SV: accessible images (diagrams)

Hi,

If you are only interested in making such  diagrams as you referred in the link to there is a research going on in (I think) the University of Washington for the batch conversion
of diagrams similar to the one you referred to. Will check out the link again and send it. What it does is goes through text books where the images in a text book are very similar throughout (math diagrams and similar) identifies the graphic (non- textual) bits and separates it from the text and then converts the text to Braille and the graphics to graphics, then puts them back together to print out tactile graphics.
There is also another research program for making on the fly tactile graphics - saw a video about it on Googlevideo a couple of years back. Will try to locate the link to that.

However if you are dealing with more complicated graphics (maps, illustrations, etc) which require more adaption you might want to look into  embossers produced by ViewPlus.
http://www.viewplus.com/
If you want to keep the same layout of the diagram (using an Viewplus embosser) - one way to go is to open the png in CorelDraw, for example, making sure that the font is designated as a font and not a graphic then you can either save the file as a .prn or print out directly to the embosser. However and this however is emphasized, for more complicated graphics, you probably will have to go
in and edit the graphic. One can convert a graphic directly using a ViewPlus embosser but the result can be a too cluttered tactile graphic. (this can  also the case for other techniques too)

I mentioned CorelDraw because direct font conversion is possible using the ViewPlus embosser, but Illustrator for example does not have this. Saying this I use Illustrator, save the
file as a print file (prn) and open that file up in the editor for the ViewPlus embosser. That way I have much more control over the final graphic - control over all the dots. Most picture editing tools are for visual graphics - tactile graphics are something else and that is why I work in the embossers editor.

Viewplus embossers work great with Word. For the example you showed - use the drawing tools in Word and putting the text in  the shapes then convert the file - you will get a pretty usable
tactile.  Again if you are working with simple graphics.

Another approach is how the diagram is set up - you might just want to use a layout to show the relationships- that is just text and not shapes.


Recently Benetech, with the WGBH National Center for Accessible Media and the U.S. Fund for DAISY for creation of accessible graphics - DIAGRAM. So the hopes are with the convergence of these in a common problem.

So part of the question is the amount of graphics that need to be converted and the complication of the graphic. If you already have an embosser like VersaPoint, Juliet - you can use programs like QuickTac (freeware from Duxbury) or a similar program that has really neat functions, PictureBraille.

PictureBraille does conversions from jpgs, bmps (perhaps others). Very nice program - easy to learn. And as with Quicktac, you can go in and work directly on each dot (same as with Viewplus embossers) http://www.pentronics.com.au/index_files/PictureBraille.htm

Again this all presupposes that the starting point for a tactile graphic is a visual graphic - there could   be another starting point - more from a blind persons starting point - but that's another question .....

Last bit - you might want to check out the AccessibleImage elist - there are a lot of people on the list that might be able to help you with your question and if you search in the archives of the list.
http://www.freelists.org/archive/accessibleimage

Best regards,

Lisa

Fra: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] På vegne av Régis Diniz
Sendt: 31. mars 2010 15:59
Til: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Emne: accessible images (diagrams)

Hi,

Here in Brazil we have a group trying to implement image accessibility for some blind students.

The idea is that diagrams like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/ER_Diagram_MMORPG.png must be accessible to them.

We've been searching over the internet for solutions like a software that would convert the image into tactile graphics or something like this but it seems like there's not much information available. A sound version of the graphic would solve the problem, but it's far nonpratical.

Could anyone help us with some advices?

Thanks in advance,

Régis



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