[BlindMath] Tips on presenting slides

Fri Oct 11 09:02:29 UTC 2019

Thanks to everyone for the very useful suggestions. After some experimentation, I have also concluded that slidey is the best option when producing HTML output. As well as being favourable from an accessibility perspective, there are some handy keystrokes that allow the user to change the appearance, including increasing / decreasing the font size.
I like Jonathan's method of having notes available while keeping them invisible from the audience, I'll try that. I'm guessing it would be possible to have some functionality in the Markdown file that could optionally hide these notes, if the author wanted to provide the slides to the audience. Personally I don't need to present on a regular basis, and as my statistical analysis is performed entirely in R, the RMarkdown/Slidey pathway is a very easy and accessible option.

All the best,
Robin 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Godfrey, Jonathan via BlindMath
Sent: 09 October 2019 21:19
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Godfrey, Jonathan <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Re: [BlindMath] Tips on presenting slides

Robin,

My last comparison test between the slide show options for R markdown (pandoc in behind) albeit back in 2016, gave the prize to slidey

Having said that, I get tired of the painful navigation required by having to use pass through keystrokes so I've been using a single HTML document to do the job ever since.

All my lectures are written in R markdown. I also give both HTML and Rmd versions to my students, so that they can see how I did anything or add their own content if they like; few do that but it is nice to give them the option.

When I've wanted to add content that my audience can't see, I add html content that is printed in 1pt font size with the foreground and background colours set to match the general background; they are then invisible to the audience and audible to me. TBH, I usually use heading level 6 for this and update the css file to alter all heading 6 content at once.

I usually wear a single earpiece so that I can hear the screen reader, but  I can't see why the same outcome can't be achieved using just your braille display. As long as I keep my JAWS focus on the content I want my audience to be seeing using the standard html keystrokes for headings and graphics to move around to important bits as I speak, it all seems to go fairly well.

One challenge I have only ever overcome by way of trial and error is making sure large objects are actually visible to my audience. The drive to get the biggest image for purposes of clarity is in conflict with my need to keep it on screen. Paranoia is my friend in these circumstances. I take my laptop to conferences and always connect it to the local projection hardware with enough time to decide which level of zooming best suits the local conditions. There is usually one or two elements that I need to check at most; getting them right ensures everything goes smoothly. I recall one conference some years ago where people were asking speakers to increase the font size a lot; one vocal individual told me afterwards that he wanted to ask me but decided better than to say to a blind presenter that he couldn't see the slides.

In situations when I needed to navigate a presentation with next to zero timing, I used multiple Rmd files and added my own back and next links at the bottom. I also added a link to contents on each page so that I could quickly decide which page was the one that had the visual content to display that was relevant to any questions being asked.

HTH
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of White, Jason J via BlindMath
Sent: Thursday, 10 October 2019 6:48 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: White, Jason J <jjwhite at ets.org>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Tips on presenting slides

Using Pandoc to create slides for HTML Slidy works well for me. The source format is Pandoc Markdown. You'll still need to use a pass-through key, but HTML Slidy, at least, supports screen readers well in my experience.

I haven't tried any of the other slide delivery options available in Pandoc. Note also that you can include the --self-contained option on the Pandoc command line to ensure that the CSS and JavaScript are integrated into the generated HTML file. Thus, you shouldn't need a working Internet connection when you're giving the presentation.

As a final note, I haven't tried this with mathematical material. However, Pandoc supports generation of MathML from TeX-like mathematical expressions given in the Markdown input.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Alastair Irving via BlindMath
Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 1:41 PM
To: Robin Williams via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Alastair Irving <alastair.j.irving at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Tips on presenting slides

Robin

I've just tested a sample ioslides presentation I found online. It appears that using NVDA with chrome you still have to do a pass-key through (nvda+f2) but the virtual buffer is then refreshed.  In fact, I also tried Jaws 17 and the buffer also seemed to be refreshing.  With either screenreader it presumably wouldn't be too hard to script this to a single key press.

Have you tried compiling your R Markdown to PDF?  I still use PDFs produced from Beamer, you can ctrl+page up/down to move between the slides.  You won't be able to read mathematical content but the text might read well enough.

I've not found a perfect solution to managing notes to help during the presentation.  My usual approach is to make sure all my slides have helpful titles and first sentences, as I can usually read those when switching to the next slide.  The ideal solution might be to have notes accessible in some sort of invisible buffer that a screenreader can access.

Best wishes

Alastair

On 09/10/2019 14:55, Robin Williams via BlindMath wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am after any tips blind people may have on presenting scientific materials using slides.
>
> Using R Markdown, I am able to produce my presentations in various formats. One of these is Powerpoint, but my general reluctance to go near MS Office, and the extra work that can be required to resize my slides, means I have settled on ioslides for now. This format renders the slides in an HTML document, and allows one to have additional control on the size of text and other appearance options directly from the R Markdown file, similar to LaTeX. These are all appealing features to me. However, when I open my presentation in my preferred web browser (Chrome), I need to press JAWS KEY + 3 to pass the left and right arrow keystroke (which changes the slide) through to the browser. However, the JAWS virtual buffer doesn't refresh, despite the slide changing on the screen. Has anyone tried a similar thing with any other screenreaders?
>
> I am particularly interested to know what methods people use to take notes to assist in giving their presentations. I am happy to memorise a 20 minute presentation, but anything longer starts to take up an unreasonable amount of time and cognitive energy. My current solution is to use hard copy Braille, with a couple of bullet points for each slide. Do people have any alternative suggestions, and/or tips on how to streamline the process of giving scientific presentations?
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