This summer, for the third consecutive year, we partnered with Google Summer of Code. We had the pleasure of working with computer science student Joe Maag, who helped create an iOS app that aids the transcription of (inaccessible) math images into readable and accessible math notations, to utilize Benetech’s MathML Cloud tool and advance math accessibility for all.
Palo Alto, California, March 26, 2014—Benetech has been selected as a mentoring organization for this year’s Google Summer of Code (GSoC 2014) program. This is the third year in which Google Summer of Code accepts Benetech to the program, which encourages students to participate in open source coding efforts.
My name is Anuruddha Hettiarachchi and I am a senior at the University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka majoring in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering. My Google Summer of Code 2013 project was to integrate Benetech’s Go Read tool and “Tecla Access.” Making Go Read Tecla-accessible will greatly improve its usability for people who cannot read standard eBooks due to mobility impairments. This was my first experience with open source development and I had the opportunity to learn how much collaboration and teamwork are central to real world open source software projects. It was a pleasure to work with such a flexible and supportive team as Benetech’s Google Summer of Code crew.
My name is Jordan Gould and I am from Brantford, Ontario, Canada, a town about an hour south of Toronto. I am currently in my second year of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario. I found the Benetech projects interesting because I am a person with low vision and have in the past used DAISY formatted books on CD with a specialized CD player. Since smartphones and tablets are more ubiquitous now, I believe that contributing to Go Read can help expand access and usability of DAISY books in an academic environment.
I am Yashasvi Girdhar. I am a Junior majoring in Computer Science at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. I was introduced to Benetech when applying for a Google Summer of Code internship. I was really impressed by Benetech’s cause to support and serve society through the use of technology and am grateful to be given an opportunity to contribute to it.
