A recent post by Simon Judge on the OATSoft.org mail list led to the paper Communication from scratch: towards accessible open source information systems by FNB. This is an interesting analysis of the accessibility requirements in general with application to a CMS system XOOPS. I found much resonated with similar views I have reached though from a slightly different angle.

With the possible exception of the lone games player we use ICT to communicate 'information' (or knowledge) with others. Communication is carried via the medium of data/documents and using programs to author, manipulate and present the information. If both parties need to use different modes of access to the information then either the documents must support all modes or conversion must be done at either end either on the fly or to create new document.

To complicate the matter the boundaries between document and program, media and interaction get blurred. So for example we may use switches to interact with sound media or speech to write a document. This blurring is clearly shown with the recent discussions and work on OpenDocument Format to ensure that standard includes features required for accessibility.

It is also clear that there are two camps of thought, those who are document/data focussed and those who are program/process focussed. The web supports both views being naturally a loosely connected collection of documents each with a unique address. Web pages can be accessed as text documents or through program objects (DOM). The web is now also a platform for applications which have rich functionality and are accessed through browsers (AJAX). A more technical example is in the methods of accessing web services where REST and SOAP access show this distinction.

Taking a data centric view leads to open standards that can we used by many in various degrees of sophistication for a quick fix to a complex program. The program centric view has a higher technical entry level but then offers greater ease of use in a development environment.

Both views offer significant accessibility challenges in ensuring support for different modes and I think we need to make sure we remain focussed on both. We need to ensure multiple media are supported using Open Standards for data/documents. We also need to provide standard tools and facilities giving different modes of interaction and for developers to include in their programs, probably at the Operating system level.

Open Source provides a powerful and sustainable model for collaboratively creating reusable tools and applications as well as supporting the development of Open Standards (e.g reference models).

FNB provide accessible media publishing but I'm unhappy with the term content as that implies passive consumption of artefacts created by others. Communication required more collaborative interaction and supports the shared development of understanding and learning as embodied in the constructivist ideas that educational platforms such as Moodle and Elgg embody and the so called Web 2.0 is developing. See the schoolforge-UK article on effective e-learning through collaboration, and also available as part of Terry Freedman's free booklet Coming of Age. These ideas are covered in the paper to some degree by Knowledge managemnt and Interaction design but with a somewhat process centric view rather than human.

There is now a fantastic opportunity to use ICT to enable all to collaborate and engage equally with others regardless of interaction preferences or disability. Lets work towards that end and make the most of ICT.

The September Personal Computer World carried an excellent article on using Linux. However it also contained a response to a letter from Tom Calloway of the Open Source Consortium that prompted me to respond to the confused views expressed.

PCW regular contributor Alan Stevens gave a number of reasons for small business not to use Open Source software. Taking each point in turn:

1) Lack of familiarity affects productivity.

Every company has its own requirements and you cannot expect all to use the same processes and software. Companies will use programs that others don't anyway and even considering only an Office suite (say), companies have their own templates and ways of using them. To be honest Linux and OpenOffice are now so close in features to Windows and MS Office that familiarity is not really an issue. Vista will mean Windows will be largely unfamiliar again and the gap probably larger. Each release of products such as Office is very different. This is a direct result of the marketing needs of proprietary software to show something new for the money you are forced to spend, just look at Office 12. In contrast Open Source programs often release with no obvious changes as the effort has gone into behind the scenes quality.

It can be a very good short term investment to get over unfamiliarity otherwise you may miss out on using the most productive and safest solution. The trick is to manage the learning process and reduce risk. Schoolforge have some ideas for trying Open Source programs on http://schoolforge.org.uk/index.php/Try_FLOSS_Now

2) Difficult and expensive to get support

That completely missed the point made by Tom that companies do provide excellent support and Linux is generally more reliable and secure. An article in the same magazine showed how insecure XP is and how complex it is to secure. In addition the large Open Source projects have excellent on line community support that usually gets a rapid and effective response (but you may miss out on listening to hours musac whilst waiting on the phone). In fact the Open Source business model is often to focus on providing support as the software is low cost. Thus it is the focus of the vendors efforts, not just a must-supply add on.

