2007 PhD Thesis Final Revised.pdf - Curtin University

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6.5.3 Software products Figure 6.11 The BrailleNote PK (Humanware, 2004) Software products are vital in ensuring that people who are blind and vision impaired can access mainstream technology. Software applications play an important role in supporting hardware AT devices because they provide an effective method of translation which ensures that visual information is correctly entered into a computer. Software applications also ensure that information is effectively directed to the user. The main categories of products are Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and voice recognition software. OCR is the method in which scanned pages of text are converted into electronic text documents (San Diego State <strong>University</strong>, 2004). The OCR process is not in itself considered AT due to its mainstream applications but there are several software applications available which can directly translate a scanned document into a text stream thus making it available for text or voice output. The software focuses on obtaining audio-friendly elements of the document to ensure clarity for voice output options. Examples of AT-specific OCR software include OpenBook produced by Freedom Scientific and Kurzweil produced by Kurzweil Educational Systems. Voice recognition software is another mainstream product that has been adapted to assist people with disabilities, particularly those with spinal cord injuries or vision disabilities. The software is designed to interpret the spoken word and translate it directly into text. Although this technology is still being refined due to variances in pronunciation and the inconsistencies found within many languages, many specialist products are now available. These products include Dragon Naturally Speaking by ScanSoft, ViaVoice by IBM and I-Say by T&T Consultancy. In 129
addition there are other input-based software applications that respond to voice including voice-activated web browsers and voice-activated calculators Software output-based products are often deemed to be the most essential of all the AT products available for blind and vision impaired computer users. The reason for such importance is the visual nature of the GUI. The inability to observe a graphical environment on a computer screen display with ease means that alternative output methods need to be developed. There are an assortment of output products available with the most popular being either screen magnification software for low vision users or text-to-speech systems for those who are blind or have severe low vision. Screen magnification software is designed to enlarge the GUI by ‘zooming in’ into a particular section of the graphical environment. There are a variety of different magnification techniques offered by magnification programs depending on the needs of the user. Most magnification programs focus on providing a full screen zoom, as outlined as shown in Figure 6.12. A full screen zoom enlarges a small area of the screen and allows the user to scroll around the other areas. Most programs provide magnification ranges from slightly above non-zoom levels through to 16x magnification. Other magnifiers may split the screen, keeping part of the GUI environment the same size and another part of the GUI magnified. Others operate by providing a magnifying ‘ruler’ or ‘glass’ as indicated in Figure 6.13, which can be moved over different areas of the screen to provide minor magnification. Popular screen magnification programs include ZoomText produced by AiSquared, MAGic produced by Freedom Scientific and Magnus produced by Sensory Software. 130
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Faculty of Media, Society and Cultu
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ABSTRACT People with disabilities,
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3.0 ELEMENTS OF THE DISABILITY DIVI
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APPENDIX A: PERSONAL INTERVIEWS....
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following orga
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INTRODUCTION Purpose of the study A
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! Are computing and Internet-relate
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disabilities in the workforce. As a
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entertainment package and, at worst
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Chapter 6, The provision of operati
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Australia, approximately four milli
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which people with disabilities perc
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dependence (J. Wilson & Wilson, 200
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economic model complements the righ
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ole of people with disabilities, go
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time. Policy and resulting legislat
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improved, funds were now available
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United Nations (UN) during the Inte
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actions and participation is connec
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occasional struggle for people with
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lindness within society also create
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communication. This chapter contrib
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seen as applicable to the developme
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Although clear-path and object-anal
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easily interpret text, making the A
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interface in their next OS release.
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networks so that there is exchange
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of information largely inaccessible
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again become sufficiently accessibl
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Figure 3.1 Household Computer or In
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of tertiary education compound the
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desire to repair the inferior body
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computing firms seemed to take issu
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an operating environment which was
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accessible and compatible with AT p
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cater for the needs of this group.
