[Blindmath] Math Textbook Accesibility Questions: HELP!

Wed Jun 29 16:50:34 UTC 2011

Hi Andrew,

I am facing a similar situation with one of my programming students who is
taking a physics course. The PDF and Word versions of the physics book are
inaccessible with regard to everything other than the raw text. Sometimes
the Word version, which was apparently created from the PDF version, is
scrambled due to the fancy multi-column layout of the PDF version.

Physics books contain thousands of equations, vector diagrams, photos, etc.

We haven't found a good solution. She can read the text in the Word version
(when it isn't scrambled). She knows how to program, so she has hired some
students to go through and transcribe the equations into single-line
programming format, which she can read on her USB Braille display. That
works for most equations in an intro pre-calculus physics course but the
manual transcription process isn't very reliable. I spend time with her
describing the pictures, etc. Sometimes I sketch out a diagram by drawing on
paper on top of window screen, which is a very crude method of embossing.
Also sometimes I print the diagrams and emboss them using a serrated tracing
wheel.

Every day we encounter new problems and are forced to find new solutions.

I will be very interested in hearing about the solutions that you come up
with, even they involve chewing gum and bailing wire.

Learn more at "Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students" at
http://cnx.org/content/col11294/latest/

Dick Baldwin

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 8:39 AM, Stephen L Noble <steve.noble at louisville.edu
> wrote:

> Hi Andrew,
>
> If you are working with typical textbook content, using InftyReader
> will not be a very smooth process. It works great for black text on
> white background with no images, borders, marginal text, inset text,
> etc., but probably much less than 1% of textbooks are made like that.
> Schools generally won't buy textbooks with only words and math on the
> page, and the more "fancy looking" the page layout gets, the poorer the
> results you will get with Infty.
>
> For all the math textbook conversion that I do, I scan the text with
> Abbyy FineReader and pull it into Word, I then rekey all the math with
> MathType. It is a very time consuming process, but it works. Once you
> have all the math in place, if you want LaTeX, then all you have to do
> is use MathType's "Toggle TeX" command and all of the equations will
> instantly be converted without you having to know LaTeX.
>
> If you want to use a screen reader and hear the math read (rather than
> the raw LaTeX code), you can use the same Word+MathType doc and run
> MathType's "MathPage" command. Select the XHTML+MathML export option and
> then you can use JAWS, WindowEyes, or a number of other math-savvy
> screen readers to hear both the text and the math read. Just be sure
> that the student is using Internet Explorer and has the MathPlayer
> add-on installed.
>
> If you have a student who prefers hard-copy braille with math braille
> code such as Nemeth, it is also possible to take the same Word+MathType
> doc and emboss the braille suing either Duxbury Braille Translator or
> the Tiger Software Suite.
>
> MathType: http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/
> MathPlayer: http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> --Steve Noble
>
> >>> Andrew Cioffi <acioffi at suffolk.edu> 6/28/2011 5:44 PM >>>
> Hi folks,
>
> I am new to the field of making materials accessible for blind or low
> vision students.
>
> My current challenge: students has requested that his math text be made
> available in LaTeX code.  The publisher has provided that full text in
> PDF files by chapter.  I have tried numerous things, and am not getting
> any clear results.
>
> I would like to preface this all by the fact that I have very limited
> background of LaTeX, and cannot use it author any source code
>
> I have downloaded the free trial version of ifntyreader, and have used
> it with mixed results.  For any of the chapters provided by the
> publisher, ifnty won't recognize them until I open them and save them as
> a copy.  Each chapter is about 150 pages, so it takes quite a while for
> ifnty to trudge through (roughly one hour per chapter).  The output
> LOOKS like LaTeX, but sometimes the ifntyreader only outputs a TIFF of
> each page.  Other times, it provides some jumbled LaTeX output.
>
> I have figured out that the problem with the output is that information
> exists in multiple columns in the publisher provided PDFs and it appears
> that the output is created linearly (forgive me if I am using incorrect
> terminology here), hence the jumbled LaTeX.  Is there a way to get
> around this?  Is there a program that can be used to modify the layout
> of the PDF to make it all exist in one column?
>
> My ifnty demo runs out in about 12 days, so I am trying to figure some
> of these issues out before deciding on whether to buy the program or
> not.
>
> I also tried printing pages and scanning them in, and THEN running them
> through inftyreader.  This produced the same jumbled output, now with
> lots of typos to be corrected.  Not sure that this is the route to go.
>
> How have folks dealt with scanning text book pages into ifnty that
> happen to have some complex layouts???
>
> The student is ultimately looking to receive his materials for this
> course in a format that can accurately be read by a screen reader.  Any
> thoughts on what is the most effective and reliable way to convert these
> publisher provided PDFs?
>
> Did I mention that he is an engineering major that will be starting in
> September???
>
> There is MUCH helpful information in the Blindmath archives, and I am
> thankful for any help that you all may be able to provide.
>
> Andrew Cioffi
> Assistant Director
> Office Location: 73 Tremont Street, 7th Floor
> Mailing Address: 8 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108
> Phone: (617) 994-6820
> Email: acioffi at suffolk.edu<mailto:kbehling at suffolk.edu>
> [Email signature]
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/baldwin%40dickbaldwin.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/