[accessibleimage] UW works to open graphics to blind

Hi,
Link and article text.
Regards,
Lisa

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/02/14/b3.wa.research.0214.html

  February 14, 2005

UW works to open graphics to blind

 By Donna Blankinship
The Associated Press
                     
SEATTLE - Students with the brains for science,  computers
and engineering also need the eyes for those fields. 

 Technical careers are largely inaccessible to the blind,
according to researchers on the
University of Washington's Tactile Graphics Project,
which grapples with the problem of translating the
complex graphics used to teach technical subjects for
people who read  with their hands. 

 Sangyun Hahn, the University of Washington's first blind
doctoral
 candidate in computer science, said a lot
of volunteers helped him
 ``see'' his textbooks by verbally
describing the illustrations, which he
 then tried to reproduce in his head. 

  ``Since I could do, others can do,'' Hahn
said. 

                   Hahn said support services are much
better in the United States than
                   in his native Korea, but he's still had
difficulty getting his computer
                   science textbooks translated into Braille
in time for tests and class
                   discussions. Graphics are even more of a
problem. 

                   Every school district in the country with
any blind students has at
                   least one person whose job it is to make
class materials and books
                   accessible to them. They employ a variety
of methods to translate
                   graphs, drawings and charts into a
language the blind can read. The
                   most common approach more closely
resembles an art project than a
                   text book. 

                   Braille transcribers use embroidery,
``puffy paint,'' cardboard and glue
                   to create tactile graphics of images such
as math diagrams or the
                   cross section of an eyeball. Some of
these are works of art, said
                   Melody Ivory-Ndiaye, an assistant
professor at the university's
                   Information School. 

                   Blind students need to move their hands
over the raised surface of a
                   tactile picture to ``see'' it. The
picture must be simple enough so that
                   they don't get confused, but detailed
enough to give them sufficient
                   information. 

                   Hahn and other blind students from both
the university and area high
                   schools check the experimental work of
the Tactile Graphics Project
                   and make suggestions for improvements. 

                   Some modern technology is available, but
tactile printers, also called
                   embossers, often sit and gather dust
because software is outdated
                   and difficult to learn, Ivory-Ndiaye
said. 

                   University of Washington researchers from
several disciplines are
                   working together to automate the field,
with help from a $749,188
                   grant from the National Science
Foundation. 

                   One reason it has taken so long for
projects like this to gain momentum
                   is the small number of blind students
compared with those with other
                   disabilities, said Elaine Akagi, team
leader for the teachers of the
                   visually impaired for the Seattle School
District. The district has more
                   than 6,000 special education students.
Fewer than 40 are visually
                   impaired with no other disabilities. 

                   Akagi said students in high school,
especially math classes, have the
                   most need for tactile graphics, but it's
challenging to give them what
                   they need because it's so difficult to
show colors and three dimensions
                   in tactile graphics. For example, blind
students could not understand a
                   tactile representation of an object such
as a cube because the lines
                   on the graphic would cross over each
other and confuse the reader. 

                   The University of Washington is among
several universities looking at
                   different aspects of helping blind people
``see'' illustrations in books
                   and on the Internet. 

                   Richard Ladner, professor of computer
science and engineering and
                   principal investigator for the project,
said the topic is gaining urgency
                   as children's textbook publishers
intertwine graphics and text to make
                   the material more lively and visually
interesting. The more graphically
                   interesting the book, Ladner said, the
harder it is to translate for the
                   blind.

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