[Blindmath] Computer-supported math access

[cnsbaker at access.k12.wv.us]

It will take continued pressure for that change to happen.
Don't give up, it is worth the fight. 
This is a step in the right direction. 
Make the colleges and schools accountable and they will help pressure the companies.

The NFB brought charges against Penn State for inaccessible sites.

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NewsBot.asp?ID=702&MODE=VIEW

I hope the link works, if not you can search on the main page, inaccessible sites, it is the second option. 

Connie


----- Original Message -----
From: Birkir Rúnar Gunnarsson <birkir.gunnarsson at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, February 21, 2011 4:22 pm
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Computer-supported math access
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>


> We should include that in the eventual text of the petition (I have no
>  time frame yet, I am hoping a week or so until something can be put
>  together, but I should know more in a few days).
>  Something along the lines of "There is a lot of research that already
>  has been done in the area of braille and tactile mathematics, yet none
>  of this information seems to have found its way into any of the screen
>  reader products". "We urge you to consider improving math
>  accessibility via braille and speech and leverage existing research
>  and resources".
>  We could easily include a lot of this info as well, but I do not want
>  to point them too much in a particular direction to begin with, more
>  press the issue and see if anyone reacts to it.
>  I am not sure why NVDA does not support MathPlayer for instance,
>  perhaps they need user requests to do so. Combining MathPlayer with
>  the LiblouisXML libraries it appears a MathML to refreshable Nemeth
>  braille solution could be created for very little cost, a solution
>  that could be improved over time and one that puts NVDA way ahead of
>  the mainstream screen readers, John Boyer already indicated as much.
>  With the financial trouble NVDA is in I am not sure what, if any,
>  priorities they have going forward though.
>  But I do not want to single anyone out, NVDA just came to mind as mr
>  Boyer already talked about the Nemeth abilities of LiblouisXML which
>  NVDA uses (and i believe it supports other math braille codes as
>  well).
>  
>  
>  On 2/21/11, Michael Whapples <mwhapples at aim.com> wrote:
>  > Thanks for all those links. Yes I was aware of some of the research,
>  > however sadly much of it doesn't seem to have made it into a nice
>  > intergrated access solution. Another thing that sometimes gets me
>  > irratated about this is that a sighted person buys there computer 
> and is
>  > able to read maths on the web (eg. firefox includes mathml support, 
> or
>  > mathplayer adds the support to IE), whereas I have to obtain an
>  > additional piece of software to access the computer (many of which 
> are
>  > very expensive, costing more than some computers) and yet that software
>  > doesn't allow me to read maths. Why haven't they picked up on any of
>  > this research which has already been done?
>  >
>  > Michael Whapples
>  > On -10/01/37 20:59, Susan Jolly wrote:
>  >> Hi Michael,
>  >>
>  >> There's actually been a lot of work on using the computer to support
>  >> math access.  I'd say this has been going on for at least 15 years.
>  >> Unfortunately, most of it doesn't seem to have made it out of academia.
>  >>
>  >> There is a good overview in the paper "Mathematics and Accessibility.:
>  >> There is a link to a PDF version partway down this page.  I hope the
>  >> paper is accessible!
>  >> http://www.utdallas.edu/~gupta/
>  >>
>  >> Dominique Archambault in France has also done a lot of work in 
> this area.
>  >> Scroll down past the French to the sentence starting "The need for
>  >> accessibility is growing...." to read about some of his recent work.
>  >> http://chezdom.net/blog/?p=83#more-83
>  >>
>  >> The topic you mention is addressed off and on at various conferences
>  >> including CSUN, ICCHP, and  ACM SIGACCESS ASSETS.
>  >>
>  >> Hopefully some of the people directly involved in this research will
>  >> respond.
>  >>
>  >> Susan
>  >>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >
>  >
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