The warning from Google should be fixed by now. A server outside my control had been infected with malware, so I shifted servers, but the warning message remained attached to the domain name. The address http://slidespeech.org leads to http://code.google.com/p/slidespeech/ the source code repository.
On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 3:11 AM, John Graves <jg07...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Python-List: > > If you find Wikipedia useful and can see the value of collaborating on a > project which could make learning material as freely and spectacularly > available as Wikipedia does reference material[1], please read on. > > Background: > > In November 2009, I began learning Python with the objective of trying to > understand the following research question in my PhD research study of open > source software development: "We have built Wikipedia and other big, > successful open source projects. How can we do it again (and again)?" The > critical issue for me was how to start a project which would grow to > self-sustainability. So for over two years now, my research method has been > to try to actually start such a project. I failed. Over and over. The data > collection period for my study ended. > > Before I could start writing up my PhD, however, I saw an answer provided > in February 2012 by the founder of Craigslist, on Quora. When asked, "How > did Craigslist gain its initial traction?"[2], Craig Newmark, Customer > Service Rep & Founder wrote: > > - from beginning, did something simple and useful > - from beginning, began cycle: > -- asked for community feedback > -- did something about it > -- repeat, forever > -- got lucky with simple site design > > So I have now tried to take what started as a horribly over ambitious > desktop application[3], combined with an equally inept Android mobile > application (done in Java)[4] and boiled down the core text-to-speech > functionality into something "simple and useful" which runs on the web. The > project is now called SlideSpeech[5] and it does a couple of pretty > interesting things. Interesting enough to attract venture capital. > > The Future: > > As of 23 February 2012, SlideSpeech Limited is a company. But it is still > an open source software development research project with a Pythonic heart. > I can now pay for development of some professional quality software by > people who know much more Java and Python than I do. Perhaps this will help > the project reach self-sustainability, although, as Derek Sivers points out > in a memorable TED talk[6], just initiating or leading a project like this > is not what makes it a success: there must be joiners and followers for a > project with a plausible promise to grow to realise its potential. The > followers are the real heroes. > > Now Peter Diamandis just gave a TED talk entitled, "Abundance is our > future"[7] which everyone should watch. He talks of 3 billion people coming > on-line this decade. I want SlideSpeech to be useful and helpful to those > people. Not to make money from them but to help foster a global > conversation and global distribution of knowledge. We should all share in > Educational Abundance. Diamandis says, "we're going to hit 70 percent > penetration of cellphones in the developing world by the end of 2013." > SlideSpeech can plausibly promise to deliver free, interactive learning > material to smart phones anywhere on the planet this year. The current > working prototype does this today. > > In its simplest form, the system works like this: > 1) you start in your presentation software, adding a voice over script in > the speaker notes of each slide > 2) you upload your presentation to SlideSpeech > 3) on the SlideSpeech server (which can be your own PC, running Python, > made viewable to the world using PageKite[8]), the presentation is > "decomposed" into slide images and text scripts. The scripts are fed into a > text-to-speech engine. The resulting audio files are wrapped in HTML with > their corresponding slide image files. Finally, a link to access the HTML > is e-mailed back to you > 4) you open the link on your mobile phone's web browser and the > presentation you were writing just moments before "delivers itself" on your > phone ... or on any smart phone, tablet or web browser, anywhere. No need > to organise a venue, send invitations or get people to actually physically > show up to see and hear your talk. You can just forward the e-mail. > > Cooler still, > 5) if you have a native application play the script using the phone's > text-to-speech engine, you don't have to download audio (or video), so you > save 75% of the bandwidth. Multiplied by billions of people, multiplied by > the number of downloads[9], that is a huge savings. > > The compression of content into the simple combination of images and > text-to-speech scripts allows SlideSpeech to realise part of the One Laptop > Per Child vision using "talking" smart phones and tablets. Students can > learn on their own. Current prices on the cheapest Android 2.2 gear which > can deliver SlideSpeech content here in Auckland, New Zealand are under > NZ$150. > > A Revolution in Learning: > > Think of SlideSpeech as a platform like Khan Academy[10] with the > exercises integrated into the presentation. The scripts can be created and > improved collaboratively, like Wikipedia articles, or cloned and customised > for particular audiences. Unlike Khan Academy videos, the text of > SlideSpeech presentations is search-able and machine-translatable. > > With presentation feedback built into the system[11], a newly created > presentation can be distributed and then dynamically critiqued and revised, > so later viewers see the corrected and improved version. It is remarkable > how quickly changes can be made, especially in contrast to the feedback > cycle a typical instructor goes through to improve their teaching. > > These ideas and technologies are not new. Text-to-speech, in particular, > has been around for a long time. Lately, however, the voices have become > "Avatar-quality"[12]. > > These ideas are disruptive. The current working prototypes of SlideSpeech > may appear to work poorly, underperforming relative to established > products, but as Clayton Christensen explains[13], having the ability to > meet an underlying need in a radically different way transforms industries. > I like to make an analogy with trains and cars. Current educational systems > are like trains: everyone has to go between the same fixed destinations at > the same fixed times, like it or not. SlideSpeech-based learning is like > having a car: you get to go learn whatever you want, whenever you want, > wherever you are, at your own pace (which is sometimes very, very fast!). > > Content is King: > > Having lots of content available will accelerate the adoption of > SlideSpeech above all else. Over the coming weeks, as the system matures, > you can start preparing by authoring presentations with speaker notes. Once > the system is fully available on-line, or downloadable to your PC, you can > drop your presentations in and get out "self-delivering" talks in HTML or > even video format, voiced by a wide selection of computer voices in English > and in many other languages. > > Please feel free to jump in with suggestions, contributions or forks of > the code repositories listed below. > > Let's make Educational Abundance happen with Python this year. > > Exponentially yours, > > John Graves > PhD Student > AUT University > Auckland, New Zealand > > Founder and CEO > SlideSpeech > > [1] The English language version of Wikipedia has 50 times as many words > as *Encyclopædia > Britannica<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica> > * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Size_comparisons > > [2] http://www.quora.com/How-did-Craigslist-gain-its-initial-traction > > [3] http://code.google.com/p/open-allure-ds/ > > [4] http://code.google.com/p/wiki-to-speech/ > > [5] http://code.google.com/p/slidespeech/ > > [6] http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html > > [7] http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future.html > > [8] http://pagekite.net > > [9] average for Wikipedia is about one article per person per day (18.1 > billion pages / 482 million unique visitors in January 2012) > http://stats.wikimedia.org/reportcard/ > > [10] http://khanacademy.org > > [11] http://code.google.com/p/slidespeech/wiki/WorkflowDiagrams > > [12] I particularly like Loquendo's Veena, Indian English voice > http://www.loquendo.com/en/demo-center/tts-demo/english/ > > [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology >
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