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Directly Accessible Mainstream Graphical Information

  • Conference paper
Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3118))

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Abstract

Plain text in well-authored electronic documents of nearly any format is accessible to a blind person who knows how to use a computer and screen reader. A great deal of common information is generally not presented as plain text however. Charts, diagrams, and graphs are common in business, scientific, and most professional literature. Maps and geographically-oriented data such as weather maps and complex census information would be virtually impossible to present in words. Until recently it has not been possible for authors of mainstream literature to present graphical information of these kinds in a format that could be accessed directly by blind people. In this paper, a new technology is described that does permit blind people to have direct access to most object-oriented graphical information. This new technology is possible because of two recent developments. One is the emergence of the mainstream SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) language. The second is the Tiger technology for embossing tactile graphics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ViewPlus Technologies, Inc, 1853 SW Airport Avenue, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA

    John A. Gardner & Vladimir Bulatov

Authors
  1. John A. Gardner
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  2. Vladimir Bulatov
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Integriert Studieren, Johannes Kepler Universität, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Klaus Miesenberger

  2. Studienzentrum fuer Sehgeschaedigte, Universitaet Karlsruhe (TH), Germany

    Joachim Klaus

  3. fortec - Research Group on Rehabilitation Technology, Institute integrated study, Vienna Univ. of Technology, Favoritenstr. 11/029, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang L. Zagler

  4. INSERM U592 – Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Association BrailleNet, 9, quai Saint Bernard, 75252, Paris cedex 05, France

    Dominique Burger

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gardner, J.A., Bulatov, V. (2004). Directly Accessible Mainstream Graphical Information. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.L., Burger, D. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3118. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27817-7_110

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27817-7_110

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22334-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-27817-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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