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E-ACCESS BULLETIN

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technology issues for people
with visual impairment and blindness.

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ISSUE 3, MARCH 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:
Section One:
News: Funding fears over access to libraries; 
Email that talks; Technology for independence; 
'JobsGoPublic' goes accessible; Downing Street's 
missed opportunity.

Section Two:
New technology - audio description

Section Three:
Education - virtual learning environments

Section Four:
Viewpoint - accessibility and cost

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SECTION ONE: NEWS
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FUNDING FEARS OVER ACCESS TO 
LIBRARIES

Funding for vital access projects for the use of 
public libraries by blind and visually impaired 
people could be jeopardised by the imminent 
absorption of the UK's Library and Information 
Commission into a sprawling new Museums, 
Libraries and Archives Commission, to include 
everything from libraries to art galleries.

The current LIC has a strong track record on 
promoting access to libraries by blind and 
visually impaired people, and has commissioned 
more than a dozen major reports on the subject 
including the modernisation of the catalogue 
system to include alternative formats; the 
development of an efficient inter-library loan 
scheme; the enrolment of any visually impaired 
library user through only one of the many 
specialist providers; and a more rational method 
for title selection.

The reports have been commissioned from a 
£200,000 grant from the Department of Culture, 
Media and Sport which is subject to renewal 
under the Treasury's comprehensive spending 
review - already a subject of some nervousness in 
the visual impairment sector. But the emergence 
next week of the new monster Museums, 
Libraries and Archives Commission has led to 
greater concerns that even if the money is 
renewed, it could be expected to cover not only 
library access but also access to museums and art 
galleries, and perhaps even be further stretched to 
cover access by other major groups of disabled 
people such as those who have hearing 
difficulties, physical access problems or learning 
difficulties.

To date the grant has been administered jointly 
by the LIC and Share The Vision (STV), the 
umbrella organisation for public libraries and 
alternative format producers such as the RNIB 
and the NLB. The funding has been widely 
welcomed as government recognition that 
universal access has to be backed up by careful 
studies of access problems.

One of the programme's most interesting recent 
findings is that Microsoft NT is the best 
operating system for public libraries to ensure 
their systems are optimally accessible for blind 
and visually impaired people and people with 
other disabilities.

This finding comes in a report prepared by 
Tornado Labs for the LIC. Tornado tested a 
number of software packages and concluded that 
NT met its primary requirement that visually 
impaired users should be able to customise a 
mainstream operating system, add personal 
characteristics for screen readers and 
magnification packages and then use these 
identifiers on other systems.

The problem for the research team was to find a 
package which would allow the user to store 
characteristics, identify these in a registry, copy 
them onto a carrier such as a floppy disk, reload 
them into another system and the reproduce them 
without complications. The NT system allows the 
construction of 'roaming profiles' which can be 
used from any workstation on the system but it 
also allows this until now elusive property of re-
installing on another system.

The drawback of this solution - as the report 
admits - is that NT is not likely to be used in the 
domestic environment, so many users of public 
terminals who go through a lengthy 
customisation procedure will not be able to copy 
the relevant file and use it at home. Most 
domestic users have Windows 9X on their 
systems, and convergence between the two 
Microsoft products is still some way off.

However, the importance of the LIC finding is 
that the accessibility characteristics identified as 
vital will be incorporated into any specification 
issued to tenderers for the supply of equipment to 
public libraries. It is hoped that the specification 
will be parachuted into other government 
departments where public interaction is key, such 
as the health service.


EMAIL THAT TALKS

A real-time voice discussion service which 
operates using ordinary email and computer 
microphones has been launched by US firm 
HearMe. The company claims that 
VoiceCONTACT is the first technology of its 
kind, and says it will remain free, although it 
plans to charge for upgrades with additional 
functionality.

VoiceCONTACT users must visit the HearMe 
website at 
http://www.hearme.com/products/voicecontact/d
ownload/
The user is then prompted with instructions on 
how to send a live voice e-mail discussion using 
ordinary PC microphones. HearMe sends the 
invitation and the recipient then clicks on an 
embedded link in the e-mail to join the 
conversation.

