DIAGRAM Webinar: Digital Accessible Math Images

- HELLO AND WELCOME, THIS IS BRYAN GOULD
FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDIA,
AND THIS IS THE WEBINAR DIGITAL ACCESSIBLE MATH IMAGES
PRESENTED BY THE DIAGRAM CENTER,
AND THIS IS A RECORDING OF THE WEBINAR
THAT WAS FIRST PRESENTED ON TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012.
WE'LL DIVE RIGHT INTO IT
AND LOOK AT OUR OVERVIEW FOR THE HOUR.
GIVE AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT ACCESSIBLE MATH IMAGES
AND THEN GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL ALTERNATIVES TO IMAGES.
WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE STEM DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES.
STEM, OF COURSE, IS SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,
ENGINEERING AND MATH.
AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT MATHML, OR MATH MARKUP LANGUAGE,
AND HOW YOU CAN USE IT
AND WHAT IT CAN DO FOR READERS OF YOUR BOOKS,
AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE DIAGRAM CENTER
AND THE FREE TOOLS AND RESOURCES
THAT ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE DIAGRAM CENTER.
BUT YOUR FIRST QUESTION MAY BE WHAT IS THE DIAGRAM CENTER?
WELL, DIAGRAM IS AN ACRONYM AND IT STANDS FOR DIGITAL IMAGE
AND GRAPHIC RESOURCES FOR ACCESSIBLE MATERIALS.
THE DIAGRAM CENTER IS A FIVE-YEAR RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
FUNDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S OFFICE
FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS, OR OSEP.
AND THERE ARE THREE MAIN PARTNERS IN THE DIAGRAM CENTER
LED BY BENETECH AND THE OTHER TWO PARTNERS
ARE THE WGBH NATIONAL CENTER FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDIA
AND THE U.S. FUND FOR DAISY.
I'LL TALK MORE ABOUT ALL THESE ORGANIZATIONS
THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE PRESENTATION.
WE ARE BEGINNING THE THIRD YEAR OF THE DIAGRAM CENTER
AND HAVE QUITE A BIT TO SHOW FOR OURSELVES.
HERE'S A LISTING OF JUST SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES
THAT WE'RE ENGAGED IN.
DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES TRAINING,
ONE OF WHICH WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW.
PRODUCT EVALUATION MATRICES.
WE HAVE EVALUATED DOZENS OF PRODUCTS
BOTH IN THE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY SPACE
AND IN THE MAINSTREAM PRODUCT SPACE,
EVERYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH CREATING IMAGES,
PRODUCING DIGITAL BOOKS AND READING DIGITAL BOOKS,
AND WE HAVE LOOKED AT THEM
THROUGH THE LENS OF ACCESSIBILITY
AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT THOSE AT THE END OF THE PRESENTATION.
WE'VE DONE A USER SURVEY ON READING TECHNOLOGIES
AND THESE ARE READING TECHNOLOGIES FOR PEOPLE
WITH PRINT DISABILITIES,
A REPORT ON IMAGE METADATA, SVG AND 3D,
PRINTING EVALUATION AND AUDIO-TACTILE USABILITY STUDY.
POET IS AUTHORING SOFTWARE.
IT'S A TOOL FOR CREATING IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS
FOR A DIGITAL BOOK
AND I'LL TALK QUITE A BIT ABOUT THAT IN THIS PRESENTATION.
WE'RE ALSO QUITE INVOLVED IN STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT
AND HAVE CREATED SOMETHING CALLED CONTENT MODEL
WHICH IS A STANDARD FOR PROVIDING ALTERNATES TO IMAGES
IN THE DIGITAL FORMAT WEB PAGE OR DIGITAL BOOK.
WE'VE ALSO BEGUN A COLLABORATION
WITH THE MATHEMATIC eTEXT RESEARCH CENTER,
ALSO KNOWN AS METRIC,
WHICH IS HOUSED OR BASED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON.
YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE DIAGRAM CENTER
AND ALL OF THE ACTIVITIES
THAT WE ARE INVOLVED IN AT DIAGRAMCENTER.ORG.
AS I SAID, MY NAME IS BRYAN GOULD
AND I AM WITH THE WGBH NATIONAL CENTER
FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDIA, CHANNEL 2 IN BOSTON.
THE PUBLIC TELEVISION STATION IS WGBH
AND WE HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF SUPPORTING
AND CREATING ACCESS AND ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
RELATED TO MEDIA AND MEDIA EVERYWHERE
AND ANYWHERE YOU FIND IT.
SO WE'RE AN R&D SHOP
AND WE DEVELOP TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS,
CONDUCT RESEARCH, PROMOTE ADVOCACY
AND SUPPORT NATIONAL POLICY DECISIONS,
SO THAT'S WHY WE'RE INVOLVED WITH THE DIAGRAM CENTER.
NOW WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT DIGITAL MATH TODAY
AND WHY ARE YOU GOING TO BE HEARING A LOT MORE ABOUT IT
OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS?
THESE ARE A FEW IMAGES
THAT WILL BRING THAT RIGHT TO THE FOREFRONT.
THE FIRST TWO ON THE UPPER LEFT, PARCC AND SMARTER BALANCE,
ARE TWO TESTING CONSORTIA
WHICH IN JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS WILL BE PRODUCING
NEARLY ALL OF THE K-12 HIGH STAKES ASSESSMENTS
THAT STUDENTS WILL BE TAKING
AND THOSE WILL BE DIGITAL ASSESSMENTS TAKEN ONLINE
AND THEY ARE CHARGED TO BE ACCESSIBLE AS WELL,
SO THEY WILL HAVE ACCESSIBLE IMAGES AND ACCESSIBLE MATH.
SO THAT WILL BE PART OF STUDENTS' EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
IN JUST THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
MOVING OUT OF THE K-12 SPACE UP TO GRADUATE ADMISSIONS, GMAC,
THE ORGANIZATION THAT CREATES THE GMAC,
HAS MADE A FULLY ACCESSIBLE STUDY GUIDE FOR THE GMAC TEST.
WE'RE GOING TO BE LOOKING ACTUALLY AT AN EXAMPLE
FROM THAT STUDY GUIDE IN JUST A MOMENT.
BOOKSHARE CREATES ACCESSIBLE DIGITAL BOOKS
AND IS INCREASINGLY, AMONG THEIR THOUSANDS OF TITLES,
PROVIDING MORE AND MORE TITLES THAT HAVE ACCESSIBLE IMAGES
WITH IMAGE DESCRIPTION IN THEM
AND MOVING AGAIN AWAY FROM SPECIFIC ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
WHERE THE ACCESSIBILITY COMMUNITY--
WHERE THE SPECIFIC ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
IS MOVING INTO MAINSTREAM TECHNOLOGY,
AND NOTHING'S MORE MAINSTREAM THAN APPLE
IN THEIR LATEST VERSION OF iBOOKS
FOR CREATING DIGITAL BOOKS WITH iBOOKS
RIGHT IN THEIR OFFERING SYSTEM.
THIS LARGER PICTURE IN THE LOWER RIGHT
SHOWS THAT YOU CAN CREATE YOUR ALTERNATIVE TEXT
FOR IMAGES RIGHT THERE,
SO YOU CAN CREATE AN ACCESSIBLE BOOK RIGHT IN iBOOKS.
SO ACCESSIBLE IMAGES ARE OUT THERE.
ACCESSIBLE MATH WILL BE MORE SO, AND IT'S AN EXCITING TIME.
SO THIS IS AN APPROPRIATE TIME TO BE DOING THIS SORT OF WORK
AND GIVING THIS SORT OF PRESENTATION.
SO WE'RE GOING TO GO RIGHT INTO AN OVERVIEW
OF DIGITAL ALTERNATIVES TO IMAGES,
AND WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?
I'M JUST GOING TO SHOW A SHORT VIDEO THAT SHOWS
WHAT A DIGITAL BOOK CAN DO IN TERMS OF ACCESSIBILITY.
WE'RE LOOKING AT A MAP BOOK.
AGAIN, THIS IS THE STUDY GUIDE FOR THE GMAC
AND BOTH THE DESCRIPTIONS AND THE SOFTWARE
CREATED BY A COMPANY CALLED GH,
SO THIS IS THEIR PRODUCT
AND THE CONTENT IS THE GMAC STUDY GUIDE,
AND I WILL HIT PLAY.
