product analyzed

ATECA

ATECA

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Overall rating:
4/5
Technology:

Categories assigned to this product within the main category Technology.

Needs:

Categories assigned to this product within the main category Needs.

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Below is the video of the review.

What does it consist of:

ATECA (Aadaptation of TExtos in CAstellano) is a web solution that facilitates the process of adapting Spanish texts to easy reading.

The aim of easy reading is to write texts that are easy to understand for people with reading comprehension difficulties. These recommendations refer to avoiding, for example, the use of very long words or words containing complex syllables, the use of complex connectors (such as However o but nevertheless), the use of superlatives or the use of the passive voice.

There is a standard, UNE 153101 EX, which provides recommendations for adapting texts to easy reading.

Among the target audiences of easy-to-read texts are people with intellectual disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, migrants with language difficulties or elderly people with cognitive difficulties. In addition, easy-to-read texts are a way of promoting cognitive accessibility.

ATECA has been developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, https://oeg.fi.upm.es/ ,and Plena Inclusión, an entity that manages the Spanish Center for Cognitive Accessibility: https://www.ceacog.es

Adapting a document to easy-to-read format has traditionally been a manual and cyclical process in which three key activities are carried out:

  • Analysis of which recommendations of the methodology are not followed in the document to be adapted;
  • Adaptation of the document by experts in the methodology according to the previous analysis; and
  • Validation of the adaptation of the document, which is carried out by a team made up of people with intellectual disabilities or other comprehension difficulties.

Using Artificial Intelligence techniques, ATECA automates the first two processes, facilitating the work and saving the time of the experts who have to carry out the final validation.

Forms of acquisition:

ATECA is a cloud solution that is freely accessible at no cost. It is in the development phase so its functionalities may be limited. It can be accessed for free via the following link: https://ateca.linkeddata.es/    

Technical assessment:

Once you access the main page, you can use a link to access the solution, which requests the username and password or, failing that, the creation of an account.

When you enter the application, two screens are presented that correspond to the two available options:

  • Identify non-compliance with the standard.
  • Request a text correction to adapt it to easy reading.

Likewise, within each option there are different possibilities for both identifying non-compliance and correcting text.

Both available options have been tested. They are easy to use and ATECA itself has a “Help and Documentation” page that guides the user through the chosen option.

In either of the two options indicated, the user has to write or copy the text to be analyzed or corrected. It is not possible to upload a complete file.

Response times are long and when a long text has been uploaded, no response has been obtained. However, this is due to being in the development phase and not having the possibility of scaling resources.

Identification of non-compliance with the standard.

To obtain suggestions on non-compliance with the rule of a text, copy and paste it into the box provided.

In the following figure you can see that a text has been loaded (part of Henry Dunant's biography taken from Wikipedia) and the options that the user must select appear, which are:

  • Vocabulary and expressions.
  • Phrases and words
  • Orthotypography.
Website. On the right hand side is the filter for the breaks you want to work with. Above this are the buttons to choose between the two work options. On the left of the screen is the example text and below it is the 'Identify' button.

The ATECA solution analyses the text and generates a report on non-compliance with the UNE 153101 EX standard.

The following figure shows the report generated on the proposed text:

Throughout the image, all the requirements for which the analysis is to be performed are shown, and these are rounded in green or red depending on whether they are met or not.

Of the nine points analysed, six are in green, indicating that they are in accordance with the standard. There are two points in red: avoiding synonyms and enumerations. It also indicates that there are complex words.

The user can stick with this analysis or go a step further and ask for suggestions for adapting the text.

Get suggestions for adapting your text.

To get suggestions for making a text easier to read, copy and paste it into the box provided.

The following figure is an example of the suggestions that ATECA makes on the same previous text.

The suggestions propose modifying the text in relation to the identified non-compliances with the standard. This provides an alternative text adapted to easy reading.

As indicated at the beginning, these are two processes that ATECA carries out automatically, leaving the proposed text available to the experts.

Section for obtaining suggestions for correcting the text. On the left is the text uploaded to the web and on the right is the corrected text. In addition, these suggestions are underlined in green. Below the suggested text is a legend indicating that if it is underlined in yellow it requires manual adaptation, in green it is the proposed suggestion and in purple it is that there is more than one proposed suggestion.

Conclusion.

ATECA is emerging as a very useful tool for generating texts that can be used by social groups identified as people with intellectual disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, migrants or the elderly, directly in accordance with the UNE easy-to-read standard. In this regard, it is a great help and saves effort. As soon as the production version is available, it will be worth reviewing it again and recommending its use.

Highlights.

The tool represents a significant effort to automate the requirements of a UNE standard. Therefore, it makes it easier for any type of text to be transformed into an easy-to-read text.  

The following points can be highlighted:

  • It is very easy to access and use.
  • The indications for non-compliance with the standard are clear, well-defined and allow for clearly identifying points for improvement in the texts. For people who frequently use this tool to generate easy-to-read texts, its use also serves as a learning tool, so that easy-to-read texts are generated almost naturally.
  • The solutions for correcting a text and making it easy to read are also very clear. It is up to the final evaluator or the user to decide whether to accept them in whole or in part.

Purely intuitively, there are recommendations and corrections that are not frequently used in literal texts. For example, when several points are listed, even if they are short, the standard recommends writing them in separate paragraphs with bullets (in Word terminology), while in normal, non-technical texts they are mentioned within the same paragraph. This is the case, for example, of the mention of Henri Dunant's four brothers, which in the original text are mentioned in the same paragraph and in the proposed correction appear in bullet format.

Improvement points.

After analyzing the solution, the following points of improvement can be indicated that may be useful within the development process in which this solution is currently found.

  • A complete file can be uploaded directly to ATECA for analysis and/or transformation into easy-to-read text. Currently, it must be written in the solution or copied. For long texts, it would be more convenient to upload a file.
  • Similarly, once a text has been passed through the tool and a new, but easy-to-read text proposal is generated, it would be more convenient to be able to download it directly. In the current development version, the proposed text must be copied and pasted into another document outside of ATECA.
  • When you write or copy a text to identify the points of non-compliance with the easy-to-read standard, ATECA generates the list of non-compliances, but it is not possible to directly request the generation of a new text with the proposed corrections. It is necessary to rewrite or copy it.

Technical evaluation scores.

Design and manufacturing:
4/5
This section refers to the physical aspects and details of the manufacturing of the technological product
Technical benefits:
4/5
Description of the quality of the technical specifications of the technological solution
User experience:
5/5
This criterion is linked to the user's assessment when relating to the technical product or application.
Accessibility:
3/5
It is the degree to which people can use or access a product, technological solution or service, regardless of their technical, cognitive or physical abilities

Social valuation:

Social valuation scores.

Impact and utility:
This item has not been rated/5
Describes to what extent the functionalities of the product are useful and impact on improving the life of the user
Design and Ergonomics:
This item has not been rated/5
Assessment of how the design of the technological solution adapts to the person to achieve greater comfort and efficiency when using it
Usability and accessibility:
This item has not been rated/5
Possibility of the device to be used, understood and taken advantage of under equal conditions for anyone
Ease of acquisition:
This item has not been rated/5
It refers to the possibilities of accessing and acquiring a technological solution by the user.

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