was never able to get better results with
Recognita, so besides its marketing value it seems to offer
little else at this time. Jim Fruchterman, President of Benetech--the
nonprofit company doing development on Open Book for Freedom Scientific,
told me that they had hoped for better performance from Recognita. He
also said that it offers support for additional
languages and that an upcoming release is supposed to offer better OCR
performance. Let's hope so.
**********
User Interfaces
**********
Open Book and K1000 have two major user interfaces. One uses the
17-key numeric keypad found on the right side of a standard 101- or
103-key PC keyboard. These user-interface systems were originally
developed for PC-based stand-alone reading systems, which both companies
sold at one time. Both programs now also include a more standard
Windows-style user interface employing a menu bar and pull-
down menus. These systems also have a variety of hot keys for common
commands or operations in addition to the use of standard Windows
commands for cut, copy, paste, selecting text, and the like.
Additionally the programs supplement the standard Windows menuing system
with a variety of function-key commands to perform a
number of common operations. Some of these commands use shift, control,
or alt function key modifiers for other tasks. K1000 in particular has a
rich, if sometimes overwhelming, set of commands for navigating and
editing documents, managing files and folders, etc.
Open Book and K1000 both state that their keypad interfaces do not
support all commands and functions present in the programs, although
they do allow you to execute most of them. They are present for the sake
of compatibility and consistency with past versions; however, most users
are probably better off using the Windows-
style menus and commands. I found myself using keypad commands for a few
things, but the Windows interface is richer and more familiar to
experienced users. The Open Book keypad command structure, as I have
noted in the past, can be a little confusing with all the going up and
down menus and in and out of choices. Likewise, I find the three-layer
approach that K1000 uses for its keypad commands--layers for reading,
settings, and file management--to be a little overwhelming with the
number of keys that must be remembered or found.
The keypad interface for the Open Book was extensively described
in a review published in the January, 1995, Braille Monitor, and the
K1000 interface was extensively described in a January, 1998, Braille
Monitor article. Much of the user-interface information in these
articles is still valid, so I won't go into a lot of detail here.
These articles also provide good information on the purpose and
components in a PC-based reading system and discuss why a person would
want to choose Open Book or K1000 over an off-the-shelf OCR package such
as OmniPage Pro or Text Bridge. Monitor reprints are available from the
NFB's Materials Center for $2. You can also find
them on the NFB's Web site, <http://www.nfb.org>, or on NFB NET,
<http://www.nfbnet.org>.
**********
Speech Engines and Synthesizers
**********
Open Book supports a variety of SAPI and SSIL speech synthesizers.
K1000 will automatically detect any speech engine that is SAPI-version-4
compliant. What does all that mean, you might ask? SAPI stands for the
Microsoft Speech Application Programming Interface and is a standard for
speech engines and applications to communicate. It provides a common
method for a screen reader or a self-voicing
application to use a speech engine with your sound card. Both IBM
ViaVoice Outloud and RealSpeak are SAPI-compliant speech engines. K1000
also ships with Lernout and Hauspie TTS3000 and FlexTalk from AT&T.
However, FlexTalk is a SAPI-version-3 application and doesn't work well
with SAPI version 4 and will not install if you have a SAPI-version-4
engine already present.
Both programs also support the SSIL standard developed by
Arkenstone. This stands for the Speech Synthesizer Interface Library, a
de facto standard used by screen review programs and self-voicing
applications to communicate with hardware synthesizers such as the
DEC-Talk, Double Talk, and the like. Because they developed it, Open
Book supports the full range of synthesizers for which SSIL drivers
exist. On the other hand, K1000 supports only a few of the most common
SSIL synthesizers. Unfortunately this did not include my Audapter from
Personal Data Systems. Kurzweil has mentioned the possibility of
additional SSIL support in the past, and I for one would like to see it.
They did provide me with instructions for interfacing my Audapter with
their program; however, this process isn't for the faint of heart. You
would need either to be an experienced computer user or to have the
assistance of one.
Open Book allows you to change speech engines or synthesizers on
the fly, but you can choose only from the ones you have previously
installed. It also allows you to set different voices for reading text
and menus, as well as choosing a voice for emphasized text. While these
three voices can be different, they must all be from the same
synthesizer or speech engine. While K1000 has only two voice choices for
reading voice and system voice, each of these can use a different speech
engine or synthesizer.
