Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Opinions from users of screen reading software wanted! (AI PhD research) (self.Blind)
submitted by swift_anon
Hey everyone!
Long story short, I am training a computer to be able to describe an image.
This is an area of artificial intelligence with a lot of potential, and hopefully our research will take a large step forward in its progress.
I would love to eventually apply this into existing screen reading software, in where the software can also explain an image/s on the screen on top of the traditional text reading.
Would be really brilliant to hear some of your opinions of this, I intend to continue this over to open source software (post research) one day so any opinions at this stage are valued.
Cheers!
Long story short, I am training a computer to be able to describe an image.
This is an area of artificial intelligence with a lot of potential, and hopefully our research will take a large step forward in its progress.
I would love to eventually apply this into existing screen reading software, in where the software can also explain an image/s on the screen on top of the traditional text reading.
Would be really brilliant to hear some of your opinions of this, I intend to continue this over to open source software (post research) one day so any opinions at this stage are valued.
Cheers!
[deleted] 4 points 2y ago
[deleted]
Superfreq2 2 points 2y ago
I doubt that JAWS or VO being closed source would allow an external plugin but if you were to make a crossplatform program of some kind that runs in the background and has global shortcut keys, that would probably work, if your goal is to bring better image descriptions to everyone.
One of the biggest problems with projects like this in the past has been shared API keys expiring or primary services going down/moving location.
So building in instructions on how a basic computer user can get their own API key is pretty important, and so is making it easy to switch to another service if required.
Open sourcing the program and giving it an inclusive license so that it can easily be folded into other non commercial projects would be a great help in keeping it around longer than others too.
One of the biggest problems with projects like this in the past has been shared API keys expiring or primary services going down/moving location.
So building in instructions on how a basic computer user can get their own API key is pretty important, and so is making it easy to switch to another service if required.
Open sourcing the program and giving it an inclusive license so that it can easily be folded into other non commercial projects would be a great help in keeping it around longer than others too.
CloudyBeep 2 points 2y ago
JAWS has Picture Smart; this was introduced more than two years ago.
iOS has a more advanced version of this because it uses AI to try to make inaccessible apps and websites accessible.
What would your idea be able to offer that these can't?
iOS has a more advanced version of this because it uses AI to try to make inaccessible apps and websites accessible.
What would your idea be able to offer that these can't?
nullatonce 2 points 2y ago
never put your eggs in one basket
swift_anon [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Hi there,
So JAWs does have a large amount of limitations when it comes to the actual forming of a description.
It generates captions and tags rather well, but the area of AI I am working with will aim to generate these same tags and to describe an image in a lot of detail.
Furthermore, assuming this research proved successful this would be an add on to existing screen reading software that worked seamlessly. You would not need to select an image to read, it would recognise the image and read it automatically.
Thanks a lot for your points, I will make sure to look into JAWs & iOS version in more detail. Very useful to know.
Cheers!
So JAWs does have a large amount of limitations when it comes to the actual forming of a description.
It generates captions and tags rather well, but the area of AI I am working with will aim to generate these same tags and to describe an image in a lot of detail.
Furthermore, assuming this research proved successful this would be an add on to existing screen reading software that worked seamlessly. You would not need to select an image to read, it would recognise the image and read it automatically.
Thanks a lot for your points, I will make sure to look into JAWs & iOS version in more detail. Very useful to know.
Cheers!
zersiax 1 points 2y ago
Ok ...so where would screenreder users come in? Do you have a prototype that needs testing? Do you want us to critique the idea? Did I just miss the actual question? :)
swift_anon [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Hey!
I suppose I am looking for critiques really. But to meet someone to continue a dialogue with would be even better!
Would the ability for a computer to describe an image even be useful?
Along a similar vein, is this ever a problem with understanding content online by not knowing what the image shows?
I suppose I am looking for critiques really. But to meet someone to continue a dialogue with would be even better!
Would the ability for a computer to describe an image even be useful?
Along a similar vein, is this ever a problem with understanding content online by not knowing what the image shows?
zersiax 1 points 2y ago
In a word, yes. This is certainly n issue, particularly on social media, since even though it's possible to ad a textual description to images in, say, facebook posts, people often don't. There are some solutions for this; the iOS app Seeing AI will try to use ML to describe the image as an on-demand kind of deal, while Google's Chrome browser can do this by essentially sending every image of every page you visit too Google which, at times, returns a useful description. The former is cumbersome for a large amount of content, and the latter would make even the most privacy-oblivious person cringe, so there's certainly a place for a non-corporation-owned solution to this issue :)
swift_anon [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Hi again,
That is extremely insightful and useful, thank you.
I will make a note of this.
I might pm you in the future if you don't mind!
Cheers
That is extremely insightful and useful, thank you.
I will make a note of this.
I might pm you in the future if you don't mind!
Cheers
zersiax 1 points 2y ago
Yup, go ahead :)
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