- YOU CAN ZOOM THE CONTENT
TO THE DESIRED LEVEL OF MAGNIFICATION
UP TO 16 TIMES NORMAL SIZE.
THE SYSTEM ALLOWS YOU TO ADJUST THE SCREEN CONTRAST.
FOR LOW CONTRAST,
YOU COULD USE BLACK TEXT ON A WHITE BACKGROUND.
FOR HIGH CONTRAST,
YOU CAN USE WHITE TEXT ON A BLACK BACKGROUND.
YOU CAN EXPAND ANY SECTION THAT YOU WANT TO LOOK AT
AND GO TO SPECIFIC SUBSECTIONS IN THAT --
THE COMPUTER CAN READ EQUATIONS OUT LOUD.
- FOR ANOTHER EXAMPLE,
CONSIDER FRACTIONATE OPEN X - 3 CURVES.
OPEN X SQUARED + 5 CLOSE OVER, X - 4, END FRACTION, EQUAL --
- THE BOOKS USE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
TO PROVIDE AUDIO DESCRIPTIONS OF IMAGES.
- A POLYGON WITH FIVE SIDES.
TWO DOTTED LINES ARE IN THE MIDDLE.
THE DOTTED LINES CONNECTED THREE AT THE CORNERS
TO FORM THREE TRIANGLES.
THE TWO DOTTED LINES START FROM THE SAME CORNER.
- SO WHAT WE SAW WAS A DIGITAL BOOK
AND MANY OF THE WONDERFUL FEATURES
THAT A DIGITAL BOOK CAN PROVIDE,
WHICH IS ENHANCED NAVIGATION WHICH WE SAW,
HIGHLIGHTING THE TEXT AS IT'S BEING READ,
CHANGING THE CONTRAST TO MAKE IT EASIER TO READ
AND ALSO THAT COMPUTERIZED VOICE THAT YOU HEARD
WAS READING FIRST MATHML,
WHICH I'LL TALK ABOUT IN A LITTLE BIT,
AND THEN AN IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
YOU'LL HEAR ME USE SORT OF USE THOSE TERMS
USED INTERCHANGEABLY.
I PROBABLY WON'T SAY SYNTHETIC SPEECH,
BUT I MIGHT SAY TEXT TO SPEECH OR SCREEN READER
OR COMPUTERIZED SPEECH.
THOSE ALL MEAN THE SAME THING,
MEANING A COMPUTER SYNTHESIZER READING THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN.
BUT WHAT ABOUT RECORDED DESCRIPTIONS?
BECAUSE IMAGES ARE STILL OFTEN DESCRIBED ON THE FLY,
SAY, IN THE CLASSROOM OR RECORDED BY A NARRATOR
IN AN AUDIO BOOK.
MANY MATH IMAGES ARE ALSO DESCRIBED WITH WORDS
AND SENTENCES LIKE WE SAW JUST IN THAT EXAMPLE.
MANY OF THE GUIDELINES WHICH WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT
AND I'LL BE SHOWING TO YOU TODAY
WILL APPLY TO EVERY TYPE OF DESCRIPTION,
WHETHER IT IS READ BY A COMPUTER OR RECORDED BY A PERSON.
HERE'S AN EXAMPLE. HERE WE HAVE TWO GRAPHS.
I'LL JUST READ THE DESCRIPTION THAT'S WRITTEN HERE.
TWO GRAPHS, FOR BOTH THE Y ACCESS IS LABELED "AREA"
AND THE X ACCESS IS LABELED "SIDE OF SQUARE".
THE FIRST GRAPH SHOWS 5 POINTS PLOTTED,
0.0, 1.1, 2.4, 3.9, 4.16.
THE SECOND GRAPH SHOWS THE SAME POINTS
AND A LINE CONNECTING THE POINTS.
THE LINE BEGINS AT 0.0 AND CURVES
STEEPLY UPWARD THROUGH 4.16.
SO THAT COULD BE EITHER TEXT READ BY A COMPUTER
THROUGH TEXT TO SPEECH OR A SCREEN READER
OR IT COULD BE RECORDED AS YOU JUST HEARD IT THERE.
THERE ARE OTHER ALTERNATIVES TO IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
TWO OF THEM ARE TACTILE, WHICH MEANS SOMETHING
THAT YOU WOULD FEEL
AND THAT WOULD EITHER BE CREATED THROUGH SWELL PAPER
OR ANOTHER MEANS OF PRINTING A TACTILE IMAGE
WITH RAISED LINES.
YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW THIS WOULD BE CREATED THROUGH RAISED LINES
OR EVEN SOMETHING THAT'S DONE STILL ALL THE TIME
USING WIKI STIX OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT
TO CREATE A REAL QUICK GRAPH SORT OF ON THE FLY.
THERE'S ALSO A HAPTIC TECHNOLOGY
WHICH MEANS USING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
TO SORT OF VIRTUALLY CREATE A TACTILE EXPERIENCE.
SO YOU CAN IMAGINE HAVING A TABLET
SUCH AS AN iPAD OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHERE YOU TOUCH
AND, THROUGH THE TACTIC VIBRATIONS,
YOU WOULD FEEL AROUND ON AN IMAGE LIKE THAT
OR THERE'S EVEN SOMETHING MORE FUTURISTIC
WHICH IS YOU WOULD SLIDE YOUR HAND INTO A GLOVE
AND THEN VIRTUALLY EXPLORE A TACTILE IMAGE THAT WAY.
ALL OF THOSE TECHNOLOGIES ARE BEING DEVELOPED
AND EXPLORED RIGHT NOW.
BUT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY,
WE'RE GOING TO BE FOCUSING ON IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND THAT'S BECAUSE IMAGE DESCRIPTION CURRENTLY
IS THE MOST READILY AVAILABLE MEANS OF ACCESS FOR IMAGES
FOR LOTS OF REASONS INCLUDING THE STATE OF TECHNOLOGY
AND THE FACT THAT WE HAVE RESEARCH-BASED GUIDELINES
TO HELP US WRITE HIGH-QUALITY,
EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS.
BUT WHAT I WILL SAY, WITH ANY OF THESE ALTERNATIVES TO IMAGES,
IS THAT THE STUDENT WILL STILL NEED TO LEARN HOW TO USE THEM.
THERE WILL BE CONVENTIONS
AND THERE WILL BE STYLES OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND TACTILES AND --, FOR THAT MATTER,
THAT A STUDENT WILL HAVE TO LEARN IN ADDITION
TO THE CONTENT OF THE IMAGE.
I'LL REPEAT THAT AS WE MOVE ALONG.
I THINK IT'LL MAKE SENSE AS WE SHOW SOME EXAMPLES.
THE NEXT TWO SLIDES ARE BASIC GUIDELINES
FOR WRITING ALTERNATIVE TEXT IMAGES
IN ANY CONTEXT OR ANY DISCIPLINE.
BE A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT.
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE INFORMATION
IS THAT'S BEING CONVEYED IN THE IMAGE OR WHY IT'S THERE,
THEN YOU CAN'T WRITE VERY EFFECTIVE IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS.
SO MAKE SURE YOU ARE A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT
OR HAVE ONE CLOSE AT HAND TO WRITE EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT,
HELPFUL DESCRIPTIONS.
WRITE WELL AND TAKE CARE TO REVIEW SPELLING,
GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION.
REMEMBER THAT SOMEONE IS RELYING ON THE WORDS
THAT YOU'RE WRITING TO GAIN ACCESS
TO THE INFORMATION IN THE IMAGE
AND THE SCREEN READER WILL STUMBLE OVER SPELLING
AND GRAMMAR ERRORS
JUST AS SOMEONE WHO'S TRYING TO READ IT WILL.
MONITOR THE LENGTH,
VOCABULARY AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE OF YOUR DESCRIPTIONS
TO MINIMIZE COGNITIVE LOAD.
WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES
OF HOW THAT CAN HAPPEN VERY EASILY.
REVIEW THE IMAGE IN CONTEXT TO ENSURE THE PROPER TONE,
STRUCTURE AND VOCABULARY.
YOU COULD IMAGINE, WELL,
THOSE TWO GRAPH IMAGES BEING USED VERY DIFFERENTLY
EITHER IN A DIFFERENT DISCIPLINE OR IN A DIFFERENT GRADE LEVEL.
