Making Math Accessible to Blind Students

1. Introduction:

The information revolution has had no more dramatic effect on the lives of any group of people than those with visual and other print impairments. Screen readers that convert text and screen icons to speech or braille (accessed by a mechanical braille display through some computer port) make it possible for people with print impairments to use e-mail, surf the web with any popular web browser, and use many other common computer programs. Unfortunately, these "access technologies" do not provide access to math or graphically-displayed information. Inability to read, write, and manipulate scientific information has effectively excluded all but the most determined blind and dyslexic students from fields such as math, science, and engineering. This exclusion may be part of the reason that the unemployment rate among blind people is 75%.

We propose to remove the barrier for blind college students to scientific information by creating interconversion programs between the web math language mathML and a universally-usable Triangle linear math notation developed at Oregon State University. This proposal meets the NWACC criteria,

• Innovation: Few blind people today can even read "math braille". This research would leapfrog into the incredible dream world where blind people can read and write everything that others can.
• Impact: Blind students can get course information, homework assignments, and exams directly from faculty, they can then do the work and return them for grading just like any other student. This would have a huge impact on educational and professional opportunities for blind students.
• Outcomes Assessment: The questions for faculty and blind students are: Is it possible to exchange scientific information? Is it easy to exchange scientific information. If the first answer is "yes", we've revolutionized the world for blind people and the faculty who teach them. If the second answer is also yes, then we've leveled the playing field.
• Leverage: The group leader, co-PI John Gardner, will donate his time and is proposing a National Science Foundation program to evangelize the new technologies beginning in 2003.
• Feasibility: The Triangle notation has already been used successfully by several blind students with outstanding success. MathML has recently become useful in practice for the first time, and predictions are that it will soon virtually replace all other electronic formats for math. John Gardner's Science Access Project is already world famous for developing technologies, and he certainly can provide the leadership to get this task done.
• Accessibility: The whole purpose of this research project is accessibility.
• Security: These are simple local Windows applications for which security is not an important issue.

2. Background

John Gardner lost his sight suddenly in 1988 while in mid-career as professor of Physics at Oregon State University. Lack of access to information was the greatest barrier by far to continuing his career. Within a few years he had established the Science Access Project with funding from the National Science Foundation to research solutions to the math/science information barrier. This project has become internationally famous and has spawned several important products, including the Tiger tactile graphics and braille embosser.

Oregon State University freshman Aqil Sajjad and three students at two small Minnesota universities (who have a special NSF grant to promote inclusion of blind students in computer science) have been, in effect, "proof-of-principle" experiments that the new technologies really do level the information playing field. Experience has been highly positive and is reported in a March panel presentation at the 2002 CSUN International Conference on Technology and Disabilities.

The playing field is still not level, because special assistance is needed to obtain accessible texts and some course materials from inaccessible sources. Conversion of scientific literature to a form readable by blind students remains unnecessarily cumbersome. The OSU and Minnesota blind students have no trouble using Triangle notation for reading, writing, and manipulating scientific expressions, but sighted people are not accustomed to reading and writing math in linear form. Reading Triangle linear form isn't difficult, but writing it in a standard word processor is cumbrsome, and it's easy to make notational mistakes. The proper solution to this dilemma is clearly mathML.

MathML is a math markup language developed by the WWW consortium. Several years of development by a number of companies have resulted in user-friendly methods for "saving as HTML/mathML" from most common scientific authoring applications. In early 2002 it has finally become possible in practice to display mathML with all popular web browsers. Since mathML is far superior for web use than any previous methods, it is virtually certain that mathML will quickly become the preferred method of putting math on the web. If students with print disabilities can read HTML/mathML, they will have access to essentially all classroom and web information. It is hard to overestimate the importance of such developments on their access to education and professional opportunity.

Henri Jansen is the Chairman of the Department of Physics and PI of the proposal because of his strong interest in improving education and reducing the cost of providing education to students with print disabilities. He would be very happy to have John Gardner continue to lead these developments as co-PI and hopes that the department reputation continues to attract students of the caliber of Aqil Sajjad.

3. Research Plan

• May 1 - June 15, 2002. Hire summer student programmer for summer project. Develop web site for project.
• June 15 - Sept 15, 2002: Develop HTML/mathML to RTF Windows translator using Triangle markup indicators for quasi-linear representation of math equations.
• Sept 15, 2002 - March 15, 2003: Develop WinTriangle to HTML/mathML "save as" routine for WinTriangle.
• March 15, 2003 - April 15, 2003: Prepare final report for web site. Arrange technology transfer so products can reach market.

4. Budget.

The grant funding will be used to hire a student software programmer to carry on the project. Estimated wage is $1600/month for the first three (summer) months and $800/month for part time work for the next 6.5 months. John Gardner will direct the project with help on software questions from Dr. Vladimir Bulatov of the OSU Science Access Project.

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Contents last modified September 2, 2002