3)Don't  use Open Source unless you are confident you can master it and then only use well supported products.

Well that applies equally to Windows or any proprietary software, especially when you don't want to rely completely on external support. Perhaps more so with proprietary. Again an article in the same magazine showed how insecure and complex Windows is 'out of the box'. Good Linux distrobutions are secure 'out of the box' and much less time is often needed for administration. Anyway you must expect to spend some effort understanding the tools that are business critical.

You can now add Ubuntu 6.0.6 LTS to the list of formally supported Linuxs.

3)Linux is OK when using appliances with OS code hidden behind web User Interfaces

This is ambiguous. Is the argument that Linux is OK when running a web browser used to access web programs. It is true that web UIs can be accessed from any system and look much the same but then Open source is a non issue. Except I want a safe browser that confirms to standards not one that has not been updated for ages due to commercial reasons and FireFox delivers that  very well.

Is the assertion that Open Sorce is best when hidden behind a web UI? Well the UI is usually an integral part of the Open Source program - not a bolt on. The quality of the UI is independant of the development and licencing model used. However Open Source UIs are likely to follow Open Standards closely and thus be usable in any browser. Finally if the inference is that Open Source is not user friendly and needs to be hidden then projects such as Firefox have utterly disproved that out of date notion. FireFox arguably leads the browser features at this point in time.


A very important issue for small business is that using proprietary solutions can mean that your data is stored in 'secret' formats and is thus effectively owned by the vendor. This so called 'lock in' can be avoided by using programs that support Open Standards and they are usually Open Source. In addition though upgrades and patches are often rapidly released with Open Source, you are not forced to fork out on upgrades at the whim of the vendor (and then have to learn to use all those changed features).

Members of the OSC and other companies are supporting Open Source solutions that make every sense for small businesses and especially charities and religious organisations. These organisations often have better uses for cash than spending it on expensive software licences, support and administration costs.

Steve Lee
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www.schoolforge.org.uk
www.oatsoft.org

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/07/31/31FEajax_2.html

Dojo still looks good. I'm interested in the user sortable tables but they really need to have good accessibility. Has anyone looked at the accessibility? Something to investigate.

The Yahoo toolkit is noted as a good example of publishing FOSS notable for great examples.

Update: Good articles on the issues of and Screen Readers and Ajax and Table Accessibility by Roger Johansson on his excellent 456 Berea Street site.

Simon has been very busy presenting OATSoft at both ISAAC and the BCS Open Source Specialist Group.

His general OATS presentation is developing into a very comprehensive introduction to the project and AT even without Simon 'talking the talk'.

Oatsoft is beginning to get some traction in the blogsphere. Henrik Nilsen Omma is Ubuntu's Accessibility coordinator and is giving us some great feedback. Joanie Diggs at All About Access has also some good things to say.

They both pick up on the license not being important to the end users, rather the result is. Well while users don't directly care about the details of Open Source the license give the freedoms that enable us to freely reuse each others work and create a shared commons. It may be difficult to to clearly explain what Open Source means but it's easy to explain the advantage of software projects that anyone can influence by getting involved in. That involvment may be as small as requesting a feature that is needed, providing help to the community or something more involved such as creating documentation or performing usability tests.

With the proprietary model and licences, which pile on the restrictions for what we can do, we are stuck with hoping the propriator feels that the user requirements match their goals which are often largely commercial. If they don't, we don't get the needed features, or they are expensive (Open Source is very low cost too). Just look at what Joanie says

As someone who has spent the last ten years working with assistive technology in the Windows environment, I’ve grown accustomed to approaching access to software as an uphill climb:

* Trying to convince the mainstream companies to design their software in such a way that lends itself to access through the keyboard and by screen readers — and often being ignored.

