Accessing information from a different point of view

1. Accessing information from a different point of view Giovanni Ciaffoni – Giovanni Cellucci C.I.S.A.D.Centro Informatico Sperimentazione Ausili Didattici c/o Istituto dei ciechi “Francesco Cavazza” Via Castiglione, 71 - 40124 Bologna e-mail: ciaffoni@cavazza.it - cellucci@cavazza.it

2. Typical ways of writing and reading for blind people • Tablet and punch • Braille typewriter • Books in braille

3. Typical ways of writing and reading for partially sighted people • Exercise book with rules and squares in relief • Proper tools for writing (felt-tip pen) • Textbooks written using enlarged fonts

4. Hardware and software aids for blind people Input • A teaching methodology could consider the use of an electronic braille keyboard (e.g. BREAK) • Normal (-ly excellent!) use of a QWERTY keyboard. “A good typist is a blind one”

5. Hardware and software aids for blind people Preliminary remark • Typical braille character: 26=64 possible schemes (characters) • Computer braille character 28=256 possible schemes (characters) Braille code  Binary code Braille character  Byte Braille dot  bit

6. Hardware and software aids for blind people Output BRAILLE DISPLAY • Connected to the pc it works as a monitor in braille and gives the blind person an easy way to access the information, except for pictures. It shows a small portion of the screen. • It is composed of a row of eight dots piezoelectric characters (normally 40). • Each character is written and erased million of times thanks to the peculiar electronic components which provide a rapid, soundless and efficient movement.

7. Hardware and software aids for blind people Output Vocal synthesizer • Analogous to the braille display. • It makes the interaction between the blind person and the computer easier. Without moving the hands the blind can read and have an immediate feedback when writing.

8. Hardware and software aids for blind people Output SCREEN READER • The “screen reader” must go through the graphic and textual components of the software and try to translate everything in a comprehensible form for the braille display or the speech. • It works using the graphic card information. • Speech synthesizer and braille display are coordinated by the screen reader and are able to work together on a same machine in order to give the blind the most of the information available. Screen reader and braille display and/or speech synthesizer constitute the screen for a blind person.

9. Hardware and software aids for blind people Input/output SCANNER AND OCR • Every input/output device can be handled by a blind person using the screen reader. The scanner is one of the most important devices for a blind person. • Using a scanner and an OCR (Optical character Recognition) program, a blind person can get all the information available in a textual format unless it is handwritten.

10. Hardware and software aids for blind people Output BRAILLE EMBOSSER AND DEDICATED SOFTWARE • Any digital information can be printed. A text, can be printed, using specific commands, through a braille embosser, on a board, getting as a result braille text in high-relief. • A conversion must be carried out, in order to obtain six dots braille from the digital text, which normally would lead to eight dots braille.

11. Aids for partially sighted people Hardware screen magnifier They’re system made up of a video camera which sends the signal directly to a screen. • Fixed devices; • Portable devices; • That can be connected to a tv or computer screen; • Hardware mounted on glasses.

12. Aids for partially sighted people Software screen magnifiers • They let the user enlarge the screen content, application windows, menus, etc. from 2 up to 16 times their normal size and can follow the movements of the mouse. • They normally provide a speech syntesis too. • They can highlight words and sentences when reading.

13. Aids for dyslexic people Software programs which help people who have difficulties in reading and writing. Main peculiarities: • Predective text; • Speech synthesizer with phonetic spelling; • Virtual keyboard; • Pictures in sentences Anastasis - Bologna

14. Digital books • Writer work • Publisher work • Digital version (e.g.: PDF) and printed publication

15. PDF Accessibility • Totally inaccessible (graphic); • Totally inaccessible (textual but use of non common fonts); • Accessible but blocks of text ordered in a non logic sequence; • Totally accessible. A quick demonstration is following

16. Scientific books • Main problem: • Translation of the formulas from a bidimensional form to a linear form Latex? XML(MathML)?