Jeffrey P. Bigham, Craig M. Prince and Richard E. Ladner University of Washington Seattle, Washington, USA webinsight.cs.washington.edu A Screen Reader On-the-Go

Web 2.0 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

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

Price Perspective $349 ~$1000.00 ~$349.00 JAWS Screen Reader New DELL Computer Introduction

Outline Introduction Accessing the Web On-the-Go WebAnywhere Evaluation

Introduction

Accessing the Web On-the-Go

WebAnywhere

Evaluation

Accessing the Web On-the-Go Many devices - Serve different needs Devices you have to carry Expensive Need to carry it with you Free Screen Readers Not installed on most computers Need permission to install them Operating System Built-Ins Narrator on Windows VoiceOver on OS X Related Work Hearsay Fire Vox

Many devices - Serve different needs

Devices you have to carry

Expensive

Need to carry it with you

Free Screen Readers

Not installed on most computers

Need permission to install them

Operating System Built-Ins

Narrator on Windows

VoiceOver on OS X

System Access To Go Originally a screen reader on a USB Drive Accessible Download using Flash Made free by the AIR Foundation 1 But: Requires running new software Requires Windows and Internet Explorer Download is approximately 10 Megabytes [1] http://www.accessibilityisaright.org (aka, most related work) Related Work

Originally a screen reader on a USB Drive

Accessible Download using Flash

Made free by the AIR Foundation 1

But:

Requires running new software

Requires Windows and Internet Explorer

Download is approximately 10 Megabytes

Outline Introduction Accessing the Web On-the-Go WebAnywhere Evaluation

Introduction

Accessing the Web On-the-Go

WebAnywhere

Evaluation

DEMO! For accessible video demo, visit: webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webanywhere WebAnywhere

For accessible video demo, visit:

webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webanywhere

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 “ Raises the floor” of web access Assist web developers in creating content 1 [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

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

“ Raises the floor” of web access

Assist web developers in creating content 1

WebAnywhere Architecture WebAnywhere Client interface in Javascript Speech MP3s retrieved from server Played with Flash or Embedded Players

Outline Introduction Accessing the Web On-the-Go WebAnywhere Evaluation

Introduction

Accessing the Web On-the-Go

WebAnywhere

Evaluation

(15 in Seattle, WA) Evaluation

User Evaluation 8 Blind Web Users 4 Tasks Checking email on gmail.com Checking bus schedule Finding a phone number with Google Filling out a survey All were successful Evaluation

8 Blind Web Users

4 Tasks

Checking email on gmail.com

Checking bus schedule

Finding a phone number with Google

Filling out a survey

All were successful

User Evaluation Likert Scale from 1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree Evaluation

Discussion Requests for current features This often varied from user to user No one mentioned latency Studies conducted in remote locations Bottom line Not ready to give up current screen readers But wanted WebAnywhere when unavailable. Evaluation

Requests for current features

This often varied from user to user

No one mentioned latency

Studies conducted in remote locations

Bottom line

Not ready to give up current screen readers

But wanted WebAnywhere when unavailable.

Outline Introduction Accessing the Web On-the-Go WebAnywhere Evaluation

Introduction

Accessing the Web On-the-Go

WebAnywhere

Evaluation

Future Work Release WebAnywhere to users Many, many improvements possible… More shortcuts, better TTS, security 1 , ARIA, downloadable TTS, new languages, improved robustness, integrate with existing screen readers, better prefetching 1 , aggressive caching 1 , user studies, ‘plugin’ support, visual highlighting, explicit support for web developers, … Future Work [1] Bigham et al. “Engineering a Self-Voicing, Web-Browsing Web Application.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE 2008) . To Appear. (available at webinsight.cs.washington.edu/publications/)

Release WebAnywhere to users

Many, many improvements possible…

More shortcuts, better TTS, security 1 , ARIA, downloadable TTS, new languages, improved robustness, integrate with existing screen readers, better prefetching 1 , aggressive caching 1 , user studies, ‘plugin’ support, visual highlighting, explicit support for web developers, …

WebAnywhere is Open Source webanywhere.googlecode.com Future Work

Platform for New Research Improve the Screen Reader Interface WebAnywhere as a Web Application Platform for usability studies Rapid iterations of design Rapid dissemination of new designs Future Work

Improve the Screen Reader Interface

WebAnywhere as a Web Application

Platform for usability studies

Rapid iterations of design

Rapid dissemination of new designs

Coming to any computer near you… WebAnywhere alpha release in May 2008 http://webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webanywhere / Contribute to the open source project! http://webanywhere.googlecode.com/ Free books for print-disabled people Soon, no $1000 screen reader required Future Work

WebAnywhere alpha release in May 2008

http://webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webanywhere /

Contribute to the open source project!

http://webanywhere.googlecode.com/

Free books for print-disabled people

Soon, no $1000 screen reader required

Conclusion Introduced WebAnywhere Screen reading web application Important as an option Blind web users on-the-go People unable to afford another screen reader An easy way to experience screen readers Works on most public terminals Blind people can use it Done

Introduced WebAnywhere

Screen reading web application

Important as an option

Blind web users on-the-go

People unable to afford another screen reader

An easy way to experience screen readers

Works on most public terminals

Blind people can use it

The End (Coming May 2008) webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webanywhere Our supporters: National Science Foundation Grant IIS-0415273 A Boeing Professorship Benetech Summer Fellowship Thanks to: T.V. Raman, Sangyun Hahn, Lindsay Yazzolino, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Anna A. Cavender, and our user study participants and consultants.