MAYBE A FOURTH GRADER
WOULD USE THOSE DIFFERENT IMAGES DIFFERENTLY
AS SOMEONE IN POST GRADUATE LEVEL PERHAPS.
HAVE ACCESS TO REFERENCE MATERIALS
IN CASE YOU COME ACROSS ANYTHING UNFAMILIAR,
JUST LIKE ANY WRITING EXERCISE, HAVING REFERENCE MATERIALS.
AND THE LAST BULLET REVIEWING,
HAVE THE DESCRIPTIONS REVIEWED BY SOMEONE
WHO HAS NOT SEEN THE IMAGE TO ENSURE CLARITY
AND EFFECTIVENESS.
I'LL TELL YOU THIS FROM EXPERIENCE.
SO OFTEN, WRITING DESCRIPTIONS, YOU MAY FORGET TO
OR NOT PUT THE MOST OBVIOUS VISUAL INFORMATION
INTO THE DESCRIPTION
BECAUSE IT'S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE.
HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY MISS IT?
EXCEPT IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT, YOU DO MISS IT.
THAT IS HUMAN NATURE.
IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME
AND THAT'S WHY, LIKE ANY OTHER GOOD WRITING,
IT SHOULD BE EDITED OR REVIEWED BY SOMEONE
TO MAKE SURE THAT IMPORTANT INFORMATION
HASN'T BEEN LEFT OUT BY ACCIDENT.
IT'S ALSO HELPFUL FOR SOMEONE WRITING ALT TEXT
OR IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS
TO CONSIDER THREE BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT EACH IMAGE.
THEY ARE WHY IS THE IMAGE THERE?
WHO IS THE INTENDED AUDIENCE?
AND IF THERE'S NO DESCRIPTION, WHAT WILL THE VIEWER MISS?
THOSE THREE QUESTIONS WILL HELP GUIDE
AND SHAPE YOUR IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS
SO THEY'RE AS EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE AS POSSIBLE.
NOW WE'LL MOVE INTO SOME MORE VERY SPECIFIC GUIDELINES
FOR WORKING IN STEM AND MATH ON IMAGES.
OH, BEFORE WE DO, I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION ASSESSMENTS.
WE'LL BE TALKING MAINLY ABOUT IMAGES
FOR USE IN INSTRUCTION TODAY.
BUT ASSESSMENTS, OF COURSE,
ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF ANY STUDENT'S CLASSROOM TIME
AND SCHOOL TIME.
IN FACT, ANOTHER OSEP-FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT
IS JUST WRAPPING UP, IN CAMPUS.
IT'S AN EAG AND IT'S CALLED DESCRIBING IMAGES
FOR ENHANCED ASSESSMENTS AND THERE'S THE URL.
ALL THE URLS IN THIS PRESENTATION
WILL BE AVAILABLE TO YOU
EITHER THROUGH THIS SLIDESHOW OR ON THE DIAGRAM WEBSITE.
YOU CAN READ ABOUT THE RESEARCH FINDINGS WE'VE HAD THERE.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SECTION IS QUITE EXTENSIVE
AND HAS MANY, MANY EXAMPLES OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR WRITING IMAGE DESCRIPTION
OR ALT TEXT OR ASSESSMENTS WHICH HAS, AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE,
HAVE DIFFERENT CONSIDERATIONS THAN FOR INSTRUCTION.
SO IN MY PERSONAL VAST EXPERIENCE
IN WRITING IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS,
I'VE COME UP WITH THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF IMAGES
THAT YOU MAY COME ACROSS.
I'VE CATEGORIZED THEM AS EASY, MEDIUM AND DIFFICULT.
IT MAY SOUND BASIC AND SIMPLE,
BUT IT ACTUALLY IS VERY HELPFUL TO CATEGORIZE YOUR IMAGES
WHEN, IN ANY GIVEN TEXTBOOK, YOU MIGHT HAVE ONE, TWO, THREE,
FOUR THOUSAND IMAGES
AND, IN TERMS OF WORKLOAD AND PRODUCTION PROCESS,
IT'S HELPFUL TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO
AND HOW MUCH TIME YOU MIGHT TAKE
AND HOW MUCH TIME MIGHT BE SPENT WITH EACH TYPE OF IMAGE.
THE EASIEST IMAGES,
AND WE'LL LOOK AT EXAMPLES OF EACH ONE COMING UP,
THE EASIEST IMAGES CAN BE DESCRIBED
ALMOST WITHOUT TURNING ON ONE'S BRAIN.
YOU KNOW, IN A MINUTE, COME UP WITH A QUICK DESCRIPTION.
MEDIUM IMAGES TAKE A LITTLE MORE EFFORT
AND MIGHT REQUIRE A SENTENCE OR TWO OF DESCRIPTION
OR SOME CONSIDERATION ON HOW TO APPROACH THE ALT TEXT.
THEN DIFFICULT IMAGES, AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE,
REQUIRE THE DESCRIPTION WRITER TO STOP
AND CONSIDER HOW BEST TO DESCRIBE THE IMAGE
AND ALSO, IT MAY NOT BE DIFFICULT,
BUT IT MIGHT REQUIRE THE ALT TEXT TO BE IN DATA TABLE
OR IN A LIST OR JUST REQUIRE A LOT OF DATA ENTRY
INTO THAT ALT TEXT FIELD.
SO HERE'S SOME EASY IMAGES.
I WON'T EVEN TURN ON MY BRAIN AND I'LL DESCRIBE THEM.
CLOUD, A PAIR OF DICE, A QUARTER,
AND A LINE SEGMENT AND, DEPENDING ON CONTEXT,
THAT MIGHT BE PERFECTLY ADEQUATE ALT TEXT FOR THOSE IMAGES.
THESE MEDIUM TYPE IMAGES ARE A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT,
BUT ONES IF YOU'VE LOOKED AT PLENTY OF MATH BOOKS,
THERE'S NOTHING UNIQUE ABOUT THEM.
YOU'LL SEE THEM HUNDREDS OF TIMES.
WE HAVE A SPINNER UP IN THE UPPER RIGHT
AND THEN WE HAVE A TWO-COLUMN TABLE.
WE HAVE AN ARRAY OF POLYGONS DOWN AT THE BOTTOM
AND THEN WE HAVE SORT OF A MATH DIAGRAM WITH A SUN
AND A FLAGPOLE CREATING A TRIANGLE.
WE'LL ACTUALLY WALK THROUGH THE DESCRIPTION-WRITING PROCESS
FOR THAT DIAGRAM IN A LITTLE BIT.
LET'S FOCUS ON CONTEXT FOR JUST A MINUTE.
EVERY IMAGE OCCURS NOT OUT IN SPACE ON ITS OWN,
BUT SURROUNDED BY TEXT WITHIN SOME SORT OF CONTEXT.
HERE THIS IMAGE OF BEAKERS OR BOTTLES OF LIQUID IN JARS
CLEARLY IN SOME SORT OF LABORATORY
COULD BE AN IMPORTANT IMAGE,
BUT WHEN WE READ THROUGH THE PROBLEM ON THE LEFT,
IT'S REALLY JUST SORT OF EYE CANDY, IF YOU WILL.
SO IF IT GETS ANY ALT TEXT AT ALL,
IT WOULD JUST BE VERY SIMPLE JARS ON A SHELF
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
WE'LL MOVE TO THE NEXT EXAMPLE AND THIS ONE COMES WITH A TITLE.
THIS IS AN IMAGE OF THE STATE FLAG OF COLORADO
WHICH YOU MAY THINK IS A PERFECTLY FINE ALT TEXT
FOR THIS IMAGE UNTIL YOU CONTINUE DOWN THE PAGE
AND FIND OUT THAT THERE'S ACTUALLY
A FAIRLY COMPLEX QUESTION BEING ASKED,
WHICH IS, IF WE JUMP DOWN TO THE BOTTOM,
WHAT IS THE AREA OF THE RED PORTION OF THE FLAG
TO THE NEAREST SQUARE INCH?
SO YOU NEED TO KNOW THE RELATION
OF ALL THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THIS FLAG
TO ANSWER THE QUESTION.
