[Nfb-science] access to plots and graphics

[Mark J. Cadigan]

Amy,



Welcome to the list, I hope you find it informative and I look forward to 
reading your input. Although embossing graphs is a good method for producing 
tactile graphics when speed is the issue opposed to accuracy or detail, 
using a tactile drafting kit works wonderfully. A reader or colleague simply 
sketches the graph and you have instant tactile access.



Hope this helps,

Mark



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amy Bower" <abower at whoi.edu>
To: <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2012 11:49 AM
Subject: [Nfb-science] access to plots and graphics


> All- I'm new to this list and apologize if my questions have been covered
> previously.
>
>
>
> I've been  a research scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic 
> Institution
> for 24 years. As a grad student, I was diagnosed with macular degeneration
> and RP. Since then, my vision has slowly declined. But with the aid of 
> video
> magnifiers, screen magnifiers and screen readers, I've been able to 
> continue
> with my career more or less as would anyone else, receiving tenure and a
> series of promotions.
>
>
>
> My research mainly involves the collection and analysis  of physical data
> from the oceans. I use several programming and plotting tools, but 
> primarily
> Matlab. Of course I also read and write journal articles and other
> publications.
>
>
>
> My question is about access to graphics. Until recently, I could use my
> remaining vision and either a video magnifier or screen magnifier to 
> access
> plots and graphics. That is getting more difficult, and I'm thinking about
> alternatives. One of course is a human reader to describe plots and
> graphics. But I'm wondering if anyone uses any more independent 
> techniques.
> There are a couple of ideas I have but haven't used extensively. One is
> using the mouse echo feature of Magic/Jaws, which says the text under the
> pointer (sometimes). If I can see where the axes labels are, for example, 
> I
> can move the mouse there and read what the label is. Another possibility 
> is
> the Convenient OCR feature in Jaws, which will scan and OCR the content of
> any window. That method will probably read the text in an odd order 
> though,
> making it difficult to synthesize the information.
>
>
>
> I've been keeping my eye on tactile graphics, but my impression so far is
> that this technology is not mature enough to use in a fast-paced research
> environment. I'm open to other opinions if there are professionals using
> tactile graphics for their research.
>
>
>
> Thanks and best regards,
>
>
>
> Amy Bower
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Amy S. Bower
>
> MS #21
>
> Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
>
> Woods Hole, MA  02543  USA
>
> Voice:  508-289-2781
>
> Fax: 508-457-2181
>
> Email:  abower at whoi.edu
>
> Skype:  amy.bower1
>
> www:   http://www.whoi.edu/scientist/abower
>
>
>
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