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Thread: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Number of posts in this thread: 9 (In chronological order)
From: Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 6:07AM
Subject: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
No previous message | Next message →
This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the internet can bring.
Michelle
Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Team creates audio CAPTCHA
Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated in
Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
(caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind.
Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson
University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
April 27, 2014
While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means, there
is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the tickets
for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short period
of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have drawn
criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too difficult
to use, but last month, Towson University
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no eyesight.
With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear a
certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
developers say it is superior to Google's
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate of
50 percent for blind users.
"Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a group
of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come up
with some equivalent features that make it easier."
"Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
added.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any necessary
tweaks.
The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of access
technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said not
being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability to
enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she said,
but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information, she
has concerns about privacy.
"The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as a
sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all that
time?"
CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers and
Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan Turing
in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to be
used in any number of different languages or have users identify any number
of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could potentially
have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a web
page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that it
takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for a
visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
"A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate student
Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since the
project began.
"We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling us
this was important."
The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the Maryland
Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
secure enough.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the Blind's
website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
businesses to adopt it.
"We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
Thank You,
Michelle Clark
Information Technology Specialist
Section 508 Coordinator
Office of the Chief Information Officer
USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
1400 Independence Ave. SW.
Rm. 1669-S
Washington, DC. 20250
O: 202 2609014
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To learn more about Section 508, go to www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
"Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 6:17AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
Good morning Michelle,
Thank you for sending this great article.
Susie
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 7:07 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the internet can bring.
Michelle
Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Team creates audio CAPTCHA
Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated in
Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
(caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind.
Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson
University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
April 27, 2014
While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means, there
is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the tickets
for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short period
of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have drawn
criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too difficult
to use, but last month, Towson University
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no eyesight.
With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear a
certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
developers say it is superior to Google's
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate of
50 percent for blind users.
"Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a group
of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come up
with some equivalent features that make it easier."
"Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
added.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any necessary
tweaks.
The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of access
technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said not
being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability to
enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she said,
but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information, she
has concerns about privacy.
"The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as a
sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all that
time?"
CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers and
Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan Turing
in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to be
used in any number of different languages or have users identify any number
of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could potentially
have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a web
page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that it
takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for a
visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
"A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate student
Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since the
project began.
"We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling us
this was important."
The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the Maryland
Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
secure enough.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the Blind's
website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
businesses to adopt it.
"We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
Thank You,
Michelle Clark
Information Technology Specialist
Section 508 Coordinator
Office of the Chief Information Officer
USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
1400 Independence Ave. SW.
Rm. 1669-S
Washington, DC. 20250
O: 202 2609014
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To learn more about Section 508, go to www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
"Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 6:27AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
Good morning again,
I think you should put this out on the Section 508 list.
Susie
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 7:07 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the internet can bring.
Michelle
Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Team creates audio CAPTCHA
Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated in
Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
(caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind.
Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson
University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
April 27, 2014
While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means, there
is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the tickets
for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short period
of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have drawn
criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too difficult
to use, but last month, Towson University
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no eyesight.
With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear a
certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
developers say it is superior to Google's
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate of
50 percent for blind users.
"Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a group
of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come up
with some equivalent features that make it easier."
"Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
added.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any necessary
tweaks.
The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of access
technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said not
being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability to
enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she said,
but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information, she
has concerns about privacy.
"The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as a
sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all that
time?"
CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers and
Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan Turing
in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to be
used in any number of different languages or have users identify any number
of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could potentially
have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a web
page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that it
takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for a
visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
"A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate student
Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since the
project began.
"We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling us
this was important."
The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the Maryland
Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
secure enough.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the Blind's
website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
businesses to adopt it.
"We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
Thank You,
Michelle Clark
Information Technology Specialist
Section 508 Coordinator
Office of the Chief Information Officer
USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
1400 Independence Ave. SW.
Rm. 1669-S
Washington, DC. 20250
O: 202 2609014
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To learn more about Section 508, go to www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
"Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 6:37AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
You are welcome. I agree it is great. Dr. Lazor is wonderful in his quest for accessibility.
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 8:18 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Good morning Michelle,
Thank you for sending this great article.
Susie
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 7:07 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the internet can bring.
Michelle
Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
Team creates audio CAPTCHA
Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated in
Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
(caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind.
Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson
University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
April 27, 2014
While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means, there
is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the tickets
for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short period
of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have drawn
criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too difficult
to use, but last month, Towson University
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no eyesight.