SO JUST THE ALT TEXT OF THIS IS THE STATE FLAG OF COLORADO
IS INSUFFICIENT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION
AND THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION HAS TO DO MUCH MORE WORK
THAN JUST. SAY, IDENTIFY THIS AS THE STATE FLAG OF COLORADO.
WE'LL WALK THROUGH THIS ONE IN JUST A MINUTE.
SO THAT MIGHT MOVE US INTO THE DIFFICULT CATEGORY
AND HERE WE ARE.
THESE ARE JUST SOME EXAMPLES OF OTHER SORTS OF DIFFICULT IMAGES.
WE HAVE SOME BIOLOGY DIAGRAMS, PIE CHARTS
AND BAR GRAPHS AND LINE GRAPHS,
AND FLOW CHARTS AND OTHER SORTS OF STEM IMAGES
THAT COULD CAUSE DESCRIBER FITS
IF THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO APPROACH
THIS TYPE OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND PROVIDE THE INFORMATION THAT'S PART OF THOSE IMAGES.
SO LUCKILY, TO HELP GUIDE US,
WE HAVE THE STEM DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES.
I'VE MENTIONED THEM A COUPLE OF TIMES ALREADY
AND THEY'RE THE RESULT
OF A FOUR-YEAR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECT
LED BY THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION OF THE BLIND AND WGBH --
AGAIN, STEM STANDS FOR SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH.
TODAY WE'RE FOCUSED MOSTLY ON MATH,
BUT ALL OF THE APPROACHES THAT WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT
COULD BE USED, YOU KNOW,
SORT OF A CROSS DISCIPLINE AND ANY SORTS OF COMPLEX IMAGES
THAT WE'LL COME ACROSS.
I'LL SORT OF DO A HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW
OF SOME OF THE GUIDELINES
BECAUSE THEY'RE APPROPRIATE FOR EVERY TYPE OF IMAGE.
BREVITY IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT
AND IT'S BECAUSE IT TAKES PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
MORE TIME TO READ BOOKS AND ARTICLES
THAN PEOPLE WITHOUT VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
BECAUSE THEY'RE USING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
AND THE EXPERIENCE JUST TAKES LONGER.
AND THE PROCESS SHOULD NOT BE FURTHER SLOWED DOWN
BY UNNECESSARILY LONG IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? HERE'S AN EXAMPLE.
HERE IS A VERY SIMPLE VENN DIAGRAM
THAT YOU MIGHT FIND PROBABILITY
AND THE WAY THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED IN THE PAST
IN SOMETHING I WOULD CALL
THE SCHOOL OF LEAVE NOTHING OUT.
I'LL READ THAT FOR YOU.
"THE FIGURE IS A VENN DIAGRAM
"THAT SHOWS TWO INTERSECTING CIRCLES
"INSIDE A LARGE RECTANGLE.
"THE CIRCLES DO NOT TOUCH THE RECTANGLE.
"THE CIRCLE ON THE LEFT
"CONTAINS THE NUMBERS ONE AND TWO.
"THE CIRCLE ON THE RIGHT
"CONTAINS THE NUMBERS FOUR AND FIVE.
"THE INTERSECTION OF THE TWO CIRCLES IS SHADED
"AND HAS THE NUMBER THREE IN THE SHADED REGION.
"OUTSIDE OF THE CIRCLES BUT STILL INSIDE THE RECTANGLE
IS THE NUMBER SIX."
SO, AGAIN, YOU COULD PROBABLY READ THAT PARAGRAPH TWICE
WITHOUT EVER SEEING IMAGERY RECREATED PERFECTLY
WITH A PENCIL ON A BLANK PIECE OF PAPER.
HOWEVER, IT'S VERY LONG, AND TALK ABOUT COGNITIVE LOAD,
YOU'D HAVE TO READ THAT PARAGRAPH MANY TIMES
JUST TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS THE PERTINENT INFORMATION
TO EITHER UNDERSTAND THE LESSON OR ANSWER THE QUESTION
TO WHATEVER THE PURPOSE OF THE DIAGRAM IN CONTEXT IS.
SO ASSUMING A STUDENT HAS FAMILIARITY
WITH THE VENN DIAGRAM, WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT CONTAINS,
THEN YOU CAN CUT TO THE CHASE
AND THAT'S WHAT WE'VE DONE DOWN AT THE BOTTOM HERE,
THE PREFERRED DESCRIPTIVE PRACTICE.
"THE VENN DIAGRAM SHOWS TWO INTERSECTING CIRCLES.
"ONE CONTAINS THE NUMBER ONE AND TWO,
"THE OTHER CIRCLE CONTAINS THE NUMBERS FOUR AND FIVE.
"THE AREA OF INTERSECTION CONTAINS THE NUMBER THREE.
NUMBER SIX IS OUTSIDE OF THE CIRCLES."
SO FOCUS ON BREVITY.
STRIVE FOR BEING AS BRIEF AS POSSIBLE
AND, TO DO THAT, IT'S HELPFUL TO FOCUS ON DATA.
AS WE'LL SEE, ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED DIAGRAMS
OFTEN CONTAIN KEY DATA THAT CAN BE MADE ACCESSIBLE
BY PRESENTING THAT DATA
SEPARATE FROM THE DESCRIPTION OF THE OVERALL IMAGE.
LET'S LOOK AT THE CARBON CYCLE.
THIS IS AN IMAGE THAT HAS A LOT GOING ON VISUALLY
AND IT INTEGRATES ILLUSTRATED CONCEPTS
SUCH AS FIELDS AND FORESTS AND FACTORIES
AND RIVERS AND OCEANS ALONG WITH IMBEDDED DATA
THROUGH THESE LABELS AND NUMBERS AND LINES
WHICH IT'S MEASURING THE MOVEMENT OF CARBON
THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE AND EVERYTHING ELSE.
SO HERE'S ONE WAY TO DESCRIBE IT IN WORDS AND PARAGRAPHS
AND ESSENTIALLY WHAT THEY'VE DONE
IS THEY'RE MOVING SORT OF AROUND THE CLOCK FACE
THROUGH THE QUADRANTS OF THE IMAGE HERE TALKING ABOUT,
FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE FOREST,
DESCRIBING THE IMAGERY OF THE FOREST
AND ALL OF THE DATA THAT'S PRESENTED THERE.
HOWEVER, A MORE EFFICIENT WAY OF PROVIDING THIS INFORMATION
IS TO GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF THE DIAGRAM
AND THEN TO SEPARATE OUT THE DATA.
IN THIS EXAMPLE, WE'VE PROVIDED IT IN TABLES
BECAUSE, IN THE END,
IT'S MOST LIKELY THAT THE STUDENT
IS GOING TO WANT TO KNOW
SOME PIECES OF SPECIFIC INFORMATION
LIKE WHAT IS THE FLUX OF CARBON
BETWEEN DEEP OCEAN AND SURFACE OCEAN
AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
THAT'S WHAT THE LABELS AND NUMBERS REALLY DO,
SO YOU NEED TO SEPARATE OUT
THE VISUAL INFORMATION FROM THE DATA
AND THAT'S WHAT WE'VE DONE HERE.
WE'VE GIVEN AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT THE IMAGE LOOKS LIKE
AND THEN CUT RIGHT TO THE CHASE HERE IN THE TABLES.
CLARITY IS IMPORTANT, OF COURSE,
BECAUSE IF THE READER NEEDS TO LISTEN
TO A DESCRIPTION SEVERAL TIMES BECAUSE IT'S POORLY WRITTEN
OR PRESENTED IN A CONFUSING MANNER,
THEN IT'S NOT ACCESSIBLE.
OKAY, REMEMBER SOMEONE IS RELYING ON THAT ALT TEXT,
THAT IMAGE DESCRIPTION,
TO KNOW WHAT INFORMATION IS BEING PROVIDED VISUALLY
IN THE IMAGE, OKAY?
SO IN ORDER TO BE CLEAR IN PRESENTING THE INFORMATION
IN YOUR IMAGE DESCRIPTION,
IT IS HELPFUL TO USE DRILL-DOWN ORGANIZATION
PRESENTING INFORMATION AND TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S LOGICAL.
SO DRILL-DOWN, IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THAT TERM,
JUST MEANS A BRIEF SUMMARY FOLLOWED BY EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
OR SPECIFIC DATA.
