[Blindmath] Can PDF math texts be accessed via screen reader?

[Michael Whapples]

Hello,
John is correct about the current status of PDF, infty reader is about 
the only way you will get access to equations. However if you can 
contact the author of the document you may wish to explain your 
situation and ask whether they have a LaTeX source version of it you 
could have (quite a number of mathematical PDFs are produced from LaTeX 
but not all are, and also some authors are reluctant to give out the 
source, its always worth asking though). You may wish to find web 
resources in mathml or those websites which use images in html for 
equations but set the alt tag of the equation image to the LaTeX source 
(eg. wikipedia seems to do that).

Also John mentions the IVEO for graphs and diagrams, and I have to say 
although I don't have one when I saw one being demonstrated to me I was 
surprised how well it works (it managed a diagram which I provided 
(demonstrator had no prior knowledge what this diagram was going to be) 
and it was just a matter of scanning the document in and then producing 
a tactile image with the tiger printer and getting the IVEO to process 
the image file (it does OCR to find the labels) and then putting the 
tactile diagram on the touch pad and then exploring the diagram). What I 
saw of it with the diagram I tried probably wasn't as good as it can do 
(due to performing OCR as it was from a paper source) and also no extra 
information had been added to parts of the diagram. I believe if you are 
starting from a computer file then alot more can be done (chunks of text 
explaining the diagram can be associated with particular parts of the 
diagram, if labels are in the file as text then OCR and its inaccuracies 
are not introduced as the actual text can be used, etc).

I will just state here I have no association with viewplus, I am talking 
as an individual who has seen some of their products.

Unfortunately all of this does come at a cost and if budgets are limited 
you have to just try and work out what will be the most useful. EG. 
might it be more cost effective to just have someone explain diagrams to 
you and use something like swell paper to produce the diagrams?

Michael Whapples
On 09/04/09 02:07, John Gardner wrote:
> Hello Richard.  The Infty Reader can do OCR of PDF and is surprisingly good
> at getting both the math and text right.  It's not cheap at $900, but it is
> the only game in town.
>
> See
> http://www.inftyproject.org/
> Their ChattyInfty accessible math editor has a bit of a learning curve, but
> works well also.  Both these products are made by a university research team
> and do not have easy user-friendly interfaces.  But they do work.
>
> By the way, it is absolutely not true that you cannot access the graphs and
> diagrams.  Look at the ViewPlus IVEO Creator Pro package.  You'll need a
> ViewPlus embosser to make the tactile copy, but it also works well.  Lots of
> money for software and hardware, but at least today you have really full
> access to math and science.  Wasn't tru a couple of years ago.
> http://www.viewplus.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Richard Dinger
> Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 5:05 PM
> To: BlindMath
> Subject: [Blindmath] Can PDF math texts be accessed via screen reader?
>
> Hello,
>
> Sorry, this is a bit long.
>
> I have spent most of my working career as a software engineer and recently I
> have been looking into neural networks and linear classifiers.  That led to
> support vector machines and compact vector machines, which leads to linear
> algebra in general.  So my initial interest/question for this group was
> where can I find an accessible text on undergraduate level linear algebra?
>
> I took linear algebra 40 years ago at the University of Washington, but
> recall very little of that course.  But then that question led to what may
> be a broader question for this group, namely, what are some solid approaches
> to accessing mathematics texts in PDF via computer screen reader.  I mention
> PDF texts as I see many of them offered while googling topics.
>
> When I say access I mean access to both the written text and at least some
> access to any equations.  I understand that graphs and diagrams will not be
> accessible, but can usually be infered from the text.
>
> I would be completely happy if equations were in some markup language like
> La Tex as that can eventually be understood.
>
> Are there any commercial products that can convert text and equations to
> some other format such as word?
>
> Finally, is pursuing PDF a fools errand?
>
> I will post on a different thread regarding La Tex.
>
> Richard
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/john.gardner%40or
> st.edu
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Blindmath:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/mwhapples%40aim.com
>