With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear a
certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
developers say it is superior to Google's
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate of
50 percent for blind users.
"Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a group
of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come up
with some equivalent features that make it easier."
"Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
added.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any necessary
tweaks.
The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of access
technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said not
being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability to
enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she said,
but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information, she
has concerns about privacy.
"The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as a
sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all that
time?"
CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
<http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers and
Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan Turing
in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to be
used in any number of different languages or have users identify any number
of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could potentially
have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a web
page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that it
takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for a
visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
"A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate student
Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since the
project began.
"We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling us
this was important."
The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the Maryland
Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
secure enough.
The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the Blind's
website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
businesses to adopt it.
"We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
Thank You,
Michelle Clark
Information Technology Specialist
Section 508 Coordinator
Office of the Chief Information Officer
USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
1400 Independence Ave. SW.
Rm. 1669-S
Washington, DC. 20250
O: 202 2609014
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To learn more about Section 508, go to www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
"Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
From: Mallory van Achterberg
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 8:25AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
So the blind are also deaf/hoh still can't use this, or does the
doctor have something for them as well that I missed in the
article?
_mallory
On Tue, Nov 04, 2014 at 01:07:12PM +0000, Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC wrote:
> This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the internet can bring.
>
>
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
>
>
> Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
>
>
>
>
>
> Team creates audio CAPTCHA
>
>
>
> Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
>
> thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
>
> University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
>
> CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated in
>
> Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
>
> Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
>
> SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
>
>
>
>
>
> Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
>
>
>
> (caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
>
> Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
>
> keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind.
>
> Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Towson
>
> University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
>
> website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
>
> Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
>
>
>
>
>
> By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
>
>
>
> April 27, 2014
>
>
>
> While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means, there
>
> is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
>
> CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
>
>
>
> CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
>
> are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the tickets
>
> for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short period
>
> of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have drawn
>
> criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too difficult
>
> to use, but last month, Towson University
>
> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
>
> iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
>
> CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no eyesight.
>
>
>
> With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
>
> sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear a
>
> certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
>
> developers say it is superior to Google's
>
> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
>
> ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
>
> alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate of
>
> 50 percent for blind users.
>
>
>
> "Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
>
> the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a group
>
> of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come up
>
> with some equivalent features that make it easier."
>
>
>
> "Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
>
> added.
>
>
>
> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
>
> developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any necessary
>
> tweaks.
>
>
>
> The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
>
> Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
>
> neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of access
>
> technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
>
> users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said not
>
> being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability to
>
> enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
>
>
>
> A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she said,
>
> but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
>
> CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information, she
>
> has concerns about privacy.
>
>
>
> "The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
>
> now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as a
>
> sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all that
>
> time?"
>
>
>
> CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
>
> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
>
> technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers and
>
> Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan Turing
>
> in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
>
> University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
>
> CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
>
> comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
>
>
>
> Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
>
> 2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
>
> customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to be
>
> used in any number of different languages or have users identify any number
>
> of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could potentially
>
> have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
>
>
>
> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
>
> CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a web
>
> page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
>
> CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that it
>
> takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for a
>
> visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
>
>
>
> "A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
>
>
>
> The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate student
>
> Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
>
> blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
>
> using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
>
> and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since the
>
> project began.
>
>
>
> "We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
>
> said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling us
>
> this was important."
>
>
>
> The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the Maryland
>
> Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
>
> several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
>
> secure enough.
>
>
>
> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the Blind's
>
> website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
>
> businesses to adopt it.
>
>
>
> "We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
>
> Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank You,
>
>
> Michelle Clark
> Information Technology Specialist
> Section 508 Coordinator
> Office of the Chief Information Officer
> USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
> 1400 Independence Ave. SW.
> Rm. 1669-S
> Washington, DC. 20250
>
> O: 202 2609014
> E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> To learn more about Section 508, go to www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
>
> "Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
>
> Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
>
>
>
>
>
> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
> > >
From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Tue, Nov 04 2014 1:36PM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
It is always good to have more options.
I hope we are nearing the era of fingerprint identification, codes
sent to a registerred email address or cell phone number, or other
more secure forms of identification where that is needed.
At least providing CAPTCHA puzzles accessibly in two different
modalities includes a lot more users than only one.
On 11/4/14, Mallory van Achterberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> So the blind are also deaf/hoh still can't use this, or does the
> doctor have something for them as well that I missed in the
> article?