IT MEANS YOU DRILL DOWN TO MORE AND MORE SPECIFIC INFORMATION
WHILE YOU BEGIN WITH THE TITLE OF THE IMAGE
AND THE MOST GENERAL INFORMATION.
THAT ALLOWS SOMEONE TO START READING THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND EITHER CONTINUE FOR MORE INFORMATION
OR STOP WHEN THEY'VE READ ALL THEY WANT.
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, HERE'S A VERY SIMPLE PIE CHART
AND YOU WOULD START BY SAYING THIS FIGURE IS A PIE CHART.
THE DESCRIPTION THERE IS ON THE RIGHT.
TITLE, MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE BY WEIGHT.
READING THIS IMAGE DESCRIPTION, I MIGHT SAY, WELL,
I DON'T NEED TO KNOW ANY OF THE SPECIFICS.
I'LL CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE OR THE CHAPTER
OR WHEREVER THIS IMAGE IS FOUND.
HOWEVER, YOU MIGHT BE VERY INTERESTED IN THIS
AND WANT TO KNOW
WHAT THE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE BY WEIGHT IS
AND WHAT'S THE LARGEST PERCENTAGE.
THEN YOU WOULD SIMPLY READ DOWN AND, AS YOU'LL SEE,
THE PIE CHART HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A BULLET-POINTED LIST.
NONE OF THE COLORS OR RELATIVE SIZES OF THE PIE WEDGES
ARE INCLUDED IN HERE.
THEY'RE NOT IMPORTANT,
SIMPLY THE TITLES AND THE PERCENTAGES.
YOU'LL NOTICE THAT IT'S NICELY LAID OUT IN DESCENDING ORDER
SO THAT IT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP
OF ALL THESE DIFFERENT PERCENTAGES.
HERE WE ARE RETURNED TO OUR FLAGPOLE AND SUN TRIANGLE
AND WE'LL WALK THROUGH THIS DESCRIPTION TO SEE
HOW IT'S PRESENTED IN A LOGICAL ORDER.
DRILL DOWN IN TERMS OF HERE'S WHAT THE THING IS
AND THEN THERE'S SPECIFIC--
DEEPER AND DEEPER LEVELS OF INFORMATION,
BUT IT'S REALLY PRESENTED IN A LOGICAL ORDER
SO THAT YOU SORT OF CREATE THAT IMAGE IN YOUR MIND
OR UNDERSTAND WHAT THE INFORMATION
IS THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU READ THROUGH.
YOU MAY NEED TO READ THE IMAGE AND DESCRIPTION AGAIN
TO GET THE SPECIFICS OR TO ANSWER A SPECIFIC QUESTION,
BUT WITH ONE READING,
YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PUT TOGETHER
WHAT THE IMAGE IS AND THAT'S REALLY THE GOAL
OF HIGH-QUALITY IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
A DIAGRAM SHOWS THE SUN ABOVE A FLAGPOLE.
THE FLAGPOLE IS 25 FEET TALL.
THE FLAGPOLE AND THE GROUND FORM A RIGHT ANGLE.
FROM THE SUN, A RAY OF LIGHT CROSSES THE TOP OF THE FLAGPOLE
AND TOUCHES THE GROUND 42 FEET TO THE RIGHT OF THE FLAGPOLE.
THIS FORMS THE HYPOTENUSE OF A RIGHT TRIANGLE.
THE ANGLE BETWEEN THE TOP OF THE FLAGPOLE
AND THE SUN'S RAY IS LABELED "X".
NOW, AGAIN, JUST LIKE A TACTILE DIAGRAM OR ANYTHING THAT,
IF A STUDENT HASN'T READ AN IMAGE DESCRIPTION LIKE THIS
OR HAS HAD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TYPE OF MATH DIAGRAM,
THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION WILL NEED TO BE SCAFFOLDED
OR SUPPLEMENTED WITH, YOU KNOW,
MORE EXPERIENCE OR HELP FROM A TEACHER OR THE --
OR A PARENT OR WHOMEVER.
THIS LEVEL OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION IS NOT NECESSARILY INTUITIVE.
IT'S JUST LIKE LEARNING ANY SKILL.
IT TAKES PRACTICE AND TIME TO UNDERSTAND
HOW THIS IMAGE RELATES TO WHAT YOU'RE LEARNING IN MATH CLASS
AND THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
HOWEVER, WITH SOME EXPERIENCE OVER TIME,
THIS STYLE OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION CAN BE QUITE EFFECTIVE.
SO LET'S GO BACK TO OUR COLORADO STATE FLAG.
REMEMBER, THIS WAS A FAIRLY COMPLEX MATH PROBLEM
IN WHICH YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FIND THE AREA
OF THE RED CIRCLE
AND YOU WERE GIVEN SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE SIZES
OR THE AREA OF OTHER PARTS OF THE FLAG.
SO YOU NEED TO KNOW
HOW ALL THE ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE FLAG
RELATE TO EACH OTHER.
SO HERE'S THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
"IMAGE, THE COLORADO STATE FLAG.
"THE FLAG IS MADE UP OF THREE HORIZONTAL BANDS
"OF EQUAL HEIGHT.
"THE TOP AND BOTTOM BANDS ARE BLUE,
THE MIDDLE BAND IS WHITE IN THE CENTER OF THE FLAG."
SO WE DID THE BACKGROUND,
NOW WE'RE MOVING TO THE FOREGROUND.
"IN THE CENTER OF THE FLAG ARE TWO CONCENTRIC CIRCLES.
"THE CENTER CIRCLE IS YELLOW, THE OUTER CIRCLE IS RED.
"THE OUTER RED CIRCLE IS MISSING A PORTION ON THE RIGHT SIDE
SO THAT IT FORMS THE LETTER 'C'."
SO YOU CAN SEE HOW WE BUILT THE DESCRIPTION
FROM BACKGROUND TO FOREGROUND
TO THEN THE MOST PERTINENT INFORMATION
THAT YOU NEED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION.
I'LL JUST RAPIDLY MENTION TABLES AND LISTS.
WHENEVER YOU COME ACROSS AN IMAGE THAT IS A TABLE
OR CHARTS AND GRAPHS LIKE BAR CHARTS OR LINE GRAPHS,
THESE SHOULD BE PRESENTED AS TABLES.
THEY BEGAN AS TABLES AND SOMEONE PRESSED THE BUTTON
TO MAKE A BAR CHART OR LINE GRAPH
AND THEY'RE MOST EASILY SORT OF RETRO
OR REVERSE ENGINEERED BACK INTO TABLES.
THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO PRESENT THAT SORT OF INFORMATION
BECAUSE PROPER CODING LIKE CAPTIONS AND TABLE HEADERS
AND TABLE DATA AND OTHER SORT OF CODING LIKE THAT
PROVIDE GREAT ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION
AND ENABLES SOMEONE USING A SCREEN READER
TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE INFORMATION QUITE EASILY
AND HAVE INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO THAT INFORMATION.
OF COURSE, BRIEF SUMMARIES OR OVERVIEWS OF THE CHARTS
AND IMAGES SHOULD BE PRESENTED BEFORE THE TABLES,
PUTTING THEM IN CONTEXT.
IF IT'S A BAR CHART,
THEN YOU NEED TO SAY THAT IT'S A BAR CHART
AND YOU'RE THEN PRESENTING THE DATA IN TABLE FORM.
PROCESSES THAT ARE PRESENTED VISUALLY CAN BE CONVERTED
INTO NESTED LISTS WITH GOOD RESULTS.
AN EXAMPLE, THAT WOULD BE SORT OF A FLOW CHART
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
WE'LL JUST REVIEW ONE EXAMPLE.
HERE'S A VERY SIMPLE LINE GRAPH
WHICH, OVER TIME AS TEMPERATURE INCREASES,
THE STATE OF WATER CHANGES.
NOW THIS CAN BE PRESENTED AS A TABLE
IN WHICH SOMEONE CAN MOVE THROUGH THE TABLE
WITH THEIR SCREEN READER JUST AS VISUALLY YOUR EYE SORT OF MOVES
THROUGH THIS LINE GRAPH.
