T. V. Raman | |
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Born | |
Occupation(s) | Computer Scientist, Accessibility researcher |
Awards | ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, 1994 [2] [3] |
Website | http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/ |
T. V. Raman (born 4 May 1965) is a computer scientist who specializes in accessibility research. [4] His research interests are primarily in the areas of auditory user interfaces and structured electronic documents. He has worked on speech interaction and markup technologies in the context of the World Wide Web at Digital's Cambridge Research Lab (CRL), Adobe Systems and IBM Research. [5] He currently works at Google Research. [5] [6] Raman has himself been partially sighted since birth, and blind since the age of 14. [1] [4]
He grew up in Pune, India. [7] [8] Raman became blind at the age of 14 due to glaucoma, [5] [9] [10] being previously partially sighted [7] and able to see with his left eye. [11] To deal with his blindness he had his brother, his mentors, and his aide read out textbooks and problems to him. Although unable to see, he was able to solve Rubik's Cube with a braille version, [5] [12] [13] [14] write computer programs, and perform mathematics. [11] [15] [16]
Raman attended the University of Pune with a BS in mathematics, IIT Bombay with an MS in mathematics, and Cornell University earning an MS in computer science and a PhD in applied mathematics under advisor David Gries. His PhD thesis titled "Audio System For Technical Readings (AsTeR)" [3] was awarded the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1994. [2]
Recently Raman has incorporated these features in the Chrome browser. [17] Raman went on to apply the ideas on audio formatting introduced in AsTeR to the more general domain of computer interfaces Emacspeak. On 12 April 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. In 2005 he began work at Google. [5] In 2018, IIT Bombay felicitated Raman with a Distinguished Alumnus Award [18]
His favorite hobby is recreational mathematics, especially those that involve an intuitive feel for mathematics. [21]
Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who suffer from low vision, blindness, or deafblindness. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices. Braille can be written using a slate and stylus, a braille writer, an electronic braille notetaker or with the use of a computer connected to a braille embosser.
The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978, and then by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of March 2021, over 450 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy. The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blind, and are useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or have a learning disability. Screen readers are software applications that attempt to convey what people with normal eyesight see on a display to their users via non-visual means, like text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille device. They do this by applying a wide variety of techniques that include, for example, interacting with dedicated accessibility APIs, using various operating system features, and employing hooking techniques.
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David Breyer Singmaster was an American-British mathematician who was emeritus professor of mathematics at London South Bank University, England. He had a huge personal collection of mechanical puzzles and books of brain teasers. He was most famous for being an early adopter and enthusiastic promoter of the Rubik's Cube. His Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube" which he began compiling in 1979 provided the first mathematical analysis of the Cube as well as providing one of the first published solutions. The book contained his cube notation which allowed the recording of Rubik's Cube moves, and which quickly became the standard.
Jeffrey David Ullman is an American computer scientist and the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, at Stanford University. His textbooks on compilers, theory of computation, data structures, and databases are regarded as standards in their fields. He and his long-time collaborator Alfred Aho are the recipients of the 2020 Turing Award, generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
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Emacspeak is a free computer application, a speech interface, and an audio desktop. It employs Emacs, Emacs Lisp, and Tcl. Developed principally by T. V. Raman, it was first released in April 1995. It is portable to all POSIX-compatible OSs. It is tightly integrated with Emacs, allowing it to render intelligible and useful content rather than parsing the graphics ; its default voice synthesizer can be replaced with other software synthesizers when a server module is installed. Emacspeak is one of the most popular speech interfaces for Linux, bundled with most major distributions. In 2014, Raman wrote an article describing how the software's design was impacted by shifts in computer technology and its general usage over 20 years.
David Gries is an American computer scientist at Cornell University, United States mainly known for his books The Science of Programming (1981) and A Logical Approach to Discrete Math.
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Elizabeth D. "Beth" Mynatt is the Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. She is former executive director of the Institute for People and Technology, director of the GVU Center at Georgia Tech, and Regents' and Distinguished Professor in the School of Interactive Computing, all at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Alternative formats include audio, braille, electronic or large print versions of standard print such as educational material, textbooks, information leaflets, and even people's personal bills and letters. Alternative formats are created to help people who are blind or visually impaired to gain access to information either by sight, by hearing (audio) or by touch (braille).
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