Foci

Dynamic Speed-reading

Friday, August 8, 2014

Reading skills have been in a continuous decline. For 2014 high school graduates, 62% of the students performed below the proficient level in reading. US students now rank #17 globally in reading. Foci is here to change that. Foci is a speed-reading application that changes reading speed based on linguistic properties of words to help with comprehension. Unlike other speed-reading applications, Foci emphasizes comprehension to increase speed. Based on linguistic properties, a comprehension score is given to each word. Then, the reading speed is adjusted based on the comprehension score. This ensures that complex words receive adequate amount of time to read and process while simple words are quickly read. By facilitating how information is displayed and processed, Foci can improve both comprehension and reading speed. Foci plans to incorporate technology into reading to make reading more enjoyable for students.