Thanks, Richard for that wonderful clue about Iliad. It's command structure
takes a little getting use to, and it's results are baffling sometimes, but
I think this is a real find.
This one could even be used by someone who doesn't have internet access, but
who has access to e-mail.
Thanks, again.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Hutcheson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Jaws Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 1999 2:38 PM
Subject: easy search with Iliad
: I thought some of you might be very interested in the following:
: ***
: 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]
:
:
: -
: Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
:
-
Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
