SBIR Phase I: Accessible Electronic Mathematical Content

Design Science, Inc., Long Beach CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project explores the feasibility of making MathML in a web browser and mathematical expressions in Word seamlessly accessible to people with print disabilities. Print disabilities include blindness, low vision, dyslexia and other learning disabilities. While others have explored aspects of accessibility in stand-alone applications, nobody has integrated access to mathematical content for those with print disabilities into users' existing screen readers or other assistive technology. This proposal brings together work on various aspects of making mathematical content accessible and pushes forward the state-of-the-art in audio rendering of mathematical expressions, navigation of mathematical expressions with audio feedback, and synchronizing audio rendering with highlighting the corresponding subexpression. Accessibility of electronic content is a requirement of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, Section 508. Increasingly, states are adopting similar requirements for state-funded entities. Accessibility laws apply to all forms of content, not just textual content. These laws enforce the need to make all forms of electronic content accessible, including mathematical content. The results of this work will be incorporated into MathPlayer (a free software add-on for Internet Explorer (IE) that enables IE to display MathML in web pages) and MathType (a software application for authoring and displaying mathematics within word processors). Between these two applications, all MathML in web pages and mathematics in documents can be accessible to people with print disabilities. Many states have laws requiring textbooks to be accessible. The results of this project will present a fast and inexpensive route for publishers of textbooks with mathematical content to satisfy these laws. More importantly, the availability of these books and other documents coupled with accessible authoring of mathematical content has the potential to dramatically enhance the way students with print disabilities are taught and learn mathematics, science, engineering and other technical fields.