Multiple descriptions Re: Keyboard Navigation For Document Exploration In SVG 1.2

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004, Jason White wrote:

>david poehlman writes:
> >
> > I think at the least, you'd have to specify the square as either vertical or
> > horrizontal lines so as you explore the square, it would say vertical line
> > followed by its ifnormation such as length, position and color and
> > thickness.  then, when you come to the horrizontal line, it would be
[..]

>But this still wouldn't be sufficient as it fails to specify whether
>the lines are connected to form a polygon in the plane.
>
>While there may be some for whom this would be valuable, I wouldn't
>use it for cognitive reasons.
[...]
>It would be a mistake to consider any image exploration system as a
>substitute for written descriptions, which cannot as yet be provided
>automatically (though this may change). What I would need is a
>description such as:
>"Graph of f(x) = x^2 in a rectangular coordinate plane. The x and y
>axes are labeled, as is the origin."
>rather than statements about lines, curves etc., requiring navigation
>by the user.
>
>I am not suggesting my needs are the same as everyone else's, but
>rather that an image exploration system would not provide me with
>accessibility - and I am sure there are others in a similar position.

Right. Your example is an interesting one. From the above description, I know
what the image looks like. But for someone without the same background in
high-school maths, it is meaningless mumbo-jumbo, whereas "a bowl shape, with
a vertical background line that goes through the centre of the bowl, and a
horizontal background line that the bowl sits on" might give them an idea of
the same thing. Imagine describing a graph of the function f(x) = 1/x.

In fact we could do some interesting things with this, using SVGs ability to
describe and use groups of objects to build up a complex object from simpler
ones. An obvious example is connected horizontal and vertical lines, which
collectively describe a square :-) Of course there is some considerable work
to make all this happen.

Cheers

Chaals

Received on Tuesday, 30 November 2004 18:28:56 UTC