>
> _mallory
> On Tue, Nov 04, 2014 at 01:07:12PM +0000, Clark, Michelle - NRCS,
> Washington, DC wrote:
>> This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and
>> hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the
>> internet can bring.
>>
>>
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Team creates audio CAPTCHA
>>
>>
>>
>> Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
>>
>> thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
>>
>> University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
>>
>> CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated
>> in
>>
>> Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
>>
>> Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
>>
>> SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
>>
>>
>>
>> (caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
>>
>> Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
>>
>> keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the
>> Blind.
>>
>> Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at
>> Towson
>>
>> University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
>>
>> website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
>>
>> Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
>>
>>
>>
>> April 27, 2014
>>
>>
>>
>> While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means,
>> there
>>
>> is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
>>
>> CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
>>
>>
>>
>> CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
>>
>> are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the
>> tickets
>>
>> for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short
>> period
>>
>> of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have
>> drawn
>>
>> criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too
>> difficult
>>
>> to use, but last month, Towson University
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
>>
>> iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
>>
>> CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no
>> eyesight.
>>
>>
>>
>> With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
>>
>> sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear
>> a
>>
>> certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
>>
>> developers say it is superior to Google's
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
>>
>> ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
>>
>> alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate
>> of
>>
>> 50 percent for blind users.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
>>
>> the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a
>> group
>>
>> of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come
>> up
>>
>> with some equivalent features that make it easier."
>>
>>
>>
>> "Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
>>
>> added.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
>>
>> developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any
>> necessary
>>
>> tweaks.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
>>
>> Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
>>
>> neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of
>> access
>>
>> technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
>>
>> users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said
>> not
>>
>> being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability
>> to
>>
>> enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
>>
>>
>>
>> A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she
>> said,
>>
>> but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
>>
>> CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information,
>> she
>>
>> has concerns about privacy.
>>
>>
>>
>> "The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
>>
>> now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as
>> a
>>
>> sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all
>> that
>>
>> time?"
>>
>>
>>
>> CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
>>
>> technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers
>> and
>>
>> Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan
>> Turing
>>
>> in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
>>
>> University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
>>
>> CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
>>
>> comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
>>
>> 2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
>>
>> customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to
>> be
>>
>> used in any number of different languages or have users identify any
>> number
>>
>> of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could
>> potentially
>>
>> have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
>>
>> CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a
>> web
>>
>> page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
>>
>> CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that
>> it
>>
>> takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for
>> a
>>
>> visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
>>
>>
>>
>> "A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate
>> student
>>
>> Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
>>
>> blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
>>
>> using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
>>
>> and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since
>> the
>>
>> project began.
>>
>>
>>
>> "We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
>>
>> said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling
>> us
>>
>> this was important."
>>
>>
>>
>> The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the
>> Maryland
>>
>> Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
>>
>> several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
>>
>> secure enough.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the
>> Blind's
>>
>> website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
>>
>> businesses to adopt it.
>>
>>
>>
>> "We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
>>
>> Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank You,
>>
>>
>> Michelle Clark
>> Information Technology Specialist
>> Section 508 Coordinator
>> Office of the Chief Information Officer
>> USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
>> 1400 Independence Ave. SW.
>> Rm. 1669-S
>> Washington, DC. 20250
>>
>> O: 202 2609014
>> E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>> To learn more about Section 508, go to
>> www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
>>
>> "Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is
>> beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of
>> man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
>>
>> Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely
>> for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message
>> or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the
>> law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you
>> believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender
>> and delete the email immediately.
>> >> >> > > > >
--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
From: Mallory van Achterberg
Date: Wed, Nov 05 2014 12:27AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
Yes, I fear we're currently solving the problems of CAPTCHAs by
making more CAPTCHAs.
Proving someone has a physcial sense or ability doesn't prove they
are human or not, and besides, we don't care if they're human, we
care if they are legitimate.
Not sure if the fingerprint idea will really fix things. Not everyone
has those either. But multi-auth has some promise.
_mallory
On Tue, Nov 04, 2014 at 03:36:19PM -0500, Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:
> It is always good to have more options.
> I hope we are nearing the era of fingerprint identification, codes
> sent to a registerred email address or cell phone number, or other
> more secure forms of identification where that is needed.
> At least providing CAPTCHA puzzles accessibly in two different
> modalities includes a lot more users than only one.
From: Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC
Date: Wed, Nov 05 2014 4:16AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | Next message →
Thanks for your comments. What I do not understand is why are the comments from others on this list so snarkey? We use thist to share, not to snipe. Right?
