Re: Wordle worthwhile to accessify?

on 16/10/2008 12:42 Harry Loots said the following:

> Please can someone tell feinberg that accessibility is about providing
> equivalent content - nothing more nor less. 

 From what I can tell, he's aware of the principle but is currently 
convinced that Wordle is purely visual and therefore has no 
"equivalent". I (and others) are equally convinced that a Wordle 
provides meta data about a piece of text and that he has chosen to use a 
graphical method to convey that meta data. Consequently, the same meta 
data could be provided in an alternative form. Whether the alternative 
would be a true & complete equivalent is another matter.

> Quite frankly i find feinberg's response arrogant and definitely not in tune
> with the world we as accessibility advocates and practitioners are trying to
> promote: one where people receive equal treatment. 

I think he's confused and probably more than a little defensive right now.

> I will definitely not be using wordle on any of the websites that i am
> directly involved in or have any say in, until feinberg provides an equivalent
> content for people who are unable to make sense of the visual version. 

Maybe he could be persuaded to place some of the algorithms that Wordle 
uses under GPL so that others could work on a equivalent? The Wordle 
creation interface does produce a simple word frequency list when it 
creates the graphic but there is obviously more to it than just word 
frequency. Looks like there's some sort of weighting/adjustment going to 
on to compound the value of plurals etc. Without access to those general 
calculations, it would be difficult to produce a decent equivalent.

Mel
-- 
Black Widow Web Design Ltd
www.blackwidows.co.uk
info@blackwidows.co.uk

Received on Friday, 17 October 2008 10:41:04 UTC