Continuous Path Foundation

Get involved

How you can help

We're a small foundation tackling a global problem, and we move fastest when the right people find their way to the right work. Pick the description that fits and reach out.

If you or someone you know would like to try our software

We're actively recruiting beta testers for HeadBoard and JustType. We want to hear from people of any age, any condition, any region. The more varied our testers, the better the software gets. For now, the only language we support is English, but we are actively working on expanding that. If you are a native speaker of Spanish or Swahili, we are actively working on those languages, and we really need your help!

Email hello@continuouspath.org with a sentence or two about your situation and which software you'd like to try.

If you're an AAC clinician, SLP, or special-ed teacher

You see what the current AAC market does and doesn't deliver every day. We'd like your help on three things in particular:

  • Trying our software with clients or students and reporting back
  • Reviewing our documentation and quick-start guides for clarity
  • Connecting us with families who could benefit but haven't heard of us yet. If you're ready to get started, our software is available from the Resources page.

Email hello@continuouspath.org to get started.

If you research literacy, language, or AAC

JustType already includes a number of features designed to support its use as an "alternative pencil" in the classroom. We're especially interested in collaborating on integrating JustType's 8-key keyboard into existing symbol-based AAC systems as a tool for literacy acquisition. The keyboard is small enough to live alongside symbol displays, and it could be animated to show how a selected word is spelled — which could prove very useful for emerging literacy users. Whatever your interest, please reach out — we'd love to hear from you!

Email hello@continuouspath.org to discuss a collaboration.

If you're a developer

Both HeadBoard and JustType are open source. Specific things we'd love help on:

  • Resolving compatibility issues with Google's GBoard so we can make it work with HeadBoard as a more accurate alternative to the OpenBoard keyboard
  • Porting to additional languages (and producing translated training material)
  • Implementing on-device LLM-assisted prediction for ambiguous keystrokes
  • Building dynamic recognition of creative spellings
  • Eye-gaze input integration as Android eye-gaze software or hardware matures. If you are developing Android eye-gaze input, please reach out!

Email hello@continuouspath.org if you'd like to contribute.

Source code and licensing

Everything we build is open source. You are free to read it, build it, translate it, fork it and ship it.

“Open source” is not one licence, though, and ours differ by component. If you plan to build on our work — especially in a commercial product — these are the terms that matter:

  • JustType — the 8-key keyboard. Code is Apache 2.0: permissive, and usable in a closed commercial product, provided you keep the copyright notices.
  • JustType language data — the word lists, region tags and language packs are CC BY-SA 4.0, not Apache. Commercial use is fine, but a word list derived from ours must itself stay CC BY-SA, with attribution. We cannot change this: the data is built from Wiktionary, Wikipedia and open subtitle frequency lists, and we cannot relicense someone else's work.
  • HeadBoard — head-tracking cursor control. Apache 2.0.
  • OpenBoard-HB — the conventional keyboard HeadBoard drives. GPL 3.0, and copyleft: if you distribute a keyboard derived from it, that keyboard must also be GPL 3.0 with its source available. We cannot relicense it — it is a fork of OpenBoard, built on Android's own AOSP keyboard, whose contributions are held by many authors.

We keep OpenBoard-HB in its own repository for exactly this reason. The three apps talk to each other over ordinary Android broadcast messages, with no shared compiled code, so building on JustType or HeadBoard does not pull GPL obligations into your product.

Each repository's NOTICE file lists the full attribution for the third-party work it includes.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome on any of the three repositories. We use the Developer Certificate of Origin rather than a contributor licence agreement — you add a Signed-off-by line to your commits with git commit -s, certifying that you wrote the contribution or may otherwise submit it. There is nothing to sign and no account to create. Each repository's CONTRIBUTING.md has the details.

Participation is governed by our Code of Conduct. Conduct concerns go to conduct@continuouspath.org. For security vulnerabilities, please write to security@continuouspath.org rather than opening a public issue.

Downloading the apps and reading the source are different places. To install, use the Install Guide. To read or build the code, use the repositories linked above.

HeadBoard's origins

HeadBoard began as a fork of Project GameFace, released by Google LLC under Apache 2.0, and we are grateful for it. “Google” and “Project GameFace” are marks of Google LLC; HeadBoard is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google.

If you make hardware

We're looking for an industry partner who can manufacture inexpensive, reliable Bluetooth switches and joysticks designed specifically for AAC use. There's a real market here that's currently being served at premium prices, and a partner who can produce volume at fair prices would have a meaningful impact on what's possible for AAC users worldwide.

Email hello@continuouspath.org to start a conversation.