T. V. Raman
Encyclopedia
T. V. Raman is a computer scientist
who is blind. His accessibility
research interests are primarily 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
. He presently works at Google
Research.
, India
.
Raman became blind at the age of 14 due to glaucoma
, being previously partially sighted and able to see with his left eye. 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,
write computer program
s, and perform mathematics.
Raman attended the University of Pune
with a BA in mathematics, IIT Bombay with a MSc in computer science, and Cornell University
earning a MS in computer science and a PhD in applied mathematics
. His PhD thesis entitled Audio System For Technical Readings (AsTeR) was awarded the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1994.
Raman went on to apply the ideas on audio formatting introduced in AsTeR to the more general domain of computer interfaces Emacspeak
. On April 12, 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.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who is blind. His accessibility
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
research interests are primarily auditory user interfaces and structured electronic documents. He has worked on speech interaction and markup technologies in the context of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
at Digital
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
's Cambridge Research Lab (CRL), Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
and IBM Research
IBM Research
IBM Research, a division of IBM, is a research and advanced development organization and currently consists of eight locations throughout the world and hundreds of projects....
. He presently works at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Research.
Biography
He was born and raised in PunePune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Raman became blind at the age of 14 due to glaucoma
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently damaging vision in the affected eye and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. It is often, but not always, associated with increased pressure of the fluid in the eye...
, being previously partially sighted and able to see with his left eye. 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
Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle 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 Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
with a braille version,
write computer program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
s, and perform mathematics.
Raman attended the University of Pune
University of Pune
The University of Pune , is a university located in northwestern Pune, India. It was founded in 1949. Spread over a campus, the university is home to 46 academic departments...
with a BA in mathematics, IIT Bombay with a MSc in computer science, and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
earning a MS in computer science and a PhD in applied mathematics
Applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...
. His PhD thesis entitled Audio System For Technical Readings (AsTeR) was awarded the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1994.
Raman went on to apply the ideas on audio formatting introduced in AsTeR to the more general domain of computer interfaces Emacspeak
Emacspeak
Emacspeak is a free computer application, a speech interface and an audio desktop employing Emacs, which is written in C, Emacs Lisp and Tcl and developed principally by T. V. Raman and first released May 1995; it is portable to all POSIX-compatible OSs...
. On April 12, 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
. In 2005 he began work at Google.
Work
- AsTeR -- Audio System For Technical Readings
- Aural CSSAural Cascading Style SheetsAural Cascading Style Sheets are the part of Cascading Style Sheets that makes a website more accessible to visually impaired and screen readers. The advantages of Aural Style Sheets are the convenient to screen readers. ACSS can be applied in devices like home entertainment, automobiles, and...
-- producing rich auditory presentations from Web content - EmacspeakEmacspeakEmacspeak is a free computer application, a speech interface and an audio desktop employing Emacs, which is written in C, Emacs Lisp and Tcl and developed principally by T. V. Raman and first released May 1995; it is portable to all POSIX-compatible OSs...
-- the complete audio desktop - XFormsXFormsXForms is an XML format for the specification of a data processing model for XML data and user interface for the XML data, such as web forms...
-- Next Generation Web Forms - XML EventsXML EventsIn computer science and web development, XML Events is a W3C standard for handling events that occur in an XML document. These events are typically caused by users interacting with the web page using a device such as a web browser on a personal computer or mobile phone.- Formal Definition :An XML...
-- A reusable eventing syntax for XML - XHTML+VoiceXHTML+VoiceXHTML+Voice is an XML language for describing multimodal user interfaces. The two essential modalities are visual and auditory. Visual interaction is defined like most current web pages via XHTML. Auditory components are defined by a subset of Voice XML...
-- Enabling the multimodal Web via voice interaction - RDC -- Reusable Dialog Components
- AxsJAX -- Access Enabling AJAX
- Google Accessible Search -- for finding accessible Web content
- Thinking Of Mathematics -- Thinking Of Mathematics—An Essay on Eyes-Free Computing
- Eyes-Free -- Speech enabled Google Android applications.
- eyes-free project(Android and Chromevox) -- android access (eyes-free project) and chromevox
Selected Awards and Honors
- Computerworld Award Smithsonian Institution Emacspeak: Complete Audio Desktop. April 1999.
- Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Doctoral Dissertation Award 1994.
- Intel Graduate Fellowship Intel Corporation, CA 1992.
- Graduate Fellowship Cornell University. 1989.
- President’s Silver Medal Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. 1989.
- Sir Cusrow Wadia Gold Medal University of Pune. 1987.
- Sir Ness Wadia Gold Medal. 1984.