I thought some of you might be very interested in the following:
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From NASA, a Web Search Tool for the Blind
"Illiad" can grab text -- and even some graphics -- and deliver it
via
e-mail to visually impaired surfers THREE MONTHS LATER. --
When we think of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration
(NASA),
most of us envision U.S. astronauts landing on the moon, the Hubble
Telescope, or robots scouring the surface of Mars. All the work of
great
scientists who have dared to boldly go where no man (or woman, for
that
- matter) has gone before.
It may surprise you to know that, as part of NASA's decades-long
mission to discover commercial applications for its space-related
technology, the agency also develops assistive technology products. Take
the "Iliad," a navigational tool on the Information Superhighway. An
acronym for Internet Library Information Access Device, Iliad is a
powerful NASA browser that can retrieve text-based information quickly
off the Internet.
It was originally developed as a classroom aid for teachers -- who
are among NASA's biggest consumers of information about the space
program. Many teachers have limited computer access, so they needed a
simple, time- saving way to quickly search the Web. But NASA soon
realized that Iliad had more than one audience. Just so happens its
text-based e-mail interface is ideally suited for Internet users who are
either blind or visually impaired. That's because blind and visually
impaired Web surfers much prefer using text-based e-mail search tools
over graphical Web browsers (see BW Online, 8/25/99, "A Browser That
Reveals the Web to theBlind").
FOR SEEING EYES ONLY. Internet accessibility has been an issue for
blind and visually impaired users ever since the Net took off a decade
ago. Early on, all software primarily ran in text-mode under MS-DOS.
Blind users could access information using DOS-based screen readers and
e-mail programs. But as computers and software technology expanded to
reading graphical material, text-based software became almost obsolete. To
add to this problem, Web designers rarely, if at all, include
accessibility features when designing sites.
It's not just that blind people can't see the graphs and charts.
Problem is, information in charts and graphs can't be read as text by
most browsers. That's where the Iliad system comes in. Not only does it
search out text-based information on the Web but it can also strip the
coding from some graphical material and present the information in a
text-based format. Then blind and visually impaired cyber-surfers can use
computer- voice programs to have the data read to them by their
computers, or magnify the text to read via enlargement programs. They can
also printout the information in braille.
Robert Shelton, a blind computer scientist, was one of the members
of the NASA team that developed Illiad in 1995 at the Johnson Space
Center in Houston. "When I took over the project, I was new to the
Internet. Iliad has opened up the Internet as a resource for me," Shelton
says. He usesIliad, as do other members of his team, when he needs to do
Web searches.
QUICK TURNAROUND. Iliad was designed to be quick and extremely easy
to use. Blind or visually impaired users send an e-mail message to the
Iliad home address and type in the search request using keywords. The
program allows users to send keyword queries to multiple search engines on
the Web. The program screens out highly graphical and duplicate documents,
performs searches off-line, and has search results e-mailed as full-text
documents, all in a quick turnaround time -- usually 15 to 30 minutes.
Specialized options include sending keywords to a single Web search
engine, receiving search results with embedded hyperlinks or as an HTML
document, and retrieving documents from a specific Web address. Of
course, the receiver must then have the means either to magnify the text,
have it printed in braille, or have it read. Fortunately, most computers
today come equipped with zoom-text features. And text-to-speech software
can be purchased for only a few hundred dollars. Most Iliad users receive
the results of their searchers as individual text documents in
theire-mail.
The project is sponsored by NASA's Performance Computing &
Communications Program education effort, the Learning Technologies
Project. A few years ago, NASA's Technology Transfer Office at Stennis
Space Center in South Mississippi upgraded the accessibility of Iliad to
the blind audience, with the help of the Rehabilitation Research &
Training Center on Blindness & Low Vision at Mississippi State
University.
MINIMAL REQUIREMENTS. "Computer users who are blind or severely
visually impaired realize that cyberspace is jammed with exciting
information," says Brenda Cavenaugh, research scientist at Mississippi
State.
"Unfortunately, the vastness and highly graphical nature of its
resources often make it difficult to locate specific topics. With Iliad,
you can search the Web without having to use a graphical browser, such
asMicrosoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator."
The Iliad Web site is located on the campus of the University of
Texas in Austin, and at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The
AmericanFoundation for the Blind in New York is exploring the possibility
of hosting Iliad on its server as a permanent home. Since becoming
operational in spring 1998, the Iliad site has had more than 10,000
visits, with the NASA site averaging approximately 1,000 search requests
each month.
There's no charge and hardly any minimum hardware requirements to
use Iliad. All you need is a computer (even an antique pre-Commodore
8088 will do), a modem of any speed, and an Internet service provider to
access the site. Iliad is also accessible from a mobile phone.
To receive instructions on using Iliad, send an e-mail message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED],
or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Leave the subject line blank, and type "start iliad" (without the
quotes) in the body of the message. You'll get an e-mail back that will
walk you through your first session.
The End
Richard Hutcheson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
