MAISON: Middleware for Accessible Information Spaces on NSDL

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Increased participation by the blind and sight impaired individuals in NSDL is resulting from the development of Middleware for Accessible Information Spaces on NSDL (MAISON). The software is enhancing the accessibility of NSDL, its internal and external resources, and existing services such as stand maps and community tools like blogs, wiki, and RSS newsfeeds by supporting user interaction through screen readers such as Window-Eyes, Dolphin and JAWS. MAISON is providing task oriented, individualized information exploration including information filtering, ranking and summarization. When accessing strand maps the user is listening and navigating through and across strand maps via hotkeys.