Abstract

In this talk I will introduce my last two projects which are focused on improving the performance of people with dyslexia DysWebxia and Piruletas. DysWebxia is my PhD topic and it is focused on the development of reading tools for people with dyslexia. First, we used Human Computer Interaction evaluation techniques to find out which are the most beneficial text presentation parameters and text content alterations, such as lexical simplification. Then, using Natural Language Processing we developed the resources used in several tools that will be described. The second project is Piruletras, a mobile application that supports how dyslexic children learn to write. I will describe how we created the content design of the application, its evaluation in a school, and the design of final commercial product.

Short bio: Luz Rello is a PhD student of computer science at University Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) and co-founder of the Cookie Cloud team. She holds a degree in Linguistics and a MSc in Natural Language Processing. The applications that integrate her research results, such as the IDEAL eBook reader or the game Piruletras for children with dyslexia have tens of thousands of downloads. In 2013, she obtained the European Young Researchers’ Award for her work on applying technology to dyslexia, using Natural Language Processing and Human Computer Interaction techniques. She is an invited expert in the Research and Development Working Group of the Web Accessibility Initiative in World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The game Piruletras (Dyseggxia in English) recently won the first prize of the Vodafone Foundation Mobile for Good Europe Awards 2013.