IT CAN ALSO BE PRESENTED AS A BULLET-POINTED LIST
IN CASE IT HAS TO BE READ OUT LOUD
OR SOMEONE NEEDS TO RECORD IT
IF THIS IS GOING TO BE IN SORT OF AN AUDIO SETTING
WHERE YOU HAVE A RECORDED AUDIO DESCRIPTION.
THEN YOU CAN PRESENT THE INFORMATION THAT WAY.
TABLES ARE ALSO VERY HELPFUL FOR COMPARING AND CONTRASTING
THESE VERY SIMPLE PIE CHARTS
COULD BE PRESENTED JUST AS BULLET-POINTED LISTS
OR EVEN IN A SENTENCE.
RED BLOOD CELLS CONTAIN 49% PROTEINS OR 43% LIPIDS
OR--OOPS, IT'S CUT OFF-- 8% CARBOHYDRATES.
BUT IF THIS IS SORT OF A COMPARE-CONTRAST THING,
IF YOU PUT THEM IN A TABLE,
SOMEONE WITH A SCREEN READER CAN,
AS YOU CAN SEE, MOVE LEFT TO RIGHT
OR UP AND DOWN VERY QUICKLY
FINDING THE INFORMATION AND THE RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN THOSE TWO TYPES OF CELLS VERY QUICKLY.
SO THERE'S GREAT ADVANTAGES TO DATA TABLES
WHEN YOU'RE IN A DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT.
OF COURSE, MATH IS NOT ALL ABOUT PICTURES AND IMAGES.
IT'S ALSO ABOUT NUMBERS AND EXPONENTS
AND MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS.
MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS SHOULD BE MARKED UP WITH MATHML,
OR MATH MARKUP LANGUAGE,
AND RENDERED IN A WAY THAT IS PREFERABLE
TO THE INDIVIDUAL READER,
AND I'LL EXPLAIN WHAT THAT MEANS
AS WE GO THROUGH THIS SECTION OF THE PRESENTATION.
BUT DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT.
RECENTLY, JUST LAST MONTH, THE DEPARTMENT OF ED,
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMING,
MADE A RECOMMENDATION THROUGH NIMAS.
NIMAS IS THE NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD.
NIMAS RECOMMENDS THAT MATHML SHOULD BE USED
TO IMPROVE THE ACCESSIBILITY OF MATHEMATICAL
AND SCIENTIFIC CONTENT
BECAUSE IT'S THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD
OF PROVIDING ACCESS TO MATH.
SO WHAT IS MATHML AND WHAT CAN IT DO FOR YOU?
I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE.
IF I SAY THE WORDS Z EQUALS TWO "A" PLUS B SQUARED OVER C,
YOU MAY THINK OF TWO COMPLETELY SEPARATE EQUATIONS
AND ONE OF THEM IS THE ONE
I WAS THINKING OF AND ONE OF THEM ISN'T.
IF YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT IS ON THE SCREEN HERE,
THEN YOU'RE KIND OF STUCK.
YOU DON'T NEED AMBIGUOUS MATH.
YOU NEED UNAMBIGUOUS MATH
AND THAT'S WHAT MATHML CAN PROVIDE
BECAUSE MATHML IS A MARKUP LANGUAGE
AND HERE IS A VISUAL
OF WHAT MATHML LOOKS LIKE BEHIND THE SCENES,
SO TO SPEAK, AND IT PUTS A LITTLE BIT OF CODE
AROUND EACH ELEMENT OF AN EQUATION SO THAT THE READER,
THE TTS, THE SCREEN READER
OR THE DIGITAL TALKING BOOK READER
OR WHATEVER'S COMPUTER IS ACTUALLY READING--OR A PIECE
OF SOFTWARE THAT'S ACTUALLY READING THE MATHML KNOWS
WHAT THE PURPOSE OF EACH ELEMENT OF THE EQUATION IS, OKAY?
SO LET'S LOOK AT THIS IN TERMS OF A PROCESS.
YOU HAVE AN EQUATION, YOU WRITE IT UP IN MATHML
OR CODE IT UP IN MATHML,
AND THEN YOU HAVE A VARIETY OF OUTPUTS
THAT THE STUDENT CAN USE, WHICHEVER WORKS FOR THEM BEST.
HE OUTPUTTED TO REFRESHABLE BRAILLE OR PRINT BRAILLE,
HE CAN GO OUT INTO SPOKEN MATH IN A VARIETY OF WAYS,
TWO THAT I'VE SHOWN HERE.
IT WOULD BE UNAMBIGUOUS MATH OR IN WHAT I CALL PLAIN ENGLISH.
I'M GOING TO DO THE NEXT SLIDE TO GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE
OF WHAT I MEAN BY THESE.
SO HERE WE HAVE THE MATHML OUTPUT.
WHAT YOU SEE IN THE IMAGE ON THE RIGHT
IS REFRESHABLE BRAILLE DISPLAY.
SO IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH WHAT PRINT BRAILLE IS LIKE,
THE REFRESHABLE BRAILLE DISPLAY
BASICALLY WHAT YOU SEE THE PERSON'S FINGER ON IS PINS
THAT MOVE UP AND BASICALLY CREATE A LINE OF BRAILLE.
AS THEY MOVE THEIR FINGER ALONG, THEY READ IT
AND THEN WHEN THEY'RE READY TO GO TO THE NEXT LINE,
THE PINS DROP AND THEN COME BACK UP AGAIN,
FORMING THE NEXT LINE OF BRAILLE.
SO THAT CAN BE RENDERED RIGHT OUT OF MATHML
AND YOU CAN ALSO PRINT BRAILLE
THROUGH A BRAILLE PRINTER OF MATHML.
THEN UNAMBIGUOUS MATH WOULD BE AN EXAMPLE
THAT WE SEE DOWN AT THE BOTTOM THERE.
BEFORE I READ THAT, I'LL EXPLAIN WHAT I MEAN BY THAT.
THERE IS A FORM OF PRINT BRAILLE MATH
CALLED NEMETH CODE CREATED BY DR. ABRAHAM NEMETH.
IT IS A MATH LANGUAGE FOR SPEAKING, OR IN THIS CASE,
FOR PRINTING UNAMBIGUOUS MATH EQUATIONS IN BRAILLE.
THAT MORE RECENTLY HAS BEEN PUT IN CODE AND "TRANSLATED"
INTO A SPOKEN FORM CALLED MATHSPEAK
AND IT WOULD SOUND SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
"Z EQUALS 2 TIMES THE FRACTION OPEN PARENTHESES
A PLUS B CLOSE PARENTHESES SUPERSCRIPT 2 OVER C".
AS MATH BECOMES MORE COMPLICATED,
THE CONVENTIONS USED IN MATHSPEAK OR NEMETH CODE
BECOME MORE COMPLICATED.
SO LIKE ANYTHING, IT'S A LANGUAGE
THAT YOU NEED TO LEARN TO BE ABLE TO USE.
THERE'S ALSO THE OPTION OF HAVING THE MATH
SPOKEN IN A FORM THAT I WOULD CALL JUST PLAIN ENGLISH,
WHICH IS NOT UNAMBIGUOUS.
IN FACT, IT'S THE WAY WE STARTED JUST BEFORE,
"Z EQUALS 2 A PLUS B SQUARED OVER C".
BUT IF YOU HAVE A PRINT DISABILITY
AND YOU'RE NOT NECESSARILY VISUALLY IMPAIRED,
THAT MIGHT BE THE SCAFFOLDING OR THE ASSISTANCE
YOU NEED TO ANSWER THE EQUATION.
YOU MIGHT JUST NEED THAT SUPPORT OF HEARING THE EQUATION READ
IN THAT FORMAT TO PROVIDE THE ASSISTANCE
YOU NEED TO DO YOUR WORK.
SO THAT'S WHAT MATHML DOES,
JUST LIKE A WEB PAGE THROUGH A STYLE SHEET,
AND BE PRESENTED IN A VARIETY OF FORMATS
WITHOUT ACTUALLY CHANGING THE KEY INFORMATION IN THE PAGE.
MATHML HAS THE SAME POTENTIAL.
BUT IT'S NOT AS EASY AS ALL THAT, OF COURSE.
IT'S MORE COMPLICATED.
THERE'S MANY MORE STEPS IN THE PROCESS.
WHEN YOU BEGIN WITH YOUR EQUATION,
YOU HAVE TO INPUT IT INTO-- USE A MATH EDITOR
TO ACTUALLY CREATE THE MATHML.
