Re: Google Accessible Search

Hi,
This might be of interest. It is a project from  Carnegie Mellon
University to in add description to images on the internet.
The idea it is a community based description "sevice" using a game,
Phetch, as it's vechicle.
"Enclose excerpt from papers abstract and link
Images on the Web present a major accessibility issue for
the visually impaired, mainly because the majority of them
do not have proper captions. This paper addresses the
problem of attaching proper explanatory text descriptions to
arbitrary images on the Web. To this end, we introduce
Phetch, an enjoyable computer game that collects
explanatory descriptions of images. People play the game
because it is fun, and as a side effect of game play we
collect valuable information. Given any image from the
World Wide Web, Phetch can output a correct annotation
for it. The collected data can be applied towards
significantly improving Web accessibility. In addition to
improving accessibility, Phetch is an example of a new
class of games that provide entertainment in exchange for
human processing power."


http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biglou/Phetch.pdf

link to game http://www.peekaboom.org/phetch/

Regards,
Lisa




b.kelly@ukoln.ac.uk skrev 26. juli 2006 kl. 08:49 +0000:
>This thread reminds me that back in 1998 I gave a brief presentation at a
>WAI meeting held in Toronto on "Accessibility, Automation and Metadata" -
>see [ http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/accessibility/metadata/www8/ ]
>http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/accessibility/metadata/www8/
>
>I suggested that metadata could help with the automated processing of
>resources to enhance accessibility e.g. I'm looking for details of a
>restaurant in Toronto and any listing will do as long as it's accessible. 
>
>I suggested that the metadata could be produced by automated tools (e.g
>knowledge of the formats; etc.), by the author or by the community.
>
>Possibly the Google accessible search  service oculd build on some of
>these ideas. 
>
>Brian
> 
>
>On 7/25/06, John Foliot <[ mailto:jfoliot@stanford.edu
>]jfoliot@stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>
>Sailesh Panchang wrote:
>> Also one needs to be aware that being listed in
>> Google's accessibility search is not a certification of having
>> attained conformance when that is a legal necessity.
>
>Yes, I have some real concerns that this initiative will be used for less
>than honorable reasons, such as the one Sailesh pointed out.  Just
>because a
>site ranks in this "new" Accessible Google does not for an instant mean
>that 
>it meets any specific guideline or mandate, any more than having a Bobby
>icon on your site means it is accessible.
>
>I watch with a wary eye...



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@statped.no

Received on Wednesday, 26 July 2006 07:47:11 UTC