"With VoiceCONTACT, all you need to know is 
someone's email address in order to invite them 
to a voice conversation. That's what's so 
powerful. You don't need to know if they have 
particular software, a user name, just their email 
address," company spokesman Danielle Borel 
said.

Although the service is not specifically designed 
for people with sight loss, HearMe says it could 
prove of great use to blind people.

However there may currently be access problems 
for blind users in using the web site and typing e-
mail addresses into the online form. It seems 
likely that a more accessible version will have to 
be designed before blind users can take full 
advantage. E-Access Bulletin would be interested 
to hear from readers about their experiences in 
trying to use HearMe, or if they know of any 
other similar services.


TECHNOLOGY FOR INDEPENDENCE

The RNIB is to hold a special action group 
meeting on 5 April on 'ICT for independence - 
developing a strategy for learning, working and 
living'.

The meeting will plan the institute's strategy over 
the next few years for developing and lobbying 
for access to all kinds of information and 
communications technologies by blind and 
visually impaired people. Topics under 
discussion will include access to digital TV; the 
establishment of a partnership with a mainstream 
PC distributor to ensure lower costs of access 
technology; ways to alleviate technology access 
difficulties for deafblind people; and the need to 
ensure a key presence on any industry group 
involve in setting standards for new technologies 
such as Wireless Access Protocol.

A full report of the meeting will be carried in our 
next issue.


'JOBSGOPUBLIC' GOES ACCESSIBLE

The UK's major online gateway to jobs in the 
public sector - 'JobsGoPublic' - is creating an 
accessible version of its entire web site, so blind 
and visually impaired people will be able to 
access jobs information and accessible versions 
of application forms.

JobsGoPublic carries recruitment details for a 
wide range of public sector bodies including 
government departments, local councils and NHS 
bodies. The accessible version of the site will 
conform to the BOBBY web access standard.

At the time of writing the site is not yet 
functional, but it is promised online in the next 
week or two at:
http://bobby.jobsgopublic.com/
And the main (non-accessible) site is at:
www.jobsgopublic.co.uk/


DOWNING STREET'S MISSED 
OPPORTUNITY

Access to technology by blind, visually impaired 
and disabled people was conspicuous by its 
absence from a report unveiled by Prime Minister 
Tony Blair last month into a strategy for realising 
universal access to the internet.

The report, commissioned from consultant Booz-
Allen & Hamilton, warned of the potential for a 
digital divide to open up in the UK over the next 
three years, seriously disadvantaging people and 
communities who were not connected to the 
internet and equipped with the skills to use it 
properly.

However, greater accessibility for blind and 
visually impaired people - surely a crucial factor 
in any programme to universalise internet access 
- was not specifically mentioned as a policy 
priority. Among the recommendations that were 
included was the classification of 
telecommunication companies as central utilities; 
offering tax incentives to companies that provide 
access to underserved populations; encouraging 
National Lottery grants for relevant projects; 
issuing 'internet credits' for free access to public 
terminals; providing the unemployed with free 
access; and providing incentives for more people 
to access government services online.

The report is online at:
www.number-
10.gov.uk/default.asp?PageID=1203


************************************
SECTION TWO: NEW TECHNOLOGY - 
AUDIO DESCRIPTION
************************************

DIE HARD - BUT FIRST, LISTEN HARD

You are watching the film 'Die Hard', and Bruce 
Willis is talking on the phone to a policeman. 
Injured and trapped in a hijacked tower block 
after a gunfight, Willis sounds tired and nervous. 
A blind or visually impaired member of the 
audience can pick this up, but what they would 
not realise is that, as Willis is talking, he is 
pulling a piece of glass from the sole of his foot.

Recent research shows that many people with 
sight loss find films or television programmes 
extremely difficult to follow. Reasons for this 
include the fact that there are no verbal 
descriptions of subtitles; there is often confusion 
between characters; scenes change too fast; and 
films and dramas often conclude without any 
dialogue.

