Mario Batusic

UMA: a system for universal mathematics accessibility

We describe the UMA system, a system developed under a multi-institution collaboration for making mathematics universally accessible. The UMA system includes translators that freely inter-convert mathematical documents transcribed in formats used by unsighted individual (Nemeth, Marburg) to those used by sighted individuals (LaTeX, Math-ML, OpenMath) and vice versa. The UMA system also includes notation-independent tools for aural navigation of mathematics. In this paper, we give an overview of the UMA system and the techniques used for realizing it.

A software model to support collaborative mathematical work between braille and sighted users

In this paper we describe a software model that we have developed within the framework of the MaWEn project (Mathematical Working Environment). Based on the MathML standard, this model enables collaboration between sighted people and users of Braille. It allows for synchronisation of Braille and graphical views of scientific contents as well as offering improved navigational functions for Braille users, in both reading and editing modes. The UMCL (Universal Maths Conversion Library) is used to support various national Braille Mathematical notations. After presenting the model, its implementation in MaWEn prototypes is described.

Mathematical Working Environment for the Blind Motivation and Basic Ideas

The past three decades saw considerable progress in access to information for the group of blind and visually impaired people: Thanks to modern information technology in the mainstream and to very specialized adaptive and assistive technologies, blind and visually impaired people are now able to deal independently and efficiently with almost every piece of information that is composed of pure text. Despite current strong trends towards graphical presentation, text still covers the majority of relevant contents for private and professional life, such that information access for the target group is currently accomplished to a very large extent. Despite intensive research efforts carried out over the last years, blind and visually impaired people are still excluded from an efficient usage and handling of graphical contents. Since Mathematics is presented in a highly graphical way most of the time, this exclusion implies considerable restrictions in access to Mathematics, too. Although “accessibility” is put in place, “usability” and especially support functionalities in “doing” mathematics are very low. This paper analyses the major issues, outlines the existing approaches to a possible solution and describes the current activities at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, institute “integriert studieren” (Austria) towards a comprehensive software answer to this problem.

Supporting blind students in navigation and manipulation of mathematical expressions: basic requirements and strategies

In [10], the problems faced by a blind or visually impaired student in doing Mathematics were analyzed, and the basic ideas of a MAWEN (Mathematical Working Environment), a software solution to help overcome these pressing difficulties, were described. The present paper builds upon the latter one, refining the ideas sketched there. After a thorough description of the state of the art, we present some general considerations on the problems met by a blind pupil when navigating within mathematical expressions and when doing calculations. Finally, through several case studies taken from mainstream school books, strategies to provide computer aided support to overcome the problems are outlined.

Preparing Tactile Graphics for Traditional Braille Printers with BrlGraphEditor

This poster presents a new WYSIWYG editor for tactile graphics developed by Franz Urban in the framework of his diploma theses in computer sciences at the institute i3s3, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria.The editor is designed as a research tool for investigating an appropriate production technique for the paper printed tactile graphics.

MathInBraille online converter

MathInBraille offers an online portal for converting mathematical formulae and e-Documents with mathematical content into Braille and spoken formats. MathInBraille provides an open conversion service, which can be used for free by anybody what should help to increase access, use and availability of math content for blind people.

Joint Study Programme on Accessible Web Design

This paper presents an international study programme on accessible web design which is under development in the framework of an EU --- Erasmus Project. The paper will discuss the strong need for a Europe-wide academic training programme on accessible web design, the curriculum, the teaching and eLearning tools, the accreditation and the additional benefit of the programme.

Web_Access: education on accessible web design

This paper presents the international study programme on accessible web design which has been developed by a multinational partnership in the framework of an EU - Erasmus Project. The paper will outline specific results and findings of the project, the curriculum and contents of the study programme, teaching and eLearning tools, the realisation and the additional benefit of the programme.

Improving the accessibility of Fabasoft Folio by means of WAI-ARIA

A lot of web applications already use AJAX to give the user the feeling of a desktop application. To make these applications more accessible for people with disabilities, the code can be enriched with WAI-ARIA roles, states and properties. This paper presents a practical case study, where an AJAX-based web application - Fabasoft Folio - has been evaluated and a solution through WAI-ARIA enrichment has been proposed and will be implemented for different widgets used in the application.

Postgraduate Course on Accessible Web Design

Due to the successful endeavour of raising awareness towards accessibility in the last years, there is a high and increasing demand towards knowledge in this field. The path from theory towards practice should be supported by an easy access to knowledge in this field. This short paper reports on the work in a project which will try to close the gap between theory and practice in a specific field of accessibility: accessible web design. The organisational framework, the modularised curriculum, the planned content as well as the e-Learning system that will be adapted to fit the project’s requirements will be presented. As an open platform the project invites to benefit from the content as well as it invites for contributions.