**********
Files
**********
The two programs each have their own proprietary file format, with
an .ARK extension in Open Book's case, and .KES in K1000's. These
formats allow you to preserve text and bookmarks. Both programs import
and export files in a variety of formats. Open Book imports its own
files, text files, RTF files, HTML documents, and Word and WordPerfect
files. K1000 imports its own files as well as Word, WordPerfect, RTF,
HTML, and Grade II Braille files--which it back-translates as it imports
them. It bases conversion on the file extension, and, if it is unable to
determine the proper format, it presents you with a list to choose from.
This list, as well as the export list, is based on any available file
converters already on your system. It exports in these
formats as well as in Microsoft Excel. It will also search your system
for any file converters you may already have and in my case came up with
an additional 150 file formats I could save as--many of which I had
never heard of.
K1000's support of Grade II Braille is a useful addition. It has a
built-in version of NFBTRANS inside itself. As you may remember, the
National Federation of the Blind put NFBTRANS into the public domain in
1992, and it has gone through improvements ever since. K1000 will import
and back-translate Grade II files automatically or output to
a Grade II file or printer. It is easy to print directly to your Braille
embosser; all you have to do is set up a generic text printer under
Windows 95 or 98. It took me about two minutes to do so--including
finding my Windows 98 CD-ROM. Formatting of documents
is not perfect; NFBTRANS has little formatting information to base its
decisions on. However, I found its work adequate for quick and dirty
personal use. Open Book, like K1000, has the ability to launch another
application from within itself, passing text to this application. You
can use this function to launch a Braille translation program such
as Mega Dots or the Duxbury Braille Translator. In fact, during its
install process Open Book can search for launchable applications on your
system. On mine it found Microsoft Word, Word Pad, and Turbo Braille--a
DOS-based Braille translation program I sometimes use.
Open Book supports the Library System it has used for file storage
in several previous versions of the program through a dialog box off the
File Menu. K1000 has a complete file-management system, which is a
variation of the file tree used in Windows Explorer and other programs.
It uses a grid of drives, folders, and files, through which you navigate
with the arrow keys, but dispenses with the "open" and "closed" states
that Explorer uses. It took me a little while to get used to but worked
well once I got the hang of it.
**********
Scanning Modes
**********
Open Book has a wider variety of scanning modes such as Scan and
Recognize, Batch Scanning, Batch in Background, Express Batch, Express
Batch in Background, Preview Scan, Orientation Only, and more. Most
people will use Scan and Recognize or one of the Image/Batch modes if
they have an automatic document feeder. The Preview Scan is unique to
Open Book and scans just the top of a page, facilitating identification
of a document.
**********
K1000 simplifies the process. You can Scan and Recognize text,
repeatedly scan based on a period of time, and also scan an image and
later recognize it. Both programs will work with a number of
graphics-file formats, including files from a computer-based faxing
system. We didn't test this capability, although we did test the
recognition of a regular paper-based fax--read on for the scanning and
recognition test
results.
**********
Text Edition
**********
Either program allows for the editing of recognized or imported
text, either from within itself or by calling another application. The
use of standard Windows editing commands makes this a straightforward
task for most experienced users. The presence of spell-checking, a
dictionary, and a thesaurus in both products makes these programs
competent editors. They do not have the full feature set of WordPerfect
or Microsoft Word but will do fine for many basic editing and correction
tasks.
**********
Bookmarks
**********
Both programs allow you to set bookmarks within text. However, for
these bookmarks to be retained, you must save in each program's
proprietary file format. K1000 has used bookmarks extensively in its
manual file, and they provide a good way to navigate. Further, the
program has a function that will extract a summary of a document based
on bookmarks you set or on a list of keywords you assign. With some
planning and forethought this could be a useful outlining and study
tool.
**********
Identification of Money
**********
If you are like me, occasionally you will be in a store and a
clerk will thrust a stack of unidentified bills into your hand. You may
not have the time to have them identified so you can fold them properly.