There is a solution, however: audio description, 
the verbal description of scenes that occur 
between periods of dialogue, which can be 
carried as a separate sound-track on digital 
television or in specially adapted cinemas.

The RNIB has launched a campaign, Talking 
Images', to raise £2.3 million to help film makers 
and producers set up audio description, find 
relevant technical information and get in touch 
with skilled 'describers'.

Audio describing should only cost about £6,000 
per film and the campaign aims to raise 
awareness in the film industry about its benefits 
for those with sight loss. Once a film is 
completed, scenes are described and recorded on 
audio track which is then mixed and transmitted 
alongside the film using equipment such as the 
Cinetracker in cinemas. From there the signal is 
broadcast to members of the audience wearing 
headsets.
However, although £6,000 is a tiny fraction of 
the production costs of a film, the RNIB has dug 
in for a long campaign and expects few changes 
in the short term.

For television, audio description will only be 
available in the summer through providers of 
digital terrestrial TV although the RNIB is also 
lobbying cable and satellite providers to provide 
a service.

Viewers will need a special module for set top 
boxes or integrated digital televisions which can 
decode the audio description track. Guidelines 
from the ITC state that 2% of programmes 
should be audio-described this year and the 
targets rise by 2% every 2 years after 2000.

The RNIB has welcomed last month's increase in 
the TV licence fee concession for blind people to 
50%, but has warned it should not be used as an 
excuse for broadcasters to ignore access issues 
like audio description. "The 50% concession is a 
recognition that although 94% of blind people 
watch TV, they do not get the full benefit of what 
TV has to offer," said RNIB's Broadcasting 
Officer Denise Evans.

Evans warned that description technology may 
be costly and that the government should 
subsidise the additional module that is necessary 
for set-top boxes. "Without this, blind people's 
access to television could remain a matter of 
wealth".

Programmes identified by those with sight loss as 
particularly difficult to follow without 
description include films, dramas, soaps and 
wildlife documentaries. However, the RNIB is 
campaigning for programme makers to transmit 
more audio-described programmes and want to 
see a wide variety available.

There are currently 60 videos available in 
described format include Four Weddings and a 
Funeral, Junglebook, Braveheart, Hear My Song, 
Lady and the Tramp, Little Mermaid, the Horse 
Whisperer, and yes . . . Die Hard. For more 
information on described videos use the RNIB 
helpline: 0345 669999.


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SECTION THREE - EDUCATION:
VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
***********************************

STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY PIONEERS 
RESEARCH INTO ACCESS PROBLEMS

Staffordshire University is investigating access 
by the blind and visually impaired to 'virtual 
learning environments' (VLEs) including 
internet-based education.

Staffordshire has pioneered the use of VLEs for 
its staff and students: in the 1998-99 academic 
year 3,500 students used the systems, and the 
figure is expected to jump to 6,000 this year.

Virtual learning means resources can be accessed 
by students online in an organised manner. 
Students and tutors can search published material 
on a server and gather relevant items in a 'basket'. 
All users can communicate with each other using 
email and notice boards, and the use of content is 
tracked giving feedback to tutors. VLEs can also 
be used to improve central administration, assign 
work and track submitted work.

Mark Stiles, manager of the university's Learning 
Development Centre, told E-Access Bulletin that 
while Staffordshire has a good track record on 
access to information technology, feedback from 
some visually impaired students showed they 
were experiencing difficulties with the virtual 
learning environment.

The study will look at difficulties faced by those 
in four categories of disability including the 
visually impaired. Stiles expects the study to be 
completed in the next few weeks, when the 
results will be published.

The Staffordshire project is one of more than a 
dozen across the UK supported by DISinHE, 
otherwise known by its snappy full title of the 
Central Clearing House for Information 
Technology for Accessibility and Disability in 
Higher Education. Several others of these 
projects are focused specifically on solving 
problems experienced by the blind and visually 
impaired.

