HEllo Ardith,

On Thu 2011-Jul-14 23:42, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

RW>  [...] when using qedit I want my synthesizer to give
RW>  me punctuation spoken aloud because it may be crucial
RW>  to proper syntax for program code.


AH>            Uh-huh.  Some folks say guys aren't detail oriented, but
AH> the guys I hang out with regard the punctuation of batch files as a
AH> serious matter.  :-)) 

YEp, I've had that one reach out and bite me.



RW>  IF I'm using it to just read a textfile though I'll
RW>  shut it off.


AH>            Too bad you can't use Victor Borge's Phonetic
AH> Punctuation... [BEG]. 

  I should know of what you speak of, but it's been
one of those days .



AH>            Although I don't read Braille, I can relate as a clarinet
AH> player to the concept.  Where speech does have an immediate
AH> connection to the brain it's probably not the literal meaning of the
AH> words which engages the audience.  :-) 

YEah that sound about right.  I just retain better actually
reading it.  I guess folks who've listened to nothing but
audiobooks can develop those pathways to long term memory
better, but my mother discouraged the reading of audio books on lp record when
I was small.  ESpecially for leisure
reading when I'd started to go to school at home, since some of my textbooks
were on tape, and others she had to read
aloud to me she was glad she didn't have to push me to do my leisure reading
in braille.  But then, braille although
bulky was portable, playback equipment of that day required
the tether to the wall, whereas braille went mobile easy.


RW>  I can speed read and still comprehend using Braille,
RW>  synthesized speech, I'm limited to the rate at which
RW>  I can understand spoken words, if not a bit slower.


AH>            IOW, you find reading more efficient... just as I do. 
AH> You can skim or scan the information in the owner's manual which you
AH> already know.  You can slow down and/or re-read as necessary when
AH> you get to the more difficult bits. You can take a moment to stop &
AH> enjoy a particularly good turn of phrase or an amusing example of
AH> Chinglish.  If you're reading for pleasure you can also use your
AH> imagination to understand how I'd read "Double, double, toil and
AH> trouble" to a group of fifteen-year-olds who considered me to be an
AH> old hag even when I wasn't much older than they were.  Maybe it's
AH> type casting, but it works.  ;-) 

  That's what I miss the most, the ability to skim
with synthesized speech or recorded material.  wHen one
works with a live reader for awhile the two can develop a
teamwork which can sort of approximate the skimming but it's hard to develop
that sort of rapport with a reader.  Kathy
and I have been together about a decade and a half and she's just now starting
to learn how to work with me on that.
Although she can interpret a simple schematic diagram it's
hard for her to describe what she sees.  yEs verbal
schematics are possible.  I could show you some examples
.


AH>            Yes.  When I'm sitting in a waiting room I play solitaire
AH> on one of Dallas's castoff pieces of hand-held electronic wizardry
AH> which is still usable as long as you don't mind too much if it
AH> reboots without warning & forgets all about what you've been doing
AH> for the last ten minutes.  These games don't take up so much
AH> bandwidth that I'm not paying attention to my surroundings....  :-) 

RIght, I find that's true with braille.  tHe only downside
is all the gawkers that would come by and intrude, where
they wouldn't even dream of intruding on the privacy of a
sighted person with face buried in a newspaper.  I've gone
out to sit outside, or in our van just to get away from
them, apparently going out to smoke, even if I don't desire
to light up.

AH>  As a teacher I generally found a multi-sensory approach
AH>  most effective... i.e. the more connections one can
AH>  establish the better.

RW>  Always.  IN fact, some of my arguments in other activities
RW>  is that we're too busy teaching to standardized multiple
RW>  guess tests than we are putting folks' hands on what is to
RW>  be learned.  I get a bit frustrated with that .


AH>            As do I.  Some folks like standardized tests because they
AH> think the numbers are all that matters.  Okay, so here is a question
AH> from a standardized oral test... "What are the colors of our
AH> country's flag?"  The standardization was done in the US.  Is it
AH> fair to expect elementary school students living in another country
AH> to figure out what was going on in the mind of the author(s) &
AH> respond accordingly??  I often felt similarly betrayed when I was a
AH> kid.  Tell me what you see... I'll take the flak if it messes up the
AH> standardization!  As I'm sure you realize, I'm not singling out
AH> Americans.  What bothers me is that kids are rewarded for memorizing
AH> textbook answers & punished for noticing when the textbook disagrees
AH> with their own observations.  I feel for the latter.  I found myself
AH> under a lot of pressure as a teacher, however, to fill up my mark
AH> books with numbers.  It didn't seem to matter to the folks who were
AH> evaluating me what the numbers really meant.  Encouraging kids to
AH> think for themselves is much more challenging & the assignments take
AH> longer to mark.  If others prefer the easy way out sometimes I can
AH> well understand the temptation... [wry grin]. 

YEah it's just as bad with adult education in other
endeavors these days.  tHey can learn the jargon associated
with an endeavor, although true understanding isn't achieved by the rote
memorization necessary for them to quickly get a passing mark on one of these
multiple choice type tests.  IT gets a bit frustrating.  LIked your example of
the flag.
When I read it I was wondering whose flag .




Regards,
           Richard
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 * Origin:  (1:116/901)