Well, Open Book and K1000 can come to the rescue. Both programs contain
utilities that will identify paper money. Open Book
contains Buck Scan, developed by Noel Runyan of Personal Data Systems--a
longtime Arkenstone dealer and systems integrator; and K1000 contains
Money Talks, a utility written by Stephen Baum and released into the
public domain. Some users have reported having problems identifying
money. If a bill is excessively worn or wrinkled, identification may be
difficult or impossible. Open Book also advises you to hold the bill
on the scanner glass by hand, not to put it on the glass and shut the
lid as you would do for a regular full-sized document. Because of its
small size a bill may move when you shut the lid without your knowing
it. Buck Scan has the advantage of making repeated scans easy, and it
works quickly. The K1000 utility works more slowly than BuckScan and
must be rerun each time you want to identify a bill.
**********
Visual Appearance
**********
One area that Open Book in particular has concentrated on is
visual appearance, especially for low-vision users. K1000 has done work
in this area too and has additional plans for the future. Open Book in
Version 5.0 has added a Low-Vision menu. It has settings for background,
foreground, and cursor color; font style and size;
and spacing between characters, words, lines, and sentences. The range
of choices for these settings seems quite broad, giving many low-vision
users the flexibility they need to customize the display for their use.
Open Book will also print text with the display settings you choose. It
has an "Exact View," which is an image of the paper document,
not a representation that has been passed through the
optical-character-recognition process. You can change the size of this
view, which may be appealing or useful to some users.
With a couple of exceptions K1000 has not concentrated as heavily
on the needs of the low-vision user. First, all K1000 dialog boxes are
created with a larger font than that used by Open Book and other Windows
programs. This means that K1000 is able to get fewer controls in each
dialog box, but their larger size appeals to many low-
vision users. Second, K1000 does have settings to control the color of
text, background, and highlighting; and you can increase the size of
recognized text up to eight times. You can have K1000 display text or
print text using the fonts and point sizes it finds in the original
document. You can also have it use one font and increase or decrease the
size as Open Book does.
Finally, L&H Kurzweil Educational Systems Group has announced a
product (which should ship in late September) called MagniReader. This
$349 product, which will be available free to all K1000 users under
warranty, will scan a printed page and put its image on your computer
screen. MagniReader will have a user interface that is designed entirely
for the low-vision user. The size of its menu buttons and the number of
buttons presented on a screen are readily configurable. You will be able
to use it to scan pages and display them at varying levels of
magnification in black and white or in color. OCR can be performed, and
the text can be read aloud. MagniReader will come with the RealSpeak and
TTS3000 speech engines. Display options will include smooth-scrolling
Marquis display, magnification of individual words as they are spoken,
and presentation at varying magnifications of a bitmap of the page or of
the recognized text. Files cannot be opened or saved, and text cannot be
edited. You should think of this program more as a CCTV on steroids than
as a typical computer-based scanning and reading product.
Stephen Baum, K1000's principal developer, feels strongly that
extensions to the basic reading product, such as extensive low-vision
support, should be offered as add-ons. They can then be used or ignored
at the end user's discretion. This is why MagniReader, which was
announced at our 2000 convention in Atlanta, will be a separate product
which can be integrated into K1000. Baum is considering other
additions to the K1000 product, but final decisions have not yet been
made. One addition that he feels confident we will see is the ability to
export text to other access devices such as a Braille 'n Speak, Road
Runner, or Braille Note.
**********
Refreshable Braille Support
**********
Support of refreshable Braille displays, or the lack thereof, is a
feature that both programs have in common. Neither one directly supports
refreshable Braille displays. I could get Braille output on my Power
Braille at work by putting JFW in sleep mode, not unloading it
completely, and running either Open Book or K1000. Direct Braille
support would certainly be a nice addition to either of these programs.
Open Book did offer this feature at one time and even has a setting to
turn off the Spotlight, which they say helps with Braille tracking;
however, they do not directly support Braille displays without a
screen-review program.
**********
Differences
**********
While I have extensively discussed some of the common features
shared by Open Book and K1000, other features are unique to each
program. Probably the most notable of these in the new Open Book
version, which we haven't discussed yet, is the ability to send and
receive e-mail. What does this have to do with the scanning and
reading of text, you might ask? Good question. Jim Fruchterman says that
this is one of the most common requests Arkenstone has received from its
users, even more common than surfing the Web. He adds that this
capability allows people to send and receive e-mail from within a
familiar environment.
