1. DIAGRAM Center &
Developments in Math
Accessibility
CSUN, San Diego – March 1, 2013

2. DIAGRAM Center
●
Make it easier, faster, and cheaper to create and use
accessible
– Tools
– Standards
– Research & Training
– Strong community of content and technology creators and users
●
5-year Research & Development Center funded by the
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP)
●
Awarded to Benetech along with partners:
– The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible
Media (NCAM) at WGBH
– U.S. Fund for DAISY
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3. ● STEM Image Accessibility is Challenging
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4. What We’ve Done So Far
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Tools:
– Poet: A Web based Tool for Creating Image Descriptions
– Image Accessibility Coverage Checker for DAISY Books
– Tobi integration: DAISY tool for multi-media production
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Standards:
– DIAGRAM Content Model: data model for providing image
metadata, including accessible alternatives
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Research and Training:
– Training webinars, product evaluations, surveys
– http://diagramcenter.org
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5. DIAGRAM and Math
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Improving access to math is among our goals
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Community with strong math expertise
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DIAGRAM Math Working Group
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Exploring some core math challenges. . .
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6. Math Accessibility Challenge #1
Mathematical expressions
are often presented as
images in textbooks.
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7. The Case for MathML
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Normalized, unambiguous expressions that can be
rendered or transformed in many different ways
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Standard gaining traction globally
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NIMAS recommends:
...MathML be used to improve the accessibility of mathematical and scientific content
in core instructional materials ...as the most effective method of providing accessible
print instructional materials involving mathematical and scientific content to
students who are blind or who have print disabilities.
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8. Math Accessibility Challenge #2
MathML can be difficult and
expensive to tag.
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9. Poet Image Description Tool
●
Open source, web-based tool for adding image
descriptions to eBooks (DAISY)
●
For use by authors, publishers, accessibility providers
●
Designed to:
– Quickly identify all images in an eBook
– Allow tagging of “essential” images
– Create and edit descriptions by multiple authors
– Moderate and approve descriptions
– Enable crowd-sourcing
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10. Math Helper in Poet Tool
Converts ascii math input into MathML
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11. Math Accessibility Challenge #3
Math diagrams, graphs, and
other related images can also
benefit from multi-modal
accessibility.
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12. In Beta: Web MathTrax
●
Web-based version of NASA’s MathTrax graphing
calculator
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Select a shape or equation, input parameters and receive
back
– Automated text description of resulting graph (developed with
experts)
– SVG of resulting graph to facilitate tactile production
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Gives content creators accessible images for common
graphs
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Pilot targets automated text descriptions for first year
algebra
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13. Web Math Trax
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14. Math Accessibility Challenge #4
It’s difficult to author math in
an accessible manner (e.g.,
how to show work for an
online course)?
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15. WAVES
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DIAGRAM subcontract with gh, LLC to tackle this issue
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Dave Schleppenbach will cover in his talk
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16. Math Accessibility Challenge #5
Even with underlying MathML,
math can be difficult to render
effectively and to navigate.
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17. Voicing MathML via MathJax
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Experimental only
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Leveraging MathJax makes it available to more users
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Benetech project via Google Summer of Code
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Project uncovered lots challenges
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Demo available at http://benetech.github.com/mathjax/
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18. Math Accessibility Challenge #6
Training and research is
required to help educators,
publishers and others create
effective accessible math.
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19. DIAGRAM Training and Research in Math
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DIAGRAM webinars:
http://www.diagramcenter.org/standards-andpractices/training.html
– “I’m using it TODAY to get math instructors excited about
accessibility resources and creating lab manuals as accessible
eBooks!”
●
MathML support chart in DIAGRAM Product Matrices:
http://diagramcenter.org/research/product-matricescomplete.html
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Collaboration with MeTRC to study effectiveness of math
description
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20. Other Emerging Math Tools from the DIAGRAM
Community
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LEAN Math (John Gardner, ViewPlus)
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Stanford SCRIBE (Sean Keegan, Stanford)
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Voicing MathML
– iBooks Author and VoiceOver on iPad
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21. For More Information
JOIN THE COMMUNITY AND THE
CONVERSATION!
●http://diagramcenter.org
●http://benetech.org
Anh Bui
Director of Product Strategy and the DIAGRAM Center
Benetech
anhb@benetech.org
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