Michelle
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2014 3:36 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
It is always good to have more options.
I hope we are nearing the era of fingerprint identification, codes
sent to a registerred email address or cell phone number, or other
more secure forms of identification where that is needed.
At least providing CAPTCHA puzzles accessibly in two different
modalities includes a lot more users than only one.
On 11/4/14, Mallory van Achterberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> So the blind are also deaf/hoh still can't use this, or does the
> doctor have something for them as well that I missed in the
> article?
>
> _mallory
> On Tue, Nov 04, 2014 at 01:07:12PM +0000, Clark, Michelle - NRCS,
> Washington, DC wrote:
>> This came from the Maryland NFB newsletter. I found it interesting and
>> hope it is for those of you out there working on the woes using the
>> internet can bring.
>>
>>
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Team creates audio CAPTCHA
>>
>>
>>
>> Editor's Note: The following article from the Baltimore Sun shows that
>>
>> thanks to the efforts of Jonathan Lazar and his students at Towson
>>
>> University, we are making slow, but steady progress in eliminating the
>>
>> CAPTCHA barrier to navigating websites. Many Federationists participated
>> in
>>
>> Dr. Lazar's CAPTCHA sound study. He has been a champion of an accessible
>>
>> Internet for the blind for many years. We look forward to seeing the
>>
>> SoundsRight CAPTCHA being widely adopted.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Description: Anne Taylor and Dr. Jonathan Lazar
>>
>>
>>
>> (caption for image) Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, Jernigan
>>
>> Institute, National Federation of the Blind, uses braille and QWERTY
>>
>> keyboards in the International Braille and Technology Center for the
>> Blind.
>>
>> Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at
>> Towson
>>
>> University, is working with her on a technology that makes CAPTCHA, a
>>
>> website security feature, accessible to blind people. (Kim Hairston,
>>
>> Baltimore Sun / April 14, 2014)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun
>>
>>
>>
>> April 27, 2014
>>
>>
>>
>> While blind people can browse the Internet through a variety of means,
>> there
>>
>> is often one thing that stops them cold-a security feature known as a
>>
>> CAPTCHA that's designed to distinguish human users from robots.
>>
>>
>>
>> CAPTCHAs, in which a user must identify the letters in a distorted image,
>>
>> are commonly used to block automated bots from grabbing up all the
>> tickets
>>
>> for an event, signing up for thousands of email addresses in a short
>> period
>>
>> of time or unfairly swaying the results of an online poll. They have
>> drawn
>>
>> criticism from advocacy organizations for the blind for being too
>> difficult
>>
>> to use, but last month, Towson University
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/towson-un
>>
>> iversity-OREDU0000148.topic> secured a U.S. patent for a new kind of
>>
>> CAPTCHA that's intended to be easier for those with limited or no
>> eyesight.
>>
>>
>>
>> With Towson's SoundsRight CAPTCHA, users listen to a series of 10 random
>>
>> sounds and are asked to press the computer's space bar each time they hear
>> a
>>
>> certain noise-a dog barking, a horse neighing-among the other sounds. The
>>
>> developers say it is superior to Google's
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/economy-business-finance/computing-inform
>>
>> ation-technology-industry/google-inc.-ORCRP006761.topic> current audio
>>
>> alternative CAPTCHA, citing studies showing that version's failure rate
>> of
>>
>> 50 percent for blind users.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Blind people are capable of doing everything that a visual person can on
>>
>> the Internet," said Jonathan Lazar, a Towson professor who has led a
>> group
>>
>> of graduate and outside researchers on the project. "We just try to come
>> up
>>
>> with some equivalent features that make it easier."
>>
>>
>>
>> "Some people are unaware that blind people can use the Internet," Lazar
>>
>> added.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is still in a "beta" version, Lazar said, and the
>>
>> developers are hoping a real-world rollout will help identify any
>> necessary
>>
>> tweaks.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Towson researchers worked closely on testing with the National
>>
>> Federation of the Blind, which is headquartered in the Riverside
>>
>> neighborhood of Baltimore. Anne Taylor, the Federation's Director of
>> access
>>
>> technology, said there are several types of software available for blind
>>
>> users to read the text on a web page aloud. Taylor, who is blind, said
>> not
>>
>> being able to use visual CAPTCHAs could impede a blind person's ability
>> to
>>
>> enjoy the benefits of the Internet and hurt their ability to hold a job.