**********
E-mail
**********
The mail system is of course not as full-featured as Outlook
Express or Eudora Pro but should meet most people's needs. It will allow
you to send and receive e-mail, reply to and forward messages, send and
receive file attachments, maintain an address book, and send messages to
individuals or groups. You can establish different folders
for mail and move messages into these folders. There is, however, no way
to filter or move messages into specific folders automatically.
As an experienced computer and e-mail user I found it easy to set
up the e-mail system and to send and receive mail. I had no trouble
using any of the features after I read the instructions.
The e-mail option seems to be aimed at beginning users who may
have trouble setting up or using e-mail, but you must have an e-mail
account somewhere and an Internet Service Provider, ISP, or direct
network connection. You must also use Dial Up Networking, a program that
comes with Windows, to set up your computer for your ISP
and e-mail account. Open Book will not help you with this process; you
will need a screen reader or sighted assistance. Once you have a working
connection to the Internet, you can set up your Open Book e-mail. You
will need a little technical information like the addresses for your
SMPT and POP3 mail servers, but the manual explains all of this fairly
well.
**********
The addition of e-mail in Open Book is an interesting move. On the
plus side Arkenstone is attempting to meet an expressed need of many of
its users. On the minus side they are trying to re-invent the wheel to a
great extent. A number of very good commercial mail packages are on the
market, one of which, Outlook Express, comes free with Windows. People
are likely to request additional features, and this, combined with
evolving and changing standards for all software, means that there will
be pressure to maintain and improve the e-mail applet. Also Arkenstone
has chosen not to deal directly with the whole issue of getting
connected to the Internet. However, some customers will call for help
with this process, so e-mail support may cost the Open
Book technical support staff dearly in the long run. Also the next
logical extension after e-mail is Web surfing. However, at some point
Open Book with too many features would start to cannibalize the market
for JAWS for Windows or JFW Lite, which is supposed to be released in
the near future.
**********
Page Layout Description and Navigation
**********
Yet another interesting new addition to Open Book version 5 is
Page Layout Description. In this mode Open Book will tell you about the
different layout elements on a page, allow you to navigate from element
to element, and read the text within a given element. The page elements
that the system identifies include Columns, Headings, Text Blocks,
Graphics, Captions, Tables, Headers, and Footers.
You first need to adjust a few items in the Settings Dialog Box.
The manual explains this completely. You next scan and recognize a page.
Then you can get a summary of the layout elements on a page or go into
one of two layout-description modes. The magazine page which I used in
the scanning tests, for example, told me that it had eight text blocks,
five graphics, four columns, and four headings. The two-
page layout modes are Guided Tour and Explore Layout.
In the Guided Tour Mode, Open Book automatically takes you from
element to element, announcing them as you go. You can adjust the speed
it uses to move through the document. You can stop it at any time, read
the text in an element, or go into Explore Mode, where you control the
movement from element to element. You can read or edit text from Explore
Mode and jump to Text or Exact View.
One interesting sidebar of the page layout description features is
the way it gathers its information. It uses information from two
recognition engines, the CAERE and FineReader Engines, deciding for each
element which engine is the most sure. In other words it lets the two
engines vote on all decisions. While this adds time to the
recognition step, it presumably gives you a better picture of what is
happening. As computer power improves and technology evolves, I can see
some of the voting techniques being applied to the recognition of text,
giving us still more accurate documents.
**********
Force Feedback Mouse
**********
Arkenstone has added a cool new feature to this area of the
program. If you have a Logitech Wingman force feedback mouse, you can
explore the page elements tactually. The Wingman, which costs
approximately $100, is a mouse that tries to give you a feel for things
by providing resistance (force feedback) as you move the mouse. It
consists of a hard plastic mouse-pad-sized device with a mouse
permanently affixed to its surface. The mouse moves around in about a
three-inch square on the surface of the hard plastic pad but will not
come off. The device connects to your computer by a Universal Serial
Bus, USB, port and must also be plugged in to electrical power.
I successfully installed the device on an IBM PL-310 computer but
was unsuccessful at installing it on my Dell. The computer seemed more
prone to crashing after this installation, but I did not have enough
time to work through all the possible issues.
With the Wingman force feedback mouse connected and the
page-description features turned on, you can move the mouse around,
exploring the page layout elements on the page you have just scanned.
The field of movement is fairly small, somewhat smaller than the total
area in which the mouse can be moved around. As you move the mouse, you
encounter areas of resistance. It could be, for example, a large
area denoting the edge of the document or a smaller area marking the
boundary of a column of text. Each layout element--text block, heading,
or graphic, for example--is supposed to have a unique feel. Also the
size of the element and its position in relationship to the other
elements on the page are reflected in the feedback you receive.
Does it work? Yes and no. I certainly was able to explore the
general layout of the document. I did get information on relative
position and size. However, the tactile distinction between different
elements was only minimally discernible to me. The differences are
subtle at best.
Is this a useful tool? It depends on your needs. I can certainly
see that, if you do page layout, teach, do demonstrations, or work on
layout with sighted people, this device might be useful. This is in
large part because, once you have navigated to a specific element, you
can press the left mouse button on the Wingman, and the text within that
element will be read to you. The Wingman force feedback mouse is an
interesting first development but one that won't change most people's
lives. Like the improvements cited above with RealSpeak from L&H, I
think we will benefit in the future from this work, and I hope that
Arkenstone, Benetech, Logitech, and others keep it up. **********
Other Open Book Features
**********
Open Book version 5.0 has a number of other new features which we
haven't discussed, such as the addition of a pronunciation dictionary
and an OCR correction list. Other improvements such as a third OCR
engine, Preview Scan, and the Low-Vision Menu, have already been
discussed. The program has two simple scanning settings: Scan for
Accuracy and Scan for Speed, which are useful. You can quickly
make one choice instead of having to change several things. However,
overall its most important additions, in my opinion, are the inclusion
of e-mail support, page layout description and navigation, and support
of the Logitech Wingman force feedback mouse.
**********
Unique K1000 Features
**********
Like Open Book, the L&H Kurzweil 1000 system has several unique
features. You can establish both a favorites list for folders and one
for files. It is then easy to jump to these frequently used areas or
files. K1000, as mentioned earlier, has the ability to summarize the
contents of a document. It does this either by using bookmarks
you establish yourself or by using keywords you give it. It will also go
through a document making its best guesses about what is important,
presumably based on layout. I tried this, but the results were not
particularly impressive. It is an interesting and potentially useful
idea though, and, depending on the document itself, could be
quite useful.
Reading tables can be difficult. In version 5.0 K1000 has added
settings and commands to help with this task. With the proper settings
made, K1000 automatically identifies tables. A set of commands is
available to read within a table, by cell, column, row, and the like.
Support of ZIP files is another unique feature K1000 offers. A ZIP
file is a compressed version of one or more files. It is a way to store
things so that they take up less space. Many programs and files are
zipped prior to transferring them to another computer on-line because
the files are smaller and contain multiple files. K1000 will
treat any ZIP file like a folder, allowing you to look at and manipulate
the files within the archive. It will also add files to a ZIP file.
Finally, K1000 comes with some extras. When you purchase the
program for the first time, you get a CD-ROM with hundreds of electronic
books on it. These text files are of books that are now in the public
domain. Also your K1000 CD-ROM contains a folder of extras. This is a
collection of DOS and Windows programs, games, and utilities, some of
which are freeware and some of which are shareware. There are
plenty of things to play with if you are so inclined, and you may find
some useful programs there.
**********
Scanning Tests
**********
Now let's get down to what you have been waiting for: the results
of the scanning tests. I was no longer able to locate the documents I
used in my last tests back in 1995, so I came up with a new set of
documents, ten in all. These included a laser-printed letter; a
relatively poor-quality fax; a bad photocopied page; a page from a
magazine which had multiple columns, graphics, headlines, and color
printing; a page from a mail order catalog containing graphics and small
print; a relatively high-quality newspaper page; a paperback book; a
hard-cover book; a page from a bank statement; and a one-
dollar bill that I crumpled up.
While these tests are not exhaustive (they do not test how well
the systems preserve formatting information, for example), they are
practical. The test pages represent a cross section of the kinds of
documents each of us wants or needs to read. For these tests we
established a scoring system. We scanned each page and assigned
the document one of the following five point values, based on where it
fell in the continuum:
1. Garbage: random characters and indecipherable results.
2. Poor text: mostly garbage with a few understandable words sprinkled
randomly throughout.
