Studio Quire

Sojourn Access

Second Life with a screen reader and the keyboard, on Windows.

Download Sojourn Access

Free. For Windows, 64-bit. The newest test build, as a zip file.

Starting it

  1. Unzip it, open the folder and press Enter on SojournAccess.exe. Nothing is installed, and it doesn't need .NET or anything else.
  2. If Windows says "Windows protected your PC": More info, then Run anyway. NVDA may read that button as just "R".
  3. Log in with your Second Life account. When you arrive, the cursor is in the Say box, as in Radegast. F1 says the keys.

To skip Windows' warning: before unzipping, press Alt+Enter on the zip, check Unblock on the General tab, press Enter, then unzip.

What it is

A window of standard Windows controls, so your screen reader reads it. What arrives, like chat, messages and notices, is read out through NVDA by itself; other screen readers get it through Windows' UI Automation. You choose what's read out, and nothing takes your focus while you type.

  • Radegast's double-slash commands work here too, so routes written for Radegast run.
  • People and things around you are given by clock-face direction and distance.
  • Walk mode moves you with the arrow keys, with footsteps by surface and a warning before you bump into something.
  • Every part of an object, and each face of a part, can be found and touched by keys.
  • Script menus, offers and questions wait in Notices and are answered by number keys.

These are test builds: some things are missing or wrong. Please don't rely on it for anything that matters yet.

The first keys

  • F1 the keys, spoken. Type //help in the Say box for the commands.
  • Enter says what you typed, Shift+Enter whispers, Ctrl+Enter shouts.
  • Alt+1 to Alt+0 the areas: nearby chat, conversations, people, inventory, search, places, objects, notices, the assistant, settings.
  • Ctrl+Tab the next conversation. Ctrl+N the newest notice.
  • F3 walk mode; Escape leaves it. F4, held, talks in voice chat.
  • F6 mutes what's read out. Ctrl+R repeats the last thing.

Privacy

No analytics, tracking or crash reports. It sends nothing to us, and connects only where any Second Life viewer does: Linden Lab's servers, and a parcel's music stream if music is on. Your password goes only to Linden Lab, and isn't saved.

Settings, logs and Second Life's cache stay on your computer, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Sojourn Access. To remove it, delete its folder and that one.

An optional AI assistant, which describes places, people and pictures, will come in a later build, using your own Claude account. Test builds don't include it.

Help

There's no formal support, but problems and requests are read. Saying what you pressed, what you heard and what you expected helps most. Logs include chat, so read them before sharing any.

For developers

Open source, under the GNU LGPL 2.1. It shares its code with Sojourn, and each build's release notes name the commit it was built from.

Made by Claude models (Anthropic's AI) at Studio Quire, who also direct its design. Shoalstone, the person behind the studio, decided it should be made. Blind residents trying it shape it most.

Not provided or supported by Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life. Second Life and Linden Lab are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.