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4.2 Methodology for personal interv
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! Steger, John. Senior Consultant,
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All of these points were used with
Page 79 and 80: ates improved significantly due to
Page 81 and 82: (f) to assist in achieving positive
Page 83 and 84: disability-related discrimination i
Page 85 and 86: was that Section 508 only applied t
Page 87 and 88: in order to combat the disability d
Page 89 and 90: Such views again highlight the inco
Page 91 and 92: vision disabilities must rely on US
Page 93 and 94: 5.0 THE PROVISION OF ONLINE INFORMA
Page 95 and 96: exist but not how to resolve the pr
Page 97 and 98: ace information for the Sydney 2000
Page 99 and 100: Essentially, the SOCOG case present
Page 101 and 102: In terms of finding out what people
Page 103 and 104: devices. The study concluded that t
Page 105 and 106: 6.0 THE PROVISION OF OPERATING SYST
Page 107 and 108: networking infrastructure market, w
Page 109 and 110: Internet were accessible, it could
Page 111 and 112: developer conferences as a good way
Page 113 and 114: 6.3 Disability-specific product ven
Page 115 and 116: company which tries to do everythin
Page 117 and 118: user through to large networks and
Page 119 and 120: with low vision was the addition of
Page 121 and 122: The UNIX platform has faced a diffi
Page 123 and 124: of writing, Microsoft is being sued
Page 125 and 126: character containing two dots. Brai
Page 127 and 128: Figure 6.7 Vario 80 Refreshable Bra
Page 129: Figure 6.10 Omni Phantom (SensAble
Page 133 and 134: HP, Cisco and IBM have all contribu
Page 135 and 136: ‘upper-echelons’ of users would
Page 137 and 138: such as Vision Australia located at
Page 139 and 140: internal policies reflect the need
Page 141 and 142: arely given the chance to voice the
Page 143 and 144: 1. to demonstrate the ways in which
Page 145 and 146: Section B focused on the use of com
Page 147 and 148: question was to determine the exten
Page 149 and 150: defined opinions in this study. The
Page 151 and 152: the type and significance of an ind
Page 153 and 154: The print and Braille formats were
Page 155 and 156: with 23 telephone interviews and 3
Page 157 and 158: Frequency 100 80 60 40 20 0 Valid 1
Page 159 and 160: Valid Male Female Total Gender Freq
Page 161 and 162: Frequency 200 150 100 50 0 Valid Fu
Page 163 and 164: Valid Degenerative Stable Total Vis
Page 165 and 166: Frequency 100 80 60 40 20 0 Valid M
Page 167 and 168: 7.4.2 Computing and assistive techn
Page 169 and 170: Frequency 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Kno
Page 171 and 172: Frequency 100 80 60 40 20 0 Ability
Page 173 and 174: Frequency 150 120 90 60 30 0 Valid
Page 175 and 176: Frequency 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
Page 177 and 178: N Valid Missing Familiarity of Inte
Page 179 and 180: Frequency 125 100 75 50 25 0 Valid
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Frequency 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Val
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Frequency 100 80 60 40 20 0 Valid D
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Internet session will contain a var
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Frequency 250 200 150 100 50 0 Vali
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Frequency 250 200 150 100 50 0 Vali
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Frequency 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Dis
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Frequency 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Gov
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Frequency 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
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Frequency 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Des
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Frequency 100 80 60 40 20 0 Valid I
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7.4.5 Open-ended comments The Comme
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There were also a number of comment
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8.0 ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS 8.1 Introd
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levels of the working population. A
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the colour scheme question received
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Respondents were fairly evenly spre
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esult indicated that it is likely t
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able to interact with computing and
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Count Ability to Understand and Use
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Ability to Understand and Use a Com
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that knowledge of IT did not necess
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impaired people were not associated
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Count Income Total Income * Cost of
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8.3.5 Disability-specific issues fo
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The final comparison focused on the
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CONCLUSION Addressing the research
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with vision disabilities until the
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ole of this policy, in terms of inf
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een largely resolved in recent time
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vision disabilities perceived the I
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In essence, this study has revealed
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! the creation and implementation o
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Australian Federal Government. (200
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Galitz, W. (2002). Essential Guide
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Lindlif, T. R., & Shatzer, M. J. (1
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Stubbins, J. (1977). Social and Psy
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Zakon, R. (2002, 1 April). Hobbes'
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ETHICS APPROVAL: products and servi
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Name: _ Signature: Date: authorizat
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13. In the United States, the Rehab
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8. Do you perceive that people with
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Title: Department: Organisation: Ye
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18. In your opinion, are educationa
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e found at http://www.vipsurvey.org
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[ ] 2 Living in shared accommodatio
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[ ] 1 Screen magnification software
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24. My ability to use the Internet
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process which I mastered by myself:
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! 5.2 For data tables that have two
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! 10.5 Until user agents (including
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IBM International Business Machines
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