>>
>>
>>
>> A sighted person could help a blind user with the visual CAPTCHAs, she
>> said,
>>
>> but the blind want to be independent on the Internet. Further, since many
>>
>> CAPTCHAs are on web pages that ask for personal financial information,
>> she
>>
>> has concerns about privacy.
>>
>>
>>
>> "The Internet is such an important and integral part of our daily lives
>>
>> now," Taylor said. "Just think of how many hours you spend on the web as
>> a
>>
>> sighted individual. Would you really want to have someone with you all
>> that
>>
>> time?"
>>
>>
>>
>> CAPTCHA, which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test
>>
>> <http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/science-technology/computing-information-
>>
>> technology-industry/alan-turing-PEHST00000279.topic> to tell Computers
>> and
>>
>> Humans Apart, was introduced as a concept by computer scientist Alan
>> Turing
>>
>> in 1950. The term was coined in 2000 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon
>>
>> University who developed an early Web page test program for Yahoo. The
>>
>> CAPTCHAs protect from automated hacking programs that can also leave spam
>>
>> comments on blogs, attack protected passwords and send junk email.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Brooks, the chief software developer on the SoundsRight project since
>>
>> 2010, said the audio CAPTCHA can be embedded into any Web page and
>>
>> customized by the webmaster. Brooks said its script could be tweaked to
>> be
>>
>> used in any number of different languages or have users identify any
>> number
>>
>> of sounds. An organization for train enthusiasts, he said, could
>> potentially
>>
>> have users identify the sounds of different types of trains.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is just as secure as the traditional visual
>>
>> CAPTCHAs, he said. Sighted users can use the audio CAPTCHA as well, or a
>> web
>>
>> page could give the option of either a visual CAPTCHA or the SoundsRight
>>
>> CAPTCHA, he said. The only potential downside to the technology is that
>> it
>>
>> takes about 30 to 40 seconds to complete, versus less than 10 seconds for
>> a
>>
>> visual CAPTCHA, Brooks said.
>>
>>
>>
>> "A lot of people don't have that kind of patience," he said.
>>
>>
>>
>> The Towson CAPTCHA project was the brainchild of then-undergraduate
>> student
>>
>> Jon Holman in 2007 as a class project, Lazar said. In a 2007 focus group,
>>
>> blind users identified visual CAPTCHAs as the biggest impediment to their
>>
>> using the Internet independently. Several other students, faculty members
>>
>> and outside researchers have assisted in developing the technology since
>> the
>>
>> project began.
>>
>>
>>
>> "We've always done the evaluation with blind users at every step," Lazar
>>
>> said. "This was research that was done because blind users were telling
>> us
>>
>> this was important."
>>
>>
>>
>> The project was partially supported with a $50,000 grant from the
>> Maryland
>>
>> Technology Development Corp., Lazar said. The researchers went through
>>
>> several different prototypes, rejecting those that weren't found to be
>>
>> secure enough.
>>
>>
>>
>> The SoundsRight CAPTCHA is in use on the National Federation of the
>> Blind's
>>
>> website, and the organization is working to encourage various groups and
>>
>> businesses to adopt it.
>>
>>
>>
>> "We are all one step away from a sudden disability, so why not make the
>>
>> Internet an inclusive place for everybody?" Taylor said.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank You,
>>
>>
>> Michelle Clark
>> Information Technology Specialist
>> Section 508 Coordinator
>> Office of the Chief Information Officer
>> USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service
>> 1400 Independence Ave. SW.
>> Rm. 1669-S
>> Washington, DC. 20250
>>
>> O: 202 2609014
>> E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>> To learn more about Section 508, go to
>> www.section508.gov<;http://www.section508.gov>;.
>>
>> "Because your own strength is unequal to the task do not assume it is
>> beyond the powers of man; but if anything is in the powers and province of
>> man, believe it is within your own compass also!"
>>
>> Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely
>> for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message
>> or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the
>> law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you
>> believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender
>> and delete the email immediately.
>> >> >> > > > >
--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
From: Mallory van Achterberg
Date: Wed, Nov 05 2014 6:17AM
Subject: Re: Towson University Gets Patent For Technology to Help Blind Internet Users
← Previous message | No next message
I do apologise if my question was snarky, it was honest as it's
possible the article missed mentioning the deaf-blind.
_mallory
On Wed, Nov 05, 2014 at 11:16:11AM +0000, Clark, Michelle - NRCS, Washington, DC wrote:
> Thanks for your comments. What I do not understand is why are the comments from others on this list so snarkey? We use thist to share, not to snipe. Right?
>
> Michelle