[Blindmath] Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students

Birkir R. Gunnarsson birkir.gunnarsson at gmail.com
Wed Jun 15 03:14:59 UTC 2011 

Hi John

I certainly would've mentioned BrailleBlaster as well, only it had
already been mentioned elsewhere.
It's a small world and a handful of guys that are making things happen
for accessible math.
The Japanese Infty project has the best accessible math editor with
Chatty Infty (if you know TeX you can use Word with MathType installed
successfully as well), or expoert ChattyInfty document to that medium
for embossing.
They also have InftyReader, an application for scanning hardcopy or
electronic format math (PDF images for instance), pretty much the only
scanning solution for math.
But this is probably not overly helpful to someone wanting to make
math accessible on his web site.


On 6/15/11, John J. Boyer <john.boyer at abilitiessoft.com> wrote:
> 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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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > 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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>> >
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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
>
>
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