Developing an Accessible Online
Public Access Catalog
at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library
Charles Hamilton, Public Access Catalog Program Coordinator
Abstract: During 1993, the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL), formerly the Washington Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, undertook a project to develop an online public access catalog. Patrons can now search all titles in the collection, including old and new titles, and titles produced locally. Access is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. From the comfort of their homes and at their leisure, patrons can use their personal computers with adaptive output devices to look at all titles by an author or within a particular subject area, or search for a specific title, and then request specific books, or leave other messages for the staff. WTBBL staff members process these requests the next working day, thus bypassing the delay in receiving mail requests. In addition, agencies such as public libraries have access to this online catalog, which enables them to enhance the service currently offered to members of their community.
Department of Chemistry and Science
Institute for the Disabled
East Carolina University
Gre enville, NC
Abstract: Much assistive technology for people with disabilities has been developed in the last ten years or so, but the developers of such technology usually quit as soon as they have provided access to computers. But to chemists, physicists, and engineers, that seems to be only half the job: computers are great laboratory tools, and if you connect a suitably adapted computer to instruments and sensors in a laboratory and provide it with suitable data acquisition and data analysis software, you have a great way to make careers in science and engineering more accessible to people with disabilities.
Book Review: The CD-ROM Advantage for Blind
Users
Diane Croft, Deborah Kendrick and Albe rt Gayzagian
National Braille Press
Ann Parsons
Abstract: "Why should a blind person care about CD-ROMs?" "What equipment do you need to use CD-ROM?" "Are drives expensive, and where do I buy them?" These questions and many more are answered clearly and concisely by The National Braille Press' new reference guide, The CD-ROM Advantage For Blind Users. This handy, one volume, starter manual, presents information about a new and fascinating technology. The pamphlet is meant for blind computer users who just beginning to learn about the enormous advantages of purchasing and using CD-ROM discs.
Call for Participation:
Workshop on Developing AI Applications for the Disabled
held i n conjunction with
The 14th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Abstract: Although there is interest in applying AI techniques to systems
that assist disabled people, the area is not yet a well-defined field of application.
We expect many of our discussions to be exploratory, and will focus on the
following points in particular:
1. Description of AI techniques or methods that have proven useful in designing
applications for the disabled.
2. Characterization of applications in which AI techniques are likely to be
of significant use.
3. Analyses of novel interfaces that can be used by the disabled.
4. Empirical studies of successes or failures, documenting the effect of AI
techniques in designing applications.
5. The applicability of already established work in other related areas (such
as robotics, computational linguistics, speech generation, etc) to such applications.
Departments
Job Accomodations
Joe Lazzaro, Department Editor
K-12 Education
Bob Zenhausern, Department Editor
Online Information and Networking
Steve Noble, Department Editor
Campus Computing
Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Ph.D., Department Editor
Integrating Hypermedia and Assistive
Technology: An Overview of Possibilities
Dr. Bob Perkins
University of Charleston, SC
Abstract: One of the most useful technologies associated with microcomputers for teachers and caregivers for individuals with disabilities is hypermedia programs. Hypermedia programs allow individuals who do not know how to program a computer using a programming language to create computer software. With a minimum of training, hypermedia programs can be used to create very individualized software. This gives teachers and caregivers the capability to create computer programs such as Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) that will teach the specific objectives that are needed for their classroom. Hypermedia programs can also be used with assistive technologies to compensate for some disabilities. This paper will focus on the possible interaction between hypermedia and assistive input devices. Speech synthesis and hypermedia will also be explored.
Computer-Assisted Learning and Language-Impaired
Children
Dr. Robert Ward
University of Huddersfield
Huddersfield HD1 3DH U.K.
Abstract: This paper first reviews research begun in the 1980s into computer-based remediation for language-impaired children who have difficulties with multiple-word language. The paper then goes on to consider how this work might progress in future. Software was developed to investigate the proposal that computer programs which hold written conversations with their users can be effective in language teaching and remediation. The software is described and studies of the software in use are summarised. Although the software attracted interest at the time and although the studies suggested that the technique could be useful in language remediation, the software never became widely used. Looking back from today's perspective we consider the reasons for this and relate the software to wider issues and trends in computer-based learning (CBL). It is suggested that the approach was never taken up because the software did not fit with how CBL came to be used in schools. This leads to a discussion of how software that simulates written conversation might now progress using today's technology.
