[bcab] Good news for visually impaired audio broadcasters

Hi

The mainstream software package, Station Playlist Studio, is used by radio 
stations around the world to assist broadcasters in preparing and transmitting  
programmes.  Now, visually impaired people have a greater chance of accessing 
this software as a result of some free JAWS scripts available to support the 
application.

Version 1 of the JAWS for Windows scripts for Station Playlist Studio have been 
released.

Station Playllist Studio is a simple to use on-air broadcast automation playout 
software package for the studio and/or DJ.  It plays all your media files with 
manual or intelligent automatic crossfading.  It can play jingles, commercials, 
news and songs.  Live streams, live inputs from your soundcard, satellite feeds 
and so on.  It includes an Internet stream encoder, voice track/song ramp 
overlapping, microphone button with music fade, many automation and Live Assist 
features such as cart slots for instant jingles, and much more. 

Sttation Playlist Studio is an extremely accessible application.  Almost all of 
the functions can be activated using the keyboard.  However, as with many 
applications, it is useful to have keystrokes to read important parts of the 
screen succinctly.  Particularly in a broadcasting situation where gaining an 
awareness of what is happening quickly is imperative, these powerful scripts 
provide productivity  enhancements so you can concentrate more on what is 
happening in your programme rather than using the JAWS screen review mode to 
locate the information you need. The scripts also provide some tools to give 
screen-reading access to functions which sighted people working in broadcasting 
take for granted.  The monitoring of song introductions and endings is a 
fantastic example.

The Station Playlist Studio scripts contain: 

* Direct interaction with station Playlist Studio.  Rather than gathering 
information from the screen by using the JAWS Cursor or similar methods, data 
is retrieved direct from the application.  This is ideal if you do not have the 
window maximised or if other applications are open as you will gain accurate 
reporting of events; 
*  Logical keystrokes for accessing all special functions.  When appropriate, 
keystrokes are used with which you should already be familiar, such as JAWS 
Key+T to read the title; 
* Intelligent handling of time segments, reporting on-screen data in 
minutes/seconds format; 
* The ability to hear relevant track information without having to enter its 
properties, such as the artist/title name, length and full path.  This 
information can also be placed in the JAWS Virtual Viewer; 
* The ability to notify you when an introduction is about to end.  You can 
enter your preferred number of seconds for the warning; 
* A countdown timer shown on a Braille display when introductions are being 
played; 
* Notification of the ending of a music track.  You can enter your preferred 
number of seconds  for the warning; 
* Configurable special options using either keystrokes or through the Adjust 
JAWS Options Dialog Box.  Help text to describe each function in the Adjust 
JAWS Options Dialog Box is provided; 
* Lists providing the JAWS and application keystrokes; 
* Concise messages using the correct contextual voice relative to the 
information being requested; 
* Braille support; 
* An easy method of installation with no special setup requirements; 
*  Support for multiple versions  of JAWS, not just the latest. 

 
 The creation of the scripts is a voluntary project, with the scripts being 
written by Brian Hartgen and concepts devised in the most part by Jonathan 
Mosen who is extremely familiar with using Station Playlist Studio in 
broadcasting situations.  They both present weekly music programmes on the 
Internet radio station entitled   The Legend. 

More information about the scripts, together with on-line documentation, and of 
course the scripts themselves, can be downloaded from 
www.hartgen.org

Brian Hartgen
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