UNLESS YOU KNOW MATHML,
YOU NEED SOME SOFTWARE TO HELP YOU OUTPUT IT
FROM SOMETHING YOU KNOW INTO MATHML.
THAT THEN HAS TO BE INSERTED INTO A VISUAL TALKING BOOK
AND, FROM THERE, REFRESHABLE BRAILLE
OR PRINT BRAILLE CAN BE CREATED.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE IT SPOKEN,
THEN YOU NEED SOME SORT OF VISUAL TALKING BOOK READER
OR SCREEN READER,
WHICH IS A PIECE OF SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE
THAT WILL ACTUALLY READ THE MATHML IN THE WAY
THAT IS MOST HELPFUL TO YOU.
SO THERE'S MULTIPLE STEPS
AND THAT IS WHERE THE DIAGRAM CENTER TOOLS
AND RESOURCES CAN PROVIDE SOME ASSISTANCE.
SO WE'LL MOVE INTO THIS PORTION OF THE PRESENTATION.
I'LL START OFF SORT OF BACKING UP JUST A MOMENT
TO TALK ABOUT THE DIAGRAM PRODUCT MATRICES.
WHAT THE DIAGRAM CENTER HAS DONE IS REVIEWED DOZENS OF PRODUCTS
THAT ARE OUT THERE IN THE MARKETPLACE
THAT ARE INVOLVED IN EVERY PART OF DIGITAL IMAGES
FROM AUTHORING DIGITAL IMAGES TO CREATING THE BOOK
TO READING THE BOOK.
THESE PRODUCTS ARE BOTH IN THE MAINSTREAM
THAT YOU SEE DOWN THERE eBOOKS, AND IMAGE AUTHORING SOFTWARE.
eBOOKS WOULD MEAN, YOU KNOW, THE KINDLE AND THE NOOK
AND THE iPAD AND THINGS SUCH AS THAT,
AND ALSO SPECIALIZED ASSISTED TECHNOLOGY,
DIGITAL TALKING BOOK,
AUTHORING SOFTWARE, HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE,
SO THE WHOLE SPECTRUM OF DEVICES AND TOOLS
YOU WOULD USE TO CREATE IMAGES,
CREATE ELECTRONIC BOOKS AND ALSO TO READ THEM.
WE'VE STUDIED THESE THROUGH THE LENS OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION
AND MATHML SUPPORT.
YOU CAN GO RIGHT TO THOSE MATRICES
ON THAT WEB PAGE DOWN THERE, DIAGRAMCENTER.ORG/RESEARCH.HTML.
SO WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? WELL, THEY'RE ACTUALLY MATRICES.
THEY'RE A SPREADSHEET
AND YOU HAVE THE PRODUCT NAME ON THE LEFT
AND YOU CAN MOVE THROUGH ALL SORTS OF INFORMATION,
AND THE STUFF WE'RE INTERESTED IN TODAY
IS ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE.
DOES THE PRODUCT CONVEY SHORT IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS,
LONG IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS?
DOES IT DISPLAY OR READ MATHML?
DOES IT DISPLAY OR DESCRIBE SVGs?
SO CUTTING TO THE CHASE,
THE PRODUCTS THE DIAGRAM CENTER HAS FOUND
INDEED TO BE SOFTWARE THAT READS MATHML RIGHT NOW
ARE ANYDAISY FIREFOX EXTENSION, JAWS FOR WINDOWS,
READHEAR FOR THE MAC AND PC AND WINDOW-EYES.
AGAIN, YOU CAN GO TO DIAGRAMCENTER.ORG/RESEARCH.HTML
TO LOOK OVER THE FULL PRODUCT MATRICES
AND ALL THE PRODUCTS THAT WE REVIEWED. NOW POET.
I MENTIONED POET SEVERAL TIMES TODAY.
POET IS SOFTWARE, FREE AND OPEN SOURCE,
AVAILABLE THROUGH DIAGRAM
WHICH IS AN IMAGE DESCRIPTION AUTHORING TOOL OKAY.
THIS SLIDE SHOWS BASICALLY WHAT THE TOOL LOOKS LIKE
AND HOW IT WORKS.
THESE ARE THE IMAGES FROM A BOOK ON THE LEFT.
YOU CAN SEE THEY'RE SORT OF IN A LONG COLUMN THERE
AND YOU CAN CLICK ONE BUTTON OR ANOTHER
AND SEE THEM IN CONTEXT SO YOU CAN SEE
ALL THE SURROUNDING TEXT AROUND THEM
AND SEE HOW THE IMAGE WORKS INSIDE THE PAGE,
OR YOU CAN JUST ISOLATE THE IMAGE
WHEN YOU'RE READY TO WRITE YOUR DESCRIPTION.
YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE'S TWO BOXES.
ONE SAYS PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ONE SAYS NEW DESCRIPTIONS.
SO POET IS ALSO DESIGNED FOR "CROWD SOURCE" DESCRIPTIONS
OR MULTIPLE DESCRIPTIONS FOR AN IMAGE,
OR YOU MIGHT CONSIDER THEM CONSTANTLY
IMPROVING DESCRIPTIONS
IF MANY PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN THE DESCRIPTION PROCESS.
SOMEONE MIGHT WRITE THE FIRST DESCRIPTION
AND SOMEONE MIGHT COME ALONG AND REALIZE THAT,
WELL, WE CAN DO THIS BETTER
OR THERE'S A MORE APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION
FOR THIS IMAGE IN THIS CONTEXT.
SO THE GREAT THING ABOUT POET IS THAT,
IF YOU'VE EVER HAD A DIGITAL TALKING BOOK
OR AN XML DOCUMENT
THAT YOU NEED TO ADD ALT TEXT OR IMAGE DESCRIPTION TO,
YOU'RE WORKING IN THE XML CODE,
YOU'RE PROBABLY WRITING YOUR IMAGE DESCRIPTION
IN SOME SORT OF WORD PROCESSING APPLICATION,
YOU'RE CUTTING AND PASTING YOUR IMAGE DESCRIPTION
IN THE XML DOCUMENT,
IT CAN BE QUITE A HARROWING PROCESS
FRAUGHT WITH ALL KINDS OF POTENTIAL DISASTER.
WHAT POET DOES IS IT ALLOWS THE CONTENT EXPERT
WHO'S WRITING THE IMAGE DESCRIPTION
JUST TO FOCUS ON WRITING THE ALT TEXT OR THE IMAGE
AND NOT ABOUT CODING,
NOT ABOUT HOW TO PUT IT INTO THE DOCUMENT CORRECTLY.
YOU JUST PUSH A BUTTON AND IT GOES IN THERE
AND IT'S AVAILABLE TO THE READER, OKAY?
YOU CAN WATCH A GREAT DEMO ON YOUTUBE,
YOUTUBE.COM/USER/DIAGRAMC.
AGAIN, ALL THESE URLS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO YOU
AT THE DIAGRAM CENTER WEBSITE.
BUT WHAT ABOUT MATH?
WELL, A VERY EXCITING RECENT ADDITION TO POET IS MATH HELPER.
I'LL JUST WALK YOU THROUGH THIS SLIDE VERY QUICKLY.
IF YOU LOOK RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN THERE,
THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED THE EQUATION EDITOR.
USING ASCII CODE, YOU CAN WRITE THE EQUATION,
CLICK A BUTTON AND YOU'LL SEE ABOVE IT MATH HELPER
WILL INSTANTLY RENDER YOUR EQUATION IN MATHML
AND THEN THAT CAN BE DIRECTLY INSERTED
INTO THE DIGITAL TALKING BOOK
WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO LEARN MATHML
AND WITHOUT HAVING TO THEN CUT AND PASTE IT
AND PUT IT IN THE RIGHT PLACE IN THE BOOK IN THE RIGHT STYLE,
OKAY, SO THIS AUTHORING SOFTWARE
TAKES ALL OF THAT OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE PERSON
WRITING THE DESCRIPTION AND CAN REALLY ENABLE THEM
TO FOCUS ON WRITING HIGH-QUALITY IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS
AND NOT ON ALL OF THE OTHER PRODUCTION PARTS OF IT.
I WANTED TO POINT OUT ANOTHER TOOL THAT CAN BE VERY USEFUL.
