- From: Alan Cantor <acantor@interlog.com>
- Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 14:01:48 -0500
- To: "WAI Interest Group" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Business Week ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY by John M. Williams September 29, 1999 From NASA, a Web Search Tool for the Blind "Illiad" can grab text -- and even some graphics -- and deliver it via e-mail to visually impaired surfers When we think of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), most of us envision U.S. astronauts landing on the moon, the Hubble Telescope, or robots scouring the surface of Mars. All the work of great scientists who have dared to boldly go where no man (or woman, for that matter) has gone before. It may surprise you to know that, as part of NASA's decades-long mission to discover commercial applications for its space-related technology, the agency also develops assistive technology products. Take the "Iliad," a navigational tool on the Information Superhighway. An acronym for Internet Library Information Access Device, Iliad is a powerful NASA browser that can retrieve text-based information quickly off the Internet. It was originally developed as a classroom aid for teachers -- who are among NASA's biggest consumers of information about the space program. Many teachers have limited computer access, so they needed a simple, time-saving way to quickly search the Web. But NASA soon realized that Iliad had more than one audience. Just so happens its text-based e-mail interface is ideally suited for Internet users who are either blind or visually impaired. That's because blind and visually impaired Web surfers much prefer using text-based e-mail search tools over graphical Web browsers (see BW Online, 8/25/99, "A Browser That Reveals the Web to the Blind"). FOR SEEING EYES ONLY. Internet accessibility has been an issue for blind and visually impaired users ever since the Net took off a decade ago. Early on, all software primarily ran in text-mode under MS-DOS. Blind users could access information using DOS-based screen readers and e-mail programs. But as computers and software technology expanded to reading graphical material, text-based software became almost obsolete. To add to this problem, Web designers rarely, if at all, include accessibility features when designing sites. It's not just that blind people can't see the graphs and charts. The Problem is, information in charts and graphs can't be read as text by most browsers. That's where the Iliad system comes in. Not only does it search out text-based information on the Web but it can also strip the coding from some graphical material and present the information in a text-based format. Then blind and visually impaired cyber-surfers can use computer-voice programs to have the data read to them by their computers, or magnify the text to read via enlargement programs. They can also print out the information in braille. Robert Shelton, a blind computer scientist, was one of the members of the NASA team that developed Illiad in 1995 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "When I took over the project, I was new to the Internet. Iliad has opened up the Internet as a resource for me," Shelton says. He uses Iliad, as do other members of his team, when he needs to do Web searches. QUICK TURNAROUND. Iliad was designed to be quick and extremely easy to use. Blind or visually impaired users send an e-mail message to the Iliad home address and type in the search request using keywords. The program allows users to send keyword queries to multiple search engines on the Web. The program screens out highly graphical and duplicate documents, performs searches off-line, and has search results e-mailed as full-text documents, all in a quick turnaround time -- usually 15 to 30 minutes. Specialized options include sending keywords to a single Web search engine, receiving search results with embedded hyperlinks or as an HTML document, and retrieving documents from a specific Web address. Of course, the receiver must then have the means either to magnify the text, have it printed in braille, or have it read. Fortunately, most computers today come equipped with zoom-text features. And text-to-speech software can be purchased for only a few hundred dollars. Most Iliad users receive the results of their searchers as individual text documents in their e-mail. The project is sponsored by NASA's Performance computing & Communications Program education effort, the Learning Technologies Project. A few years ago, NASA's Technology Transfer Office at Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi upgraded the accessibility of Iliad to the blind audience, with the help of the Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Blindness & Low Vision at Mississippi State University. MINIMAL REQUIREMENTS. "Computer users who are blind or severely visually impaired realize that cyberspace is jammed with exciting information," says Brenda Cavenaugh, research scientist at Mississippi State. "Unfortunately, the vastness and highly graphical nature of its resources often make it difficult to locate specific topics. With Iliad, you can search the Web without having to use a graphical browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator." The Iliad Web site is located on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, and at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The American Foundation for the Blind in New York is exploring the possibility of hosting Iliad on its server as a permanent home. Since becoming operational in spring 1998, the Iliad site has had more than 10,000 visits, with the NASA site averaging approximately 1,000 search requests each month. There's no charge and hardly any minimum hardware requirements to use Iliad. All you need is a computer (even an antique pre-Commodore 8088 will do), a modem of any speed, and an Internet service provider to access the site. Iliad is also accessible from a mobile phone. To receive instructions on using Iliad, send an e-mail message to iliad@msstate.edu, iliad@prime.jsc.nasa.gov, or iliad@rosy.tenet.edu. Leave the subject line blank, and type "start iliad" (without the quotes) in the body of the message. You'll get an e-mail back that will walk you through your first session. Iliad should be promoted to a greater degree among the major teachers' organizations and other teaching outlets in the country. It also would be ideal for a commercial venture. Any risk takers out there? Williams writes about assistive technology every week for BW Online.
Received on Tuesday, 7 December 1999 14:00:29 UTC