Audio Description--Seeing Theater
with Your Ears
John Miers, National Institute of Mental Health
JMIERS@AOAMH3.SSW.DHHS.GOV
Abstract: Audio Description is a narration service that offers live commentary and narration for patrons at participating theaters throughout the Washington, DC area, one of a handful of areas in the country where audio description is provided. People desiring this service reserve headphones attached to small receivers, about the size of a cigarette pack. An audio describer narrates the performance from another part of the theater via a radio or infra-red transmitter. The narrator guides the audience through the production with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs.
Abstract: ICADD was formed following a panel presentation at the World Congress on Technology in December 1991. Delegates recognized the need to develop and promote standards, so that accessible materials could be produced through automated means as a supplement to existing information creation processes.
What is the Internet Public Library,
and Why Should I Care?
Sara Ryan
Abstract:
"the Internet Library itself exists to:
provide services and information which enhance the value of the Internet to its ever-expanding and varied community of users
work to broaden, diversify, and educate that community
communicate its creators' vision of the unique roles of library
culture and traditions on the Internet.
Departments
Job Accomodations
Joe Lazzaro, Department Editor
Online Information and Networking
Steve Noble, Department Editor
Campus Computing
Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Ph.D., Department Editor
Technological Access and the Law
L. Scott Lissner
Abstract: Beginning with an overview of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, this survey identifies the legal issues surrounding equal access to computing facilities on college campuses.
Abstract: Is it possible to establish objective performance standards to assess a computer system's ability to provide access to graphics-based applications for people who are blind? This was one of the main issues debated at the Access to GUIs conference held in Menlo Park, California, in May of this year. The focus of the conference was access to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) by people who are blind or visually impaired. Sponsored by the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Stanford University's Project Archimedes, and Sensory Access Foundation, the three day series of meetings was attended by vendors of access equipment as well as representatives from universities and corporations. This report discusses the action taken by the Center for Information Technology Accommodations in the area of testing the accessibility of computer systems purchased by the U.S. government.
Maintaining Lynx to the Internet
for People with Disabilities:
A Call to Action
Richard Seltzer
Abstract: The trend toward graphical user interfaces, and graphical information in general, has been perceived as threatening to the continued independence of blind and visually impaired computer users. This article identifies the primary obstacles and their possible solutions -- in particular, the importance of the text- based WWW tool, Lynx.
Departments
Job Accomodations
Joe Lazzaro, Department Editor
Online Information and Networking
Steve Noble, Department Editor
Introduction:
Information Technology and Access to Libraries: A Special Issue
Tom McNulty, Editor-in-Chief, ITD
Abstract: The rapid refinement of adaptive technology over the last decade or so has probably generated more questions than it has provided answers vis a vis access to libraries and their collections and services. With this in mind, earlier in the year the editorial board of the quarterly electronic journal _Information Technology and Disabilities_ decided to devote an entire issue to library access; we're pleased to announce that this issue will also appear in print in the near future as a special issue of _Library Hi Tech_. Our initial call for articles, sent out electronically to most of the major discussion groups in the areas of education and rehabilitation as well as librarianship, generated a great deal of interest, and the articles which follow represent the best of those submitted. Not surprisingly, many of the articles submitted for inclusion in this special issue focus on information technology in general, and access to Internet-based resources in particular, and the arrangement of articles reflects this trend.
Enhancing Library Service for
Patrons with Disabilities Through
Staff Sensitivity Training and Specialized Bibliographic Instruction
Marilyn Graubart
Abstract: The staff sensitivity training program began in the Fall of 1994 with the presentation of workshops for all full time staff of the Miller Nichols Library. UMKC's Counseling Center staff conducted the workshops. The two reference librarians directing the diversity grant had an initial meeting with the director and assistant director of the Counseling Center in July, 1994, and discussed three factors: (1) the goals they wished to accomplish through training; (2) the primary areas in the library where staff and patrons had personal contact; and (3) the number of sessions and the number of people who would take part in the training. Additional goals, besides increasing sensitivity and awareness among library personnel towards differences and similarities of people from a variety of cultures and with varying levels of ability, were to create an image that the library is a helpful place sensitive to these differences, and to provide full time staff with the skills which would enable them to impart what was learned during training to part time staff (including student assistants) not included in the training.
