[Blindmath] Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students

Wed Jun 15 03:08:06 UTC 2011

Birkir,

Thanks for the information and the links. I notice that you mention TSS 
from ViewPlus Technologies. The company is one of the sponsors of 
BrailleBlaster. It will go beyond TSS and be cross-platform.

John

On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 02:32:08AM +0000, Birkir Gunarsson wrote:
> Some helpful links:
> WAI-ARIA draft/document
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php
> 
> Note that ARIA support still differs across both browsers and screen
> readers, and I believe the specification is a final draft,not official
> W3C standard yet.
> This is the right solution for the future certainly, but just keep in
> mind that you may still get complaints for some time (months
> probably).
> But if everyone shies away from implementing new things because they
> have not become a standard, they will never become a standard.
> I can't comment on the site in question, but I would've thought using
> headings of different levels might help clarify and keep the site
> organizied, as well as making site navigation easier.
> see the WebAIM article:
> http://webaim.org/techniques/semanticstructure/
> 
> For math using MathJax (http://www.mathjax.org) or embed MathML for
> mathematics will allow users to play math in smost screen readers
> using MathPlayer from Design Science (www.dessci.com). MP is IE8
> compatible and there's work in IE9 and Firefox compatibility I believe
> (Neil Soiffer will comment on that soon I am sure, he is the developer
> for MathPlayer).
> MathML can also be embossed into braille by both Duxbury DBT and TSS
> from ViewPlus (though the preferred source format is Word with
> MathML).
> In csae you are wondering about PDF, it is not very screen reader
> friendly with math, though there have been some experiments with
> making MathPlayer work with PDF, and those who can read pure TeX can
> use it inside an accessible (tagged) PDF document.
> For graphics use SVG for all graphs. This is another area still under
> Assistive Technology development, but SVG is a key concept of UDL, U
> of Washington has done embossing work as well as APH (as mentioned
> above).
> SVG and MathML are both core technologies of HTML5 and ePub3 so future
> websites and eBooks can create a STEM accessibility world that
> hitherto has been completely out of reach for most visually imapred
> people.
> Of course there has been a lot of the "chicken and egg" situation in
> this field. Due to little interest of end users in STEM accessibility
> it has been hard to encourage Assistive Technology development and
> hard to persuade publishers to consider these formats, but the lack of
> available material in accessible formats is the key to increasing
> participation and interest from the print disabled community (for
> discussion of ptint disabled see http://www.readingrights.org ..
> people with visual and cognitive impairments stand to benefit hugely
> from multi media interfacing with STEM material).
> Getting content authors and professionals on-board with this movement
> is key to revolutionizing the accessibility in the field, so welcome
> on board.
> Final pointer for you would be http://www.access2science.org
> This is a relativelynew website but has a lot of information regarding
> STEM accessibility, both producing and consuming.
> hth
> -B
> 
> On 6/15/11, Ken Perry <kperry at blinksoft.com> wrote:
> > I work for the American printing house for the blind.  Please write me an
> > email at kperry at aph.org and I will get your tactile graphics request to the
> > right person tomorrow morning.  You can find more information about APH at
> > www.aph.org.
> >
> > Ken
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 9:02 PM
> > To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> > Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students
> >
> > Hello Lucas,
> >
> > I'm new to this list and I'm not certain exactly how it works. I'm going to
> > hit reply and hope that does everything necessary for me to to reply to the
> > members of the list.
> >
> > I appreciate the compliment. As you read through the material, please let me
> > know if you have any suggestions for improvement.
> >
> > I am hard at work right now trying to find a way to incorporate tactile
> > graphics into the material. If you know of an organization that would be
> > willing to use a ViewPlus embosser to emboss SVG files for students,
> > preferably for free, or for a nominal fee, please let me know.
> >
> > Yes, you may use my material in your project.
> >
> > I am publishing this material under a Creative Commons license (see
> > http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
> >
> > I am going to copy a couple of links from the Connexions website below to
> > help you in that regard.
> >
> > How to reuse and attribute this content (see
> > http://cnx.org/content/col11294/1.32/content_info#cnx_attribution_header)
> > How to cite  and attribute this content (
> > http://cnx.org/content/col11294/1.32/content_info#cnx_cite_header)
> >
> > If you would like to republish the translation on the Connexions website,
> > I'm sure they would be happy for you to publish it there.
> >
> > Wishing you the best,
> > Dick Baldwin
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 7:26 PM, Lucas Radaelli
> > <lucasradaelli at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> >> Richard,
> >>
> >> 1. The site has too many headings, and using ARIA landmarks would have
> > been
> >> better.
> >>
> >>
> >> I took a look at the website, and it is amazing your work, I didn't
> >> know it. The way it is, it is easy to navigate by headers.
> >>
> >> I also would like to know if you let me use your material in my
> >> project. I live in Brazil and probably a lot of blind students here
> >> don't know English yet, so it would be interesting to translate your
> >> book into my language...
> >>
> >> Thank you!
> >>
> >> 2011/6/14, Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>:
> >> > I am the author of the eBook in the subject line.
> >> >
> >> > I just learned of this list and subscribed to it.
> >> >
> >> > I was happy to find several comments about my eBook and about the site
> > in
> >> > the recent archives. I have a couple of questions.
> >> >
> >> > The comments were:
> >> >
> >> > 1. The site has too many headings, and using ARIA landmarks would have
> >> been
> >> > better.
> >> >
> >> > 2. You need to locate the Navigation heading to reach the table of
> >> content
> >> > for the course.
> >> >
> >> > 3. You might consider adding information on the BrailleBlaster project,
> >> > which
> >> > will target especially STEM. There is an article on me and the project
> > on
> >> > the April DAISY Planet. To find it, look for my name.
> >> >
> >> > My questions are:
> >> >
> >> > Regarding item 1 above, does this refer to the navigational material
> > that
> >> > belongs to the site, or to the format of the modules that I have written
> >> and
> >> > posted on the site?
> >> >
> >> > I'm not familiar with the term ARIA landmarks and my first look at what
> >> the
> >> > W3C has to say about the topic wasn't very enlightening. Can someone
> >> point
> >> > me to a beginner's tutorial on the topic? If that is a better approach,
> > I
> >> > will be happy to switch to it once I know what it is and how to do it.
> >> >
> >> > Regarding item 2 above, I am assuming that this has to do with the
> >> > organizational structure of the site itself and not with the material
> >> that I
> >> > have posted there. Is that a correct assumption?
> >> >
> >> > Regarding item 3 above, at this point I simply don't know enough about
> >> > BrailleBlaster to talk about it. However, once I find a break in writing
> >> > technical modules for the eBook, I plan to provide a page containing a
> >> > variety of resources, and I will certainly include a link to the
> >> > BrailleBlaster site when I post those resources.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks for the comments,
> >> > Dick Baldwin
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > 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/lucasradaelli%40g
> > mail.com
> >> >
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/baldwin%40dickbal
> > dwin.com
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> > Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> > http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >
> > Professor of Computer Information Technology
> > Austin Community College
> > (512) 223-4758
> > mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> > http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> > _______________________________________________
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> > t.com
> >
> >
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> 
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-- 
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities