Post on 20-Jan-2016
Jeffrey P. Bighamjbigham@cs.washington.edu
University of WashingtonSeattle, Washington, USAwebinsight.cs.washington.edu
A Screen Reader On-the-Go
Promises and Challenges
Advancement in Technical Challenges ARIA, AxsJAX, others
Access to Applications Anywhere Email, documents, social connections…
No screen reader on most computers Another program to support Awareness Cost
Introduction
Accessing the Web On-the-Go Many devices - Serve different needs
Devices you have to carry Expensive Need to carry with you
Installation & Executables Not installed on most computers Need permission to install them
Operating System Built-Ins Narrator on Windows VoiceOver on OS X
Introduction
Hearsay
Fire Vox
WebAnywhere Summary
Self-voicing, web-browsing web application Runs on any web-enabled computer or device
Designed for Minimal requirements Runs on locked-down public terminals No software to install
Assist web developers in creating content1
Accessible Across the World
[1] Mankoff et al., “Is your web page accessible?: a comparative study of methods for assessing web page accessibility for the blind. CHI 2005.
WebAnywhere
Screenshot
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WebAnywhere Architecture
-or-WebAnywhere
Script
EmbeddedPlayer
WebPage Web
Sound Players
Flash Player
TransformedWeb Page
Client-Side
WebProxy
Text to Speech
Server-Side
WebAnywhere
Client interface in Javascript
Speech MP3s retrieved from server
Played with Flash or Embedded Players
(15 in Seattle, WA)
WebAnywhere
Released
Available Free From May 2008
Peaked at ~5000 / week Steady at ~1000 / week
Overwhelming Response Blogs News and other media Email
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WebAnywhere Release
Comments
“BRAVO!! Finally visually impaired individuals are able to bust through the biggest barrier placed before us so far, thanks to Web Anywhere.” -- Minnesota
“This is great news…not everyone can afford JAWS, etc.” - Kentucky
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WebAnywhere Release
Scarier Comments
“i am blind and have been for 23 years i have no sight at all i do have jaws on my pc but it gives me alot of problems at times and is costly to upgrade.”
“we were thinking of purchasing JAWS, but were thinking of using WebAnywhere as an alternative” (paraphased)
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WebAnywhere Release
Requests
Current screen reader features This often varied from user to user
Very few have mentioned latency People located all over
LANGUAGUES Released on the web everyone can access it Immediate access to a global audience
WebAnywhere Release
WebAnywhere by Country
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WebAnywhere Goes Global
Global Effort
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Developer in Norway helping to code.
Person in Brazil developing Portuguese language.
Person in China developing Chinese language.
WebAnywhere Goes Global
WebAnywhere is Open Source
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webanywhere.googlecode.com
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WebAnywhere Goes Global
Future Work
Many, many improvements possible… New languages, more shortcuts, better TTS,
security, ARIA, downloadable TTS, improved robustness, integrate with existing screen readers, better prefetching, aggressive caching, user studies, ‘plugin’ support, visual highlighting, explicit support for web developers, …
Future Implications
Platform for Assistive Technology What you want, where you want it
Advantages of Web Application Rapid iterations of design Rapid dissemination of new designs Rapid expansion across the world
Broader Themes
Future Implications
On any computer near you…
Released in May 2008 http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/
Contribute to the open source project! http://webanywhere.googlecode.com/
Come to the DEMO
Conclusion
Conclusion
WebAnywhere an Important Option Now Blind web users on-the-go People unable to afford another screen reader An easy way to experience screen readers
WebAnywhere platform for assistive tech.
Works everywhere
Harbinger of global market to come
Conclusion
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The End
webanywhere.cs.washington.eduwebanywhere.googlecode.com
Our supporters:National Science Foundation Grant IIS-0415273A Boeing ProfessorshipMicrosoft Imagine Cup
Thanks to:Anna A. Cavender, Sangyun Hahn, T.V. Raman, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Lindsay Yazzolino, and our user study participants and consultants.