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Re: Flickr and alt

From: Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky@MIT.EDU>
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:50:37 -0400
Message-ID: <48B1915D.500@mit.edu>
To: Philip TAYLOR <P.Taylor@Rhul.Ac.Uk>
CC: David Poehlman <david.poehlman@handsontechnologeyes.com>, W3C WAI-XTECH <wai-xtech@w3.org>, public-html@w3.org

Philip TAYLOR wrote:
>> And yet we do not require knowing how to read in order to read (e.g. 
>> voice synthesizers).  Why the double-standard?
> 
> Boris, do you not perceive any difference between
> /knowing/ how to read and /being physically capable/
> of reading (where "reading" is defined as mentally
> assigning sounds and semantics to a visually-perceived
> string of characters) ?

Yes, of course.  There are plenty of people who can do the latter but 
not the former.  There are also people who can assign sounds but not 
semantics to visually-perceived strings of characters, or whose ability 
to assign semantics is severely limited.  There are also people who can 
assign semantics but not sounds.  There are also people who can do 
neither with a visually-perceived string of characters but can assign 
semantics to sounds, or sounds+semantics to tactile input, or just 
semantics to tactile input.

Was there a point to this question, if I might ask?

-Boris
Received on Sunday, 24 August 2008 16:51:23 UTC

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