The AD-A-P-T-A-B-L-E Approach:
Planning Accessible Libraries
Alan Cantor
Abstract: On the road to making libraries more accessible to people with disabilities, librarians often get stuck in technological mud. The choices are overwhelming, and many librarians feel they lack the technical expertise to select appropriate equipment. They have many questions about assistive technologies (AT): Should we buy a monochrome or colour CCTV (Close Circuit Television)? Which scanner works best? Can scanning software be used independently by someone who relies on synthesized speech output? How much RAM (Random Access Memory) and how large a hard drive are needed to run assistive technologies? What size monitor is optimal for for screen enlargement software? Is the screen enlargement program compatible with the voice output program? Do we need a Braille printer? a refreshable Braille display? a personal transmitter/receiver system? If yes, FM or infrared? And what about a voice recognition system?
The Rise of the Graphical User
Interface
Alistair D. N. Edwards
Abstract: One of the most important developments in information technology over the past ten years or so - quite apart from the massive improvements in hardware technology - has been the graphical user interface (GUI). For most people it has been a positive innovation, but for some - particularly those who are blind or visually impaired - it has been a rising threat as a barrier to the technology. Now that such interfaces have matured and become the norm, adaptations have been developed and perhaps that threat is not as bad as it was once feared to be. This paper describes the development of the GUI, why it is so significant and discusses whether it has been "tamed" with respect to use by people with visual disabilities.
Universal Access and the ADA:
A Disability Access Design Specification for the New UCLA Library On-line Information
System
Daniel HiltonChalfen, Ph.D. and Sharon E. Farb
Abstract: This article provides: (1) a brief discussion of the barriers traditionally faced by people with disabilities in accessing library collections, materials and services, (2) ADA compliance requirements for libraries, (3) an overview of the importance of adaptive computing technology in making library information accessible, and (4) a disability access design specification for the new UCLA library on-line information system, with the flexibility needed to adapt to a library's changing needs in providing universal information access. The specification includes extensive references for system design guidelines.
Access to Library Internet Services
for Patrons with Disabilities:
Pragmatic Consideration for Developers
Courtney Deines-Jones
Abstract: When libraries offer patron access to the Internet and other on-line services, they must consider the needs of patrons with disabilities who will be using their Internet links either from the library or from remote sites. In planning and implementing technological improvements to optimize access for all patrons, librarians and information specialists must allow for both physical and intellectual access to electronic information. This paper addresses these issues from a pragmatic perspective, reviews available options and suggests strategies for improving access for people with various disabilities.
Levelling the Road Ahead:
Guidelines for the Creation of WWW Pages Accessible to Blind and Visually Handicapped
Users
Judith M. Dixon, Ph.D.
Abstract: Traditionally, it has been the role of the librarian to locate, select, organize, and disseminate information resources. With the advent of online services, this role is now being extended to include providing information about electronic resources in addition to those in print. For blind and visually handicapped computer users, the availability of electronic information has presented an even greater opportunity than it has for those who are able to read printed material. Prior to this, only a very limited amount of reading material had been available in an accessible format. In fact, texts, such as large reference works, have never been accessible to visually impaired users. For this reason, blind people are finding the burgeoning online services of numerous public and specialized libraries to be of great interest. Librarians should expect a growing number of people who have heretofore not been part of their library's patron population to avail themselves of the library's online offerings.
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic:
The Development of an Internet Accessible Online Catalog
Steve Noble
Abstract: Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (formerly Recording for the Blind) has been providing audio recordings of educational texts since its founding in 1948. RFB&D's master tape library currently contains over 80,000 volumes, making it the largest resource of its kind in the world. Beginning in 1992, RFB&D initiated a project to develop an online public access catalog that would allow both institutional providers and individual borrowers to search its holdings and order recorded texts via the Internet. Also in 1993, a coordinated pilot project was begun to allow a limited test group of institutional sites and individuals the ability to use the catalog ordering mechanism in an effort to gather structured feedback on the usefulness of the system and suggestions for improvements. Although the project cannot be considered an overwhelming success, much insight has been gained as a result of our efforts and will be of considerable value in the development of a future improved version of RFB&D's online public access catalog.