* Trying to convince the assistive technology manufacturers to do the necessary customizations within their product. Alas I don’t usually get very far here either, lack of demand and/or inherent inaccessibility always being cited.

* Trying to customize the assistive technology myself to provide a basic level of support so that the mainstream technology is not completely unusable. Some days are better than others in this regard.

and

In the open source world, it’s not a three-way fight among users, AT manufacturers, and the mainstream software companies. It’s a collaboration. Or, as Dave Winer would put it, it’s users and developers partying together.

The 'quality of the result' that matters to many users is cost and how well it meets their own needs. Open Source can deliver that well, whilst proprietary suffers a conflict of interests.

The term Open Source is now being (mis?) used for all sorts of collaborative efforts which exhibit contribution by all members and that is where the real power of OATsoft lies. The Wide Open pamphlet from Demos makes inspiring reading on the subject of applying such open methods. The software is becoming commodity and the value comes from what we can do with it.

As Joanie says:

Open source solutions facilitate a move away from the medical model of assistive technology service provision — a model which for so very many reasons is unsatisfactory. Thanks to open source solutions, the user can finally cease being a passive recipient of AT, instead taking on the far more empowering roles of true consumer and active participant. As more and more users with disabilities see all that open source has to offer — far more than mere products! — the open-sourceness of the tools will indeed be a key factor if not the key factor.

That's been my dream for a while and something that is embedded into the Oatsoft philosphy. I had't thought of the model link before but that's a great connection. Social software for moving on from the the social model of disability? For some time I've been thinking about a new style service that leverages Open Source to create custom solutions with direct user input and feeding back into the user focused commons of AT programs. OATSoft could become the platform for that.

To quote John Ingleby on the fullmeasure home page :

Good AT stems from basic principles about making IT work for individual circumstances, rather than simply thinking about changes needed for people with disabilities.

Add to that users being directly involved in making it work for their own circumstances and we have the chance of making AT so transparent that it gets 'out of the way' allowing users to get on with what matters to them.

Various articles 'wot I rote' before blogging here at elgg.net. Many curently reside on the ITCH Wiki.

Selected

1. Web 2.0: Opportunity and accessibility challange
2. Effective eLearning through Collaboration - joint with Miles Berry and now part of Terry Freedman's Coming of Age free booklet for teachers.
3. User scripts enhance website accessibility
4. Trying FLOSS
5. PowerTalk program documentation

Ability Magazine articles

1. Web 2.0: Opportunity and accessibility challange
2. User scripts enhance website accessibility
3. PowerTalk, customising software for accessibility and Open Source
4. Letter on Terminal Servers
5. OpenDocument Accessibility

Web site content

1. fullmeasure.co.uk website
2. PowerTalk program documentation
3. On Collaborative Communities, OpenSource, AT and OATS
4. ITCH community Wiki
5. Accessibility Project ideas

Schoolforge.org.uk content

1. Accessibility and Assistive Technology activity
2. Trying FLOSS
3. Linux for Education
4. Effective eLearning through Collaboration - joint with Miles Berry
5. Tux Paint Review
6. New Microsoft Accessibility Model
7. Intro to FLOSS

Misc.

1. Remixing MP3s

I just spotted the Disablist Britain report on Demos and whilst I haven't read it yet it looks good and is badged by Scope. Poor accessibility of software and web sites is just one of many means of discrimination.

Bringing together data about ‘disablism’ from a large number of sources in one place for the first time, this report catalogues the ways in which British society discriminates against disabled people and prevents them from living the lives they want to lead.

Its aim is to highlight and tackle disablism so that disabled people have the chance to live independent lives. Independent living is what non-disabled people do every day of their lives – it is equally the human right of disabled people to enjoy, but this fundamental right is denied to them living in a disablist society.

PAS 78 provides a good high level overview of the issues of making websites accessible and is now available as a free download from the BSI website. It is aimed at those commissioning sites rather than developers but never the less has much useful information and practical advise for developers who want a better understanding of accessibility issues.

