[Blindmath] Issues with electronic math files and screen readers/braille displays

Thu May 10 10:17:28 UTC 2012

While Niel and design science are one of the few companies which are 
making effort in making maths accessible, I still have a bad feeling 
that entirely relying on electronic form for tests may end up not being 
a good move for those who use screen readers or Braille, probably 
particularly for those who use Braille.

As an example, mathplayer which makes maths in a web page (math included 
in the MathML format) accessible to screen readers, does it by creating 
a string describing the equation in words and presenting that to the 
screen reader. While it may speak it OK, the problem is that it isn't 
easy to navigate through should the person reading need to find a 
specific part of the equation and the Braille display will only show 
words of the equation rather than proper Braille maths (eg. Nemeth 
notation).

As an example of what I mean, take the equation a/b=c, MathPlayer will 
show this to a screen reader as:
Fraction ay , over b end fraction equals c
That will be what one would read on a Braille display when using 
MathPlayer and what one has to cursor through if you wanted to find what 
is on the bottom of the fraction.

While it may not be too bad for such a short example, think what it can 
get like with longer equations (eg. even the quadratic formula).

Other solutions tend to make use of the LaTeX notation to make maths 
accessible, and if you don't know what that is then it sort of proves 
what I say as a draw back to it, it requires people to know the LaTeX 
notation to be able to understand the maths and for some LaTeX isn't the 
right solution as they don't have much maths to deal with and so the 
investment of time to learn LaTeX is not worth it. Also LaTeX was not 
really designed as a reading notation (its really a document preparation 
language) and I feel sometimes the effort to understand the LaTeX 
notation while reading can get in the way of understanding the maths, 
others may disagree with this.

Sorry if I sound a bit negative, I hope Niel can come up with something 
suitable and its also good you are asking while there is some time to 
get it sorted.

Michael Whapples
On 10/05/2012 01:47, Patricia Balassone wrote:
> Thank you for your offer, I will be glad to forward your information. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my suggestions and concerns are heard. 'Course crossing my fingers does make it harder to braille =)
> Pat
>
>>>> Neil Soiffer<NeilS at dessci.com>  05/09/12 7:37 PM>>>
> As the risk of being too commercial -- please have them contact me (
> neils at dessci.com).  We have products that can be used as part of other
> products that can help make the math accessible beyond a web page.
>
> I don't want to sound pessimistic, but based on past experiences, math
> usually loses out in the last minute rush to get it all working.  It's
> great that you are asking the questions early though -- maybe they will do
> the work before it is too late.  You need to push REALLY hard though to
> make sure it doesn't become the all too familiar refrain:  "we had higher
> priority items we needed to do".
>
> Neil Soiffer
> Senior Scientist
> Design Science, Inc.
> www.dessci.com
> ~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Patricia Balassone<
> Patricia.Balassone at lansingschools.net>  wrote:
>
>> A very good question and one that I do not yet have an answer. It could be
>> either since the test will be available state-wide, I'm thinking a program
>> installed on Windows to prevent unauthorized access. I will have more
>> information next week.
>> Pat
>>
>>>>> Ryan Hemphill<ryanhemphill.email at gmail.com>  05/09/12 3:16 PM>>>
>> Is this going to be a web-based system, or program installed on Windows?
>>
>> Ryan
>>
>> On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Patricia Balassone<
>> Patricia.Balassone at lansingschools.net>  wrote:
>>
>>> I enjoy reading posts from the BlindMath listserve, although I admit I
>>> don’t understand a lot of what is discussed. That being said, I’m looking
>>> for some input as to the difficulties encountered when creating an
>>> electronic math document that can be understood with screen readers and
>>> braille displays. Beginning in 2014, the state assessment tests that our
>>> high school students are required to take will only be available via
>>> computer-generated programs. I will be talking with some of the people
>> who
>>> are responsible for creating the programs to administer these tests and I
>>> want to use this opportunity to help make them aware of the issues
>> specific
>>> to braille readers. I realize I may be asking for a lot of information,
>> so
>>> it might be easier to have conversations offlist.
>>> Thank you for any help you can give,
>>> Patricia Balassone
>>> VI parapro
>>> Sexton High School
>>> Lansing MI USA
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>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Shipping is a Feature...Perhaps the Most Important Feature.
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