3. Fair text: mostly understandable text, but still a relatively high
number of mistakes. Familiar or simple text can be followed, but
unfamiliar or difficult material or material with numbers or computer
commands may not be useable.
4. Good text: very understandable results with only a few mistakes;
problems may occur only with numbers or computer commands and the like.
5. Excellent text: few if any mistakes, no more than one or two per
page. If the results fell between two numbers, half a point was
awarded.
We started with the default settings for each software package and
changed them only if the results were bad or if there was a specific
setting for the type of page
being scanned (fax or degraded text, for example). So, unless otherwise
indicated, brightness, contrast, and print style settings are at their
default or automatic values for all tests.
To end the suspense, here are the scores: Open Book scored a 44,
and K1000 got a 41.5. Below are the document types, scores for each
program, and an explanation where necessary.
**********
DOCUMENT TYPE OPEN BOOK K1000
Laser printing 5 5
Fax 3.5 3
Photocopy 2 2
Magazine 5 4
Catalog 5 4.5
Newspaper 4.5 4.5
Paperback book 5 4.5
Hardcover book 5 5
Bank statement 4 4
Money 5 5
**********
As you can see, many of the document types scanned identically or
nearly so. The photocopy and fax were difficult for both programs. I got
a somewhat better result with the fax on Open Book by switching the
document type to typewritten/dot matrix. The K1000 made some OCR
mistakes and missed a little text on the magazine page, which was
complex. I turned on dynamic thresholding and changed the document type
to "Degraded Text." I also used the Automatic-Contrast setting with Open
Book. Finally, I was able to improve the OCR quality when scanning a
hardcover book with K1000 by switching to the FineReader engine.
Otherwise I used the RTK OCR engine.
**********
Scanning Conclusions
**********
I urge you not to base your purchasing decision on my scanning
scores. The scores are for the specific documents I chose only, and more
time and experience with the software might have yielded better scores
for one or both systems. Further, the point separation between the two
systems is not really very great when you look at the overall scores.
Both companies have demos available, and I urge you to get the demos and
try some of your own documents.
You should also consider other factors including price, special
discounts, dealers, technical support, what your friends or colleagues
use, features, and more. We hope that these tests and reviews can give
you some guidance, but they won't make the final decision for you.
**********
Conclusions
**********
You would probably like to know which system to buy. I can't tell
you. The right answer for me isn't necessarily right for you. While I do
have access to both programs, I would be perfectly happy with either if
I had to give one up.
Open Book has been around a long time and has a loyal following.
The company made great advances in the PC-based reading market in the
early and mid 1990's. They seemed to lose some steam for a while, but
things have picked up again in the past year or so, and they have a
competitive product. Arkenstone's acquisition by Freedom Scientific is
likely to make some difference in the future, although at this time
it is impossible to know exactly how. Both Arkenstone and Kurzweil have
relied on a network of dealers. Many dealers sell both products, a
practice that many think Freedom Scientific will bring to an end. Around
the time of this writing, we learned that Freedom Scientific has
terminated all dealer relationships with HumanWare. Other dealers are
concerned that they will follow.
K1000 on the other hand is a newer product, one that has matured
quickly and nicely. For several years Kurzweil was putting out two
upgrades per year. As the product has matured and the development team
has taken on more projects, this pace has slowed somewhat, but the
program is still a competitive and feature-rich program.
Overall, I think K1000 is probably best for beginners. The manual
explains things in great detail, including scanning and reading concepts
and Windows commands, and it seems to do a little more hand holding than
Open Book. The program, for example, most of the time remembers where
you left off reading a file when you reload it. Depending on your
perspective, though, you may find the manual
long and tedious. It reads more like a reference than a narrative and
takes thirty-five pages to get to the point of scanning a document. I
have previously discussed RealSpeak, which you are likely either to love
or to hate. Overall, I find K1000 a little sluggish in its response to
keystrokes, a situation exacerbated by RealSpeak.
However, the program has a wealth of features and is likely to be able
to do almost anything you need. I have had good experience with its
technical support staff; the developers are very accessible by e-mail,
and it runs an Internet Mailing List which yields good answers. The
staff monitors the list and responds quickly. Many knowledgeable users
also help out. Further, several experienced users who regularly
work with both K1000 and Open Book tell me that they can more quickly
scan and read a pile of materials with K1000 than with Open Book.