It has a focus on UK issues and services which is understandable as it was created to address the pathetic number of accessible sites as surveyed by the DRC in 2004 (81% failed to meet the most basic W3C accessibility guidelines). The DDA states that service providers must make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities and includes websites that are providing a service. 

PAS 78 provides a clear guide to the issues, techniques, standards, principles and gives practical approaches for creating accessible and usable web sites, including:

1. Glossary of terms
   
2. Broad categories of disabilities
3. Accessibility and Assistive technologies
4. Web technologies
   
5. The W3C guidelines and accessibility standards
6. Developing an accessibility policy
7. Involving people with disabilities at all stages
8. Testing strategies
9. Contracting design services
   
10. Many useful links and a good bibliography
    

I found it strange that Sign Supported English was not mentioned as this is prefered by some to full British Sign Language, including children.

Note also that the draft of the next version of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelnes (WCAG) standard, 2.0, is causing some controversy with complaints about it being hard to understand and not covering people with learning difficulties or cognative disabilities. 

One point made in PAS 78 is that the web will only be truely accessible when OS developers  provide good accessibility features and work with AT and program developers. www.oatsoft.org is contributing to that and helping Open Source projects and 3rd party developers great the tools that are needed by users.

Am I making Myself clear? from Mencap is a excellent guide to writing clearly and inclusively. It advises on writing for people with learning difficulties but has a much broader application for Plain English and good communication. For example the symbol sets described are also useful for people using switch input.

I'm off to study it.

You may recognise a few of the people mentioned in these articles from Stephen O'hear on Read/Write web.
They include many of those involved in Terry Freedman's Coming of Age booklet which gives practical advice on using web 2.0 in education. Coming of Age includes the Effective e-Learning article that Miles Berry co-authored with myself for Schoolforge-UK and has been very popular.

Stephen's articles are: 

Part 1: e-learning 2.0 - how Web technologies are shaping education

Part 2: Elgg - social network software for education

Terry is working hard on organising the sequel Coming of Age 2.0.

This year the kids' school summer school holidays are even longer than usual with extra 'pupil free' days being added to the usual endless halcyon days (do any parents recognise that description?). My wife and I both work full time making it a challenge to cover all the days, but we are managing by taking it in turns to be at home and by enlisting the help of friends and relatives. Last week it was my turn to be at home and we spent it at a friends country cottage in Chewton Mendip nr. Wells in Somerset. It was something of a working holiday, what with 3 guinea pigs, a hampster, a gold fish, nesting swallows and various plants to look after. That said staying at a house with a wonderful garden surrounded by fields is very relaxing.

Fit Fun

The garden contains one of those large circular trampolines that are currently so very popular and it proved to be a continuous attraction (the kids had a go as well). In between acrobatic marathons we went out and found some good local entertainment.

Pukka Tukka

But first, food. A good range of locally produced farm produce is to be found at at Farringtons farm shop  (not a very informative website that). And in the West Harptree village store the Mature Farmhouse Tasty Cheddar Cheese is probably the best I have tasted. I'm note sure if it is unpasteurised but it sure tastes as good.

The best ever chips are available at the Cheddar Fish Bar in Cliff St. in Cheddar. That's English style chips that go with "fish 'n'". We often drive drive through the beautiful and stunning natural gorge and as our outward journey through it was near tea time could not resist grabbing some chips and sitting in an unoccupied car park under the precipitous cliffs to enjoy them.. The chips are just how I like them but rarely ever find them, not too greasy and well cooked and tasting of spud. I think it is a matter of having clean fat that is hot enough. The staff are friendly and numerous and they clearly do a fantastic trade as such quality deserves. On the return journey we had planned to stop and explore the wild part of the gorge and look for the goats (the commercial bit is most unattractive) but the weather was against us.

Fit again 

We visited the swimming pool at the Wells Leisure Centre which has some fun features without being over the top. The kids love the rapids and bubbles etc. For some reason the water jets were not use this time which caused some disappointment, though the children didn't mind so much.

