July 8, 2008
I.B.M. Software Enhances Web Accessibility for the Blind
By MARTYN WILLIAMS, IDG News Service\Tokyo Bureau, IDG
IBM launched on Tuesday an application that seeks to harness the
power and time of Internet users around the globe to make the Web
more accessible to the visually impaired.
Many blind or partially sighted users run screen reading software
that describes the content of a Web page but often encounter
problems. The screen readers rely on text or descriptive tags to
explain the items on a page but these are often added as an after
thought or are incomplete.
Using the new IBM software users can report these problems to a
central database and ask for additional descriptive text to be added
to a site. Other Internet users that want to contribute can then
check the database, select one of the submitted problems and "start
fixing it" by added text labels. The additional information isn't
incorporated into the original site's HTML code but into a metadata
file that is loaded each time a visually impaired user subsequently
visits the site.
"This idea came from my own experience with inaccessible Web sites,"
said Chieko Asakawa, a researcher at IBM in Tokyo who led a
six-person team on development of the software. Asakawa is blind
herself so knows well the problems of navigating the Web and its
increasing rich multimedia pages.
"As users we face a lot of problems everyday but currently we don't
have any mechanism to report what we have found. Every day we find
images without alternative text (the text description of an image
that usually accompanies it in the HTML code) but there is no way for
me to say 'I want to have a description for this image.' It's a
simple motivation but if we can report this kind of problem without
difficulty and have it easily understood by sighted people I think
it's going to be great."
IBM began offering the software from Tuesday as a beta release
through its AlphaWorks Web site.
The software for blind or partially sighted users runs with Internet
Explorer and the "Jaws" screen reader while the software for
supporters of the project is available as a plug-in for Firefox. It
runs in English or Japanese.
Demonstrating the system, Asakawa typed in the address for the White
House Web site and soon found problems. While the site appears to
have been designed with accessibility in mind, the headings at the
top of the three main columns had no data attached that would allow
her screen-reading software to make sense of what they were.
A couple of key presses brought up a box into which Asakawa typed her
request for headings, which was then entered into the database. Upon
finding the request, a user could enter the desired headings quickly
and, later when checked again, the navigation was made a little
easier with the additional metadata.
Looking ahead, Asakawa said she hopes the project will be expanded to
help users with other disabilities including those who are deaf, hard
of hearing or have motor disabilities.
"We started from a small group but to make this project successful
and to make information accessible we really need to collaborate with
the community," she said. "Our goal is to expand the applicability of
this project."
Copyright 2008 IDG News Service. All Rights Reserved.
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