In late November we learned that Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products
NV has filed a chapter 11 petition for reorganization protection under
the U.S. bankruptcy code. So how does that affect the Kurzweil
Educational Systems group, its products, and the people who use them?
The following answer to this question was posted to the K1000
listserv by Stephen Baum. "The short answer is that it hasn't. We are
all still here at work, and our responsibilities and goals have not
changed. The engineering group is working on the next releases of the
Kurzweil 1000, MagniReader, and the Kurzweil 3000. Marketing continues
to market, sales continues to sell, and all of us continue to assist the
customer support group in serving our customers. We were acquired by
Lernout & Hauspie a little over two years ago. The acquisition gave us
access to some great technology, but in other ways we have changed very
little. We are a small, focused, and remarkably stable group. We look
forward to continuing to make great products and to providing excellent
support for them."
It should be noted that a Chapter 11 filing for reorganization is
just that, protection from creditors while the company reorganizes. It
doesn't mean that L&H or KESI is going away, but we will have to wait
and see what, if anything, it means to those of us who use products from
Kurzweil.
It is difficult to judge the Open Book manual from the beta. It
was concise and seemed to cover all features. What we were provided was
entirely in the Help system although Arkenstone personnel indicate there
will be a separate manual on disk and in print. There will also be
print, Braille, and a taped command reference. Overall I like the
design and feel of Open Book. It is fairly responsive with ViaVoice
Outloud and has good accuracy and a variety of tools and settings to
make adjustments. Some of my comfort may come from the fact that I have
used it longer. We have heard mixed reports lately about tech support
although my experience over the years has been good. Further, technical
support and other operations have moved to the Henter-Joyce
site in Florida, and we don't yet know if this has made or will make any
difference.
Arkenstone also runs a mailing list, and Jim Fruchterman is quite
accessible and responsive. We haven't seen much participation from other
staff members, and Freedom Scientific recently posted a message to the
list stating that, if you want e-mail support, you should write to the
<[log in to unmask]> address. It further said that the list
would be used for posting announcements, technical support bulletins,
and the like. Until recently Arkenstone had a toll-free support number.
Freedom Scientific has ended this to the chagrin of some.
If you have an e-mail address, joining one or both mailing lists
offered by Arkenstone or Kurzweil can be a good idea. To join the Open
Book list, send e-mail to <[log in to unmask]>. Put the
words "subscribe users" in the body of the message, without the quotes.
To join the K1000 list, send a message to <[log in to unmask]>.
In the body put "subscribe K1000," without the quotes. These lists can
be a good place to have questions answered, find out what is going on,
get suggestions from experienced users and staff, and more. There is
also a list for discussion of scanning and reading issues which isn't
product-specific. It is called "scan-talk." To join, send a message to
<[log in to unmask]> and put "subscribe scan-talk" in the body of the
message.
For assistance with this and other technology considerations,
contact the National Federation of the Blind's International Braille and
Technology Center for the Blind. Since they have and use everything
commonly available, they can help you sort through the issues you need
to consider. You can reach them by calling (410) 659-9314.
Whether you choose to buy Open Book from Arkenstone or K1000 from
L&H Kurzweil Educational Systems Group, you can't go wrong. They are
both strong, competitive products that deliver what they set out to do
within the confines of today's technology, and they keep getting better.
**********
Contact Information
**********
Freedom Scientific Blind/Low Vision Group, Arkenstone Division,
11800 31st Court North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716, Sales: (800)
444-4443 (U.S. and Canada), Phone: (727) 803-8000, Technical Support:
(727) 803-8600, FAX: (727) 803-8001, TDD: (800) 444-4443, e-mail:
<[log in to unmask]>, Web: <http://www.arkenstone.org>,
Price: $995, Competitive Upgrade: $500
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, Kurzweil Educational Systems
Group, 52 Third Avenue, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803, Phone: (781)
203-5000, toll free: (800) 894-5374, sales: either of the above numbers
at extension 5037 or 5359, technical support: (800) 995-9905, fax: (781)
203-5033, Web site: <http//www.LHSL.com/kurzweil1000/>, price: $995
($1,195 with DECtalk Access32), competitive discount: $595 ($795 with
DECtalk Access32)
**********
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
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