Garden Art

The Bishops Palace Wells garden is located next to the Wells Cathedral and currently hosts numerous sculptures by Philip Jackson in his SACRED AND PROFANE exhibition . I love the juxtaposition of statues or other art installations with a garden and the children had great fun finding them all. Philip's art is slightly surreal or other-worldly yet still obviously human which makes them so very popular. There ara few more photos of the sculptures on my flickr stream.

We also explored the moat which is under going restoration and looked at the wells arboretum.

Caves and grockle fodder

It's been many years since I visited Wookey Hole caves and they have become noticeably more commercial with a fairy garden, numerous plastic dinosaurs (complete with irritating sounds effects) and a giant guerilla. Not really my cup of tea though it just avoids complete tackiness. They are obviously caching in on the links to Harry Potter that the old Wookey witch cave legend affords. It was also pretty expense (£27 for the 3 of us) but well organised as the queues moved at a reasonable speed even though it was on a very busy day. In fact having entered the full car park we only just decided to see what it was like after a riverside picnic, but I'm pleased we did. Typically, a voucher for one free child entrance appeared in the next day's paper. The guide whizzes through the caves pretty quickly but there are many other entertainments for children including the old paper mill, penny arcade and a magic show which all helped make me feel less 'fleeced'. Mark was sure he saw one of the rare breed of horshoe bats in a cave roof and that made his day.

Historic Bristol harbour

I had lunch at the Arnolfini down in the centre of Bristol where the R. Frome meets the floating harbour It is a historically fascinating area with it's many links with the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, including being the both the building and resting place of the steel hulled, screw driven SS Great Britain. The old docks are the origin of the phrase 'Ship shape and Bristol fashion' as the extreme range of water levels took their toll on all but the best boats unlucky enough to be moored there before the floating harbour was built to overcome the problem. While having lunch the old swing bridge at Redcliff operated which reminded me that I previously spent many happy hours exploring the fascinating pneumatic machines that operates the locks at the harbour entrance at the Cumberland basin. Much Bristol's wealth came from the slave trade and that adds a very bitter note but at least there is a reasonably honest exhibition on the harbour. Moving up to the present the @Bristol exhibition facilities offer fun education facilities. All in all this is a excellent location for the educatinal innovators Futurelab who are based in a restored industrial building and where the reason I was there for lunch.

A great break...

I've been reading around some of Mozilla Foundation's accessibility information after prompting from Aaron Leventhal. Aaron is the leader of Mozilla Accessibility Project and also works on accessibility for IBM. It is patently clear that Mozilla are not only committed to accessibility but that Aaron and others are working hard to encourage both users and developers to improve the situation and to innovate.

Mozilla's mission is to 'preserve choice and innovation on the Internet' and that clearly embraces accessibility and neatly overlaps with OATSoft mission of 'improving Assistive Technology and computer accessibility through the power of Open Source development techniques', especially as Mozilla are one of the leading Open Source organisations. Mozilla have brought us some of the best end user programs created by Open Source communities, including the excellent Firefox web browser.

Firefox is in fact currently the only program featured on OATSoft that is not specifically Assistive Technology. That is for a very good reason, Firefox has many excellent accessibility features. Not only does it have a high level of accessibility built-in with features such as keyboard support but there are many useful plugins available such as Mouse Gestures, Foxy Voice and CLC-FireVox. It also provides many features for Assistive Technology developers such as Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) and focus tracking. However I had not previously realised how commited Mozilla are to ensuring that we can all use the web effectively.

This blog post by Frank Hecker (executive director of the Mozilla Foundation) very clearly indicates the depth of thought, action and commitment involved. That's both impressive and reasuring especially as the web is becoming so pervasive and is showing signs of becoming the IT platform of choice.

One of the key issues for me is summed up in the paragraph with the title.

Improving accessibility is key to improving access to information, communications, and applications for everyone.