Funded by the Joint Information Systems 
Committee of the UK Higher Education Funding 
Councils, DISinHE's overarching objective is "to 
make sure all information is available in some 
form or another to all people."

Established in 1998 as part of the Department of 
Applied Computing at the University of Dundee, 
DISinHE is focused on tackling five accessibility 
problems: excessive graphic portrayal of 
information; the requirement to use a mouse; 
poor structuring of content; excessive use of 
cutting edge technology which is not fully 
supported; and poor choice in output options.

The organisation says the victims of these 
problems are most often disabled users who are 
visually impaired, dyslexic, have motor disability 
or are cognitively impaired. However, it says 
poor design affects everyone.

Another study backed by DISinHE is one 
examining voice recognition software, at 
University College Worcester. This aims to 
develop effective training and usage guidelines 
for good practice in voice recognition which can 
be used throughout the university and elsewhere. 
Meanwhile City University is looking at the web 
for people with visual impairment. Study 
objectives include a review of software and other 
systems that assist those with sight loss to access 
the web.

For more information on DISinHE and the 
supporting studies see:
www.disinhe.ac.uk


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SECTION FOUR:
VIEWPOINT - ACCESSIBILITY AND COST
**************************

MACHINES THAT TALK MAKE 
PERFECT COMMERCIAL SENSE

Manufacturers of technological devices 
often feel they cannot easily make them 
more accessible to blind people because 
they are - quite rightly - concerned about 
the cost of building better displays, 
speech conversion or speech recognition 
into their products. They may use the 
argument in their defence that visually 
impaired are merely one interest group 
among many.

But the point they are missing is that one 
day - if indeed it is not happening already 
- the majority of sighted people will also 
have access difficulties because they will 
become overloaded with visual cues.

Visually impaired people have a uniquely 
insightful experience of technology, 
ironically because of the very difficulties 
they face in accessing it. They are 
therefore well-placed to advise 
manufacturers on how easy it is to use 
various devices, and how designs might 
be altered for the benefit of everyone.

How many people really bother to read 
information that they are being charged 
for their ATM transactions when the 
charge information is displayed as they 
take their card? How many sighted 
people know what the icons on the 
computer do without the text labels? If 
manufacturers concentrate exclusively on 
visual information, these problems arise. 
Currently everything from mobile web 
browsing to in-car navigation systems are 
on displays which are either far too 
cramped, or inappropriately large in a 
situation where a car driver should be 
looking at the road.

To take another example, it is well known 
that many people have trouble setting 
their video recorders, and there is still 
only a visual indication when you enter 
an invalid 'Video Plus' number. Why not 
use an audible signal, which would both 
help alert a sighted user and be vital for a 
visually impaired user?

Accessible design should be commercially 
viable, since disabled people are among the 
highest users of technology. The popular 'Parrot' 
talking organiser was not designed for blind 
people, but once it became popular in this 
market, its manufacturer realised it would be 
worthwhile to modify it and build in new features 
specifically targeted at blind users.

There could be much wider use of speech 
synthesis technology in consumer goods for the 
benefit of everyone, for example in car radios 
and traffic navigation systems where the driver 
could be concentrating on the road. If this 
technology were applied in volume, 
implementation costs should fall significantly.

Much of the technology behind text-to-speech 
chips already exists, and price need not remain a 
barrier to implementation for long. Speech chips 
are getting more and more powerful while 
remaining relatively stable in price. The increase 
in power should provide faster, more responsive 
and better quality speech.

If we can demonstrate the benefits of this 
approach for general use it could be 
instrumental in bringing the cost of 
accessibility down to a point where it is 
no longer a cause for its exclusion.

* Article by Tristram Llewellyn of The 
Visually Impaired Radio and Electronics 
Society (VIRES). VIRES promotes the 
enjoyment of amateur radio and 
electronics for visually impaired people. 
See:
http://freespace.virgin.net/vires.uk/

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