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Re: Access and Online Math Classes

for

From: Reidy Brown
Date: Aug 14, 2001 3:18PM

John,
You can find information on this in the National Center for Accessible
Media's online guide "Making Educational Software Accessible: Design
Guidelines Including Math and Science Solutions," which is at
http://ncam.wgbh.org/cdrom/guideline/.
The University of Toronto's SNOW group is also doing some interesting work
in this area, and that information can be found at
http://nide.snow.utoronto.ca/MathML/ (Taras Kowaliw, at
<EMAIL REMOVED> , is the contact person for that project).
Unfortunately, though, this is still a challenging problem. Although there
are several authoring tools that allow users to create MathML markup quickly
and easily (some of which also generate images of the equations as well--
take a look at WebEQ at http://www.dessci.com/webmath/webeq/features.stm), I
don't believe that screen readers and browsers can correctly interpret the
results-- yet.
However, if you create content that contains a structured representation of
the math (e.g., MathML), you are in a good position when user agents (screen
readers and browsers) support MathML-- your content will then "become"
accessible with no further effort on your part.
Good luck,
Reidy
-------------------------------------------
Reidy Brown
Accessibility Coordinator/
Sr. Software Engineer
Blackboard, Inc.
1899 L. St., NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 463-4860 x236
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-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 4:28 PM
To: WebAIM forum
Subject: Access and Online Math Classes

We will be addressing the access issues related to online math classes in
the coming academic year. The classes are heavy on math notation and have
used both PDF files and the use of graphic images to convey this online.
Any input as to how to meet the instructional need for having this notation
while addresses access concerns would be greatly appreciated.
John Elmer
Ventura College
Ventura CA