In addition

We can help bring the benefits of disruptive innovation to the assistive technology industry.

is one of the prime motivators of the team at Oatsoft. The closed model has meant that AT developers have had to 'sweat blood and tears' getting their products working and keeping them working with undocumented and changing operating system and product features. That in turn means they are unhappy to share and stiffles innovation. Users demand more and Open Source can deliver it.

Open Source means that we can all have our say and play a part in getting the solutions that we want. Aaron is calling users to get involved by providing feedback on accessibility and usability. He stated in a recent interview with voice of the Nation's Blind that, with reference to the Linux Screen reader extension Fire Vox:

It’s really mostly about community feedback and involvement at this point. We need more users trying it and telling us what they’d like to see. We need to get reports either in Bugzilla, or to the newsgroup (mozilla.support.accessibility), or sent directly to the screen reader vendors. In fact, Bugzilla reports are really the best because they increase the presence of people with disabilities in the community. Developers from the community need to notice that people with disabilities exist in order to care about their needs. 

That applies equally to any Open Source program and is one of the aims of OATSoft.

If you are a developer Mozilla are making grants for accessibility development work.

So you have no excuse not to do your bit to help improve accessibility. It's your call, and you can get involved at OATSoft which is bringing users and developers together.

I was introduced to FireBug by Tim Reader, Web Master of Futurelab and I'm eternally greatful as it is already a valuable addition to my toolkit.

FireBug is a Mozilla Firefox extension that makes dubugging HTML, Javascript, CSS and Ajax a joy (well almost). It aggregates a number of the best of tools into one simple interface. As the author Joe Hewitt says:

FireBug lets you explore the far corners of the DOM by keyboard or mouse. All of the tools you need to poke, prod, and monitor your JavaScript, CSS, HTML and Ajax are brought together into one seamless experience, including a debugger, error console, command line, and a variety of fun inspectors.

A quick overview of FireBug's features:

* JavaScript debugger for stepping through code one line at a time
* Status bar icon shows you when there is an error in a web page
* A console that shows errors from JavaScript and CSS
* Log messages from JavaScript in your web page to the console (bye bye "alert debugging")
* An JavaScript command line (no more "javascript:" in the URL bar)
* Spy on XMLHttpRequest traffic
* Inspect HTML source, computed style, events, layout and the DOM

Correct use of the Alt attribute to specify alternative text for images in HTML is perhaps the most basic of web accessibility requirements and one that we should ideally be able to take as a given. It is propably the accessibility issue that is first mentioned but so few sites actually do it well. However it is not entirely a clear cut issue, so it is reassuring to find a very thorough treatment of the issues from the WebAim folks in Appropriate Use of Alternative Text.

It steers a reassuringly safe course clear of the issue of wether IE should use the alt attribute as a tool tip or should use the title attibute.

The last week or so have seen several interesting developments in Open Source and accessibility. but first some sad news.

Ken Stoner, Chairman & Founder of the ITCH Network died in hospital on 14th Aug after a stroke and complications from pnuemonia. Ken's vision created the nationwide network of volunteers providing local support for computer users with disabilities after he developed motor neurone disease. You can read his account of the history of ITCH. We owe him a lot.

Switch Access to Technology is a thorough introduction to the techniques used and issues that switch users face. It provides guidance to developers and is also a good read. The authors Simon Judge and David Colven are both founders of OATSoft.

Henrick Nilson Omma, the head of the Ubuntu Accessibility team announced that Orca is now the default Ubuntu screen reader in the upcoming Edgy Eft release (already in the downloadable Live CDs). There's some good introductory videos of Willie Walker at CSUN on the Orca site and also with others including one on ODF accessibility.

On a personal note, it looks like I'm going on a trip state side to meet some of the Open Source accessibility folk. Aaron Leventhal leader of Mozilla Accessibility has very kindly invited me to the hackfest. I'll also be attending the Gnome Accessibility summit before hand. A great chance to meet many of those working on Open Source Accessibility  and also to introduce them to OATSoft (and schoolforge). The intention is that I'll then start work on a project that is yet to be decided. Thanks for a wonderful opportunity Aaron.