THIS WAS CREATED EARLY IN THE CENTURY AT NASA
AND IT'S CALLED MATHTRAX.
AGAIN, THIS IS A FREE AVAILABLE TOOL WHICH, AMONG OTHER THINGS,
WILL VISUALLY GRAPH AS YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT
AND ALSO AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE
A WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF YOUR EQUATION.
SO HERE'S THE SIMPLE EXAMPLE OF Y EQUALS X.
IT CREATES THE GRAPH VISUALLY ON THE RIGHT
AND THEN CREATES A VERBAL DESCRIPTION RIGHT HERE.
"YOUR INPUT EQUATION IS Y EQUALS X,
"THE GRAPH OF THE EQUATION IS A LINE.
"IT RISES AT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE FROM THE LEFT TO THE RIGHT
WITH A SLOPE OF ONE."
SO SOMEONE COULD ACTUALLY JUST TAKE THAT DESCRIPTION
AND READ IT IF YOU'RE IN AN AUDIO RECORDING FORMAT
OR CUT AND PASTE IT RIGHT INTO, USING POET FOR EXAMPLE,
RIGHT INTO THE BOOK.
AND THAT WOULD BE YOUR IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
SO MATHTRAX IS DEFINITELY A REALLY GREAT RESOURCE
WITH A GREAT TOOL.
WE'VE REACHED JUST ABOUT THE END OF THE PRESENTATION
AND I HAVE QUITE A FEW RESOURCES TO SHARE WITH YOU
SO THAT YOU CAN GO FROM THIS PRESENTATION
TO CONTINUE LEARNING MORE ABOUT
HIGH-QUALITY MATH IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS
AND ALSO KNOW WHAT RESOURCES ARE OUT THERE
BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OUT THERE.
I MENTIONED THE STEM DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES.
THERE'S A LOT ABOUT MATH IN THE OTHER STEM FIELDS
AND THE TYPES OF IMAGES YOU FIND ALL THROUGH STEM
AND HOW TO APPROACH THEM IN TERMS OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION.
THAT'S THAT LONG UNWIELDY URL UP AT THE TOP.
THE DIAGRAM CENTER IS DIAGRAMCENTER.ORG.
DIAGRAM CENTER IS ON TWITTER
AND THE HANDLE IS DIAGRAM C
AND THERE'S LOTS OF GREAT INFORMATION
BEING PUT OUT THERE ON TWITTER THROUGH THE DIAGRAM CENTER.
POET WEBSITE IS
DIAGRAMCENTER.ORG /DEVELOPMENT/POET.
AND THE DAISY CONSORTIUM FOR ALL THINGS ACCESSIBLE,
DIGITAL BOOKS, ALWAYS UP TO DATE,
ALWAYS A WONDERFUL RESOURCE AND ALSO A DIAGRAM CENTER PARTNER,
JUST GO TO DAISY.ORG.
THAT MIGHT BE YOUR FIRST STOP.
OH, IT'S ACTUALLY DAISY.CONSORTIUM.
A COLLABORATOR WITH THE DIAGRAM CENTER IS THE METRIC PROJECT,
THE MATHEMATICS eTEXT RESEARCH CENTER
AND THAT'S THEIR URL RIGHT THERE.
AND IN COLLABORATION WITH METRIC ON THE LAST DAY OF JULY, 7/31,
THERE IS GOING TO BE A WEBINAR HOSTED BY SMARTER BALANCE.
IT'S ON THE SMARTER BALANCE MATHEMATICS AUDIO GUIDELINES.
THIS IS A VERY GOOD SORT OF OVERVIEW REVIEW,
SURVEY OF THE FIELD, IF YOU WILL,
OF WHAT'S BEING DONE OUT THERE
IN TERMS OF IMAGE DESCRIPTION FOR MATHEMATICS,
HOW DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS ARE DOING IT
AND ALL OF THE EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
THAT ARE OUT THERE AND AVAILABLE.
IT'S A REALLY VERY GOOD REVIEW OF A LOT, VERY IN DEPTH,
SO I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT AS A RESOURCE.
AND FOR THE CLASSIC HANDBOOK ON SPOKEN MATH,
YOU CAN LOOK UP LARRY'S SPEAKEASY.
BACK IN THE DAY,
YOU COULD ACTUALLY SEND A LETTER OUT TO AN ADDRESS
AND YOU'D GET A PRINT COPY.
RIGHT NOW IN ABOUT TWO SECONDS,
YOU CAN GET A PDF AND IT'S JUST AS EFFECTIVE.
USE YOUR SEARCH ENGINE AND LOOK UP LARRY'S SPEAKEASY
AND LOOK THROUGH THAT CLASSIC HANDBOOK FOR SPOKEN MATH,
ALWAYS HELPFUL.
THEN THERE'S THREE ORGANIZATIONS
THAT ARE REALLY IN THE FOREFRONT OF ACCESSIBLE MATHEMATICS.
DESIGN SCIENCE THAT HAS CREATED MATH TYPE,
WHICH IS A MATHEMATICS EDITOR WHICH YOU TYPE IN EQUATIONS
AND IT CAN HELP WITH MATHML AND OTHER MATH LANGUAGES.
THEN MATH PLAYER WHICH IS A FREE PLUG-IN
THAT WILL READ MATHML OUT LOUD.
THAT'S ACTUALLY HOW YOU READ MATHML WITH JAWS
IS BY USING THE MATH PLAYER PLUG-IN.
SO LOOK UP DESIGN SCIENCE AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO OFFER.
GH IS ALSO A COMPANY THAT CREATES BRAILLE,
TYPOGRAPHICS, NIMAS BOOKS OR DIGITAL TALKING BOOKS.
ALSO, AS WE SAW, IF YOU'LL REMEMBER THE VIDEO I SHOWED,
THAT WAS THEIR READER, THEIR SOFTWARE,
THEIR DIGITAL TALKING BOOK READER
THAT WAS READING THOSE DESCRIPTIONS OUT LOUD
AND ALL THAT NAVIGATION AND ALL THOSE OTHER FEATURES WE SAW,
THOSE WERE CREATED BY GH.
SO DESIGN SCIENCE AND GH ARE TWO COMPANIES
THAT ARE WORTH KEEPING ON TOP OF.
THE INFTY READER IS A VERY INTERESTING PROJECT
THAT IS BASED IN JAPAN,
BUT WITH PARTNERS HERE IN THE U.S.
AND ALSO PARTNERS THAT ARE INVOLVED IN THE DIAGRAM CENTER
THROUGH WORKING GROUPS.
THAT IS A PROJECT FOCUSED ON CREATING OCR,
OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION,
THAT WILL AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE MATHML
AND IMAGE DESCRIPTION ACTUALLY.
THAT IS THE GOAL.
SO YOU WOULD SCAN A PAGE OF MATH
AND IT WOULD COME OUT FULLY ACCESSIBLE.
SO I WOULD CONTINUE TO KEEP ON TOP OF THE INFTY READER PROJECT
AND THEY ALSO USUALLY HAVE A PRETTY UP TO DATE
LIST OF WHAT'S OUT THERE IN THE FIELD AS WELL.
SO THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME IN ACCESSIBLE MATH.
YOU KNOW, IT'S REALLY BEING PUSHED BY A LOT OF RESEARCH,
A LOT OF TECHNICAL ADVANCES.
THE DIAGRAM CENTER IS OUT THERE IN THE FOREFRONT
AND WE WANT TO BE, IF NOT A CLEARING HOUSE,
CERTAINLY A RESOURCE FOR ALL THE KNOWLEDGE,
ALL THE ADVANCEMENTS, THAT ARE OUT THERE
AND THE TOOLS THAT WE'RE PROVIDING TO THE DIAGRAM CENTER.
SO, AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR STAYING WITH US FOR THE HOUR
AND MY NAME'S BRYAN GOULD.
I'M WITH THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDIA, WGBH.
TODAY I AM REPRESENTING THE DIAGRAM CENTER
WHICH IS A DEPARTMENT OF ED,
OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM FUNDED PROJECT.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND YOU CAN EMAIL ME
OR GO TO THE DIAGRAM CENTER WEBSITE WITH QUESTIONS
OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT WE CAN HELP YOU WITH.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH. �