OATS ("Open Source Assistive Technology Software") is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 [1] with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive technology software. It also allows users to find other software that is free but not open source,[2] and open-source software that is developed elsewhere, for example NVDA,[3] Orca[4] and FireVox.[5]

The OATS website was launched at the end of the OATS project, a one-year pilot project that ended in March 2006, and claimed to be the first open-source repository dedicated to assistive technology.[2][6] In April 2006, the British Computer Society (BCS) announced that it was backing the OATS project;[7] in August 2006, the British Computer Society's Open Source Specialist Group organised a meeting about the project.[8]

The OATS project was made up of five partner organisations co-ordinated by the ACE Centre.[9] The OATS repository wants to offer an efficient and intuitive way to access good quality assistive technology.[10] The OATS repository offers the following facilities to developers:[11]

  • project pages to document and manage a software project,
  • a code repository (Subversion),
  • a project management system (Trac or Poi).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Steve Lee: "OATSoft, a new service and a landmark for Accessibility", 6 May 2006.
  2. 1 2 OATS: Project Summary Archived 2009-10-25 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ OATS: NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) Archived 2010-10-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ OATS: Orca Archived 2009-09-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ OATS: Fire Vox Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ OATS: OATS Launch Press Release Archived 2011-02-07 at the Wayback Machine, 3 May 2006.
  7. ↑ Justin Richards: "BCS backs open source project to boost software for disabled users" Computer Weekly, Thursday 20 April 2006.
  8. ↑ "OATS Meeting Aftermath", BCS Open Source Specialist Group Blog, Friday, August 11th 2006.
  9. ↑ OATS: OATS Consortium Archived 2010-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ OATS: Project Context Archived 2009-10-25 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ OATS: Hosting on OATS Archived 2011-06-01 at the Wayback Machine.
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