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Meiyo Unlimited
CEO: Viamonte Sherman
2/18/07
RFP #706
Abstract
Traditionally, internet philanthropy, such as that carried out by the IT Futures
Foundation, has had a deep interest in the digital divide and how to fix it. Whether it is a
project that aims to bring internet access to inner-city youth or teach middle-aged baby
boomers how to use the internet to find a job, a significant amount of time, energy and
money is being put into closing the digital divide. However, there are numerous factors
that contribute to the digital divide, and severe visual impairment a serious but often
overlooked one. In 2003, 63.7% of individuals with a severe visual disability had access
to the internet. Additionally, numerous tools exist that turn web content into a form
usable by visually impaired individuals. However, the reverse of that process is nearly
impossible. Few tools exist that allow blind people to publish their own content on the
web, and those that do are insufficient to meet the needs of users who are nearly or
completely blind.
Meiyo Unlimited has done preliminary research on the problem and has
determined that the issue is not with technology, but rather with how technology is
applied to meet user’s needs. Therefore, we are proposing a project that uses usercentered design principles to create software that allows individuals with severe visual
impairment to publish their own web content.
Background
Most computer users are painfully aware of the factors that limit their use of
technology. Whether it is insanely high system requirements for the latest software or the
need for an expensive program to do some technical task, such issues continually irritate
users of misinformation technology on a daily basis. Be it “the system has run out of
memory” or “this web page requires a plug-in,” the message is essentially the same:
“you’re out of luck.”
Given that such issues are awkward for normal users, using information
technology like email and the World Wide Web can be nothing less than difficult and
often times impossible for users who have some sort of visual, auditory or mobility
disability. Luckily, such users have not been forgotten about just yet. As the field of
information technology has grown, so has the concept of accessibility. Accessibility, in
the context of information technology, means creating software and web sites to meet the
needs of not just average users but also users who may have a variety of disabilities
ranging from color blindness or poor hand mobility to complete blindness or
susceptibility to photo-epileptic seizures.
Problem Definition
The 1.3 million legally blind Americans have numerous options as far as web
accessibility goes. Common tools include special browsers that magnify and/or enlarge
text, images, web pages, etc. for people with poor eyesight or allow the exclusive use of
keyboards for those who cannot use computer mice. For people with a more severe form
of blindness, either complete or almost complete, screen-reader software that translates
online text into synthesized speech or onto Braille displays is commonly available. In
this way, properly designed web pages are accessible to people with severe visual
impairments.
Meiyo Unlimited
CEO: Viamonte Sherman
2/18/07
RFP #706
The caveat, however, is that for a web page to function with such software, it
must be designed within certain guidelines, such as specifying an “alt” property for all
any images, scripts or embedded media and aligning the components of a web page in a
logical order so that it will make sense in a verbal form. The majority of websites fail to
do this. However, section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities
Act and the Telecommunications Act require all government web sites and certain
commercial web sites be made accessible. This legislation, combined with a series of
high-profile legal disputes, a W3C initiative and advances in software mean that the
World Wide Web is becoming more accessible to visually impaired users.
While it has become possible for blind people to “read” web content, the ability to
actually generate content that can be posted to the web is considerably more problematic.
While there is plenty of software available with the specific intent of making the web
accessible to visually impaired users, software that allows visually impaired users to post
their own content to the web is severely lacking. The software that currently exists for
this purpose actually consists of accessibility add-ons for mainstream applications like
Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver. Such solutions, while good for users with minor
disabilities, are insufficient for users who rely on screen-readers, Braille displays and
keyboards to interact with computers.
The fundamental problem that Meiyo Unlimited has chosen to solve is that of
creating a usable piece of software that allows people with severe visual impairments to
create and publish their own web content. Due to the wide variety of visual disabilities,
we are focusing on users who have a moderate level of technical experience, in that they
are familiar with the World Wide Web and computers, but still must rely on three major
forms of computer interaction: screen readers, speech recognition software and
keyboards.
Solution
Historically, the main issue facing the development of accessible software for web
publishing has been viewing the process of moving from a mental concept to a tangible
web page as a technical one, leaving disabled users out of the picture entirely. Granted,
software like FrontPage and Dreamweaver are marvelous examples of technically
advanced software, they have shown themselves to be difficult even for ordinary
computer jocks to use; for the visually impaired users considered here they are
impossible.
In fact, the process of creating and publishing web pages is technically simple,
and software such as screen readers and speech recognition has already been proven and
is maturing rapidly. Therefore, this solution is not a technical solution. Rather, it takes a
more comprehensive approach focused on meeting the needs of a specific set of users.
This approach, referred to as user-centered or participatory design, puts more emphasis
on studying the users and involving them in the design process before the software is
even designed, much less written.
The actual form the software takes will be determined through the development
process listed below. However, the overall goal is to create a program that allows the
users described above to create simple, functional web pages. It is fully understood that
creating eye-candy sites with DHTML, AJAX and Flash are impractical for such people,
but doing so is also unnecessary. The most important aspect, and the one that this
Meiyo Unlimited
CEO: Viamonte Sherman
2/18/07
RFP #706
solution focuses on, is taking a user-centered approach to create software that is userfriendly and effective; a goal that is nothing less than critical given the intended
consumer. This process is described in detail in the implementation plan given below.
Technical Description
Technically, this solution is similar to any other piece of desktop software, except
it makes use of a very different form of interface. It is composed of several components,
including the application itself along with an accompanying speech-recognition engine.
Due to the difficult and involved nature of speech recognition, open source software such
as XVoice and CVoiceControl will be used.
Implementation Plan
The implementation of this software, though similar to the development of any
piece of desktop software, differs in several ways. The most significant difference is that
it involves users at every stage of the process, from the initial concept development
through the maintenance phase of the mature software.
There will be several key groups involved in the development of the software to
ensure that all needs, both user-related and technical, are accounted for.
 Users – As stated previously, due to the specific and unique needs of the intended
users, representative users must be involved from the beginning to ensure that the
software is built such that they can use it. This includes a large group of visually
impaired individuals who will suggest features, as well as evaluate mock-up
interfaces and beta-releases, as well as a smaller group that will work directly
with the software engineers and designers to flesh out the details of how the
software will work.
 Software Engineers/Programmers – These people make up the technical side of
the process and will be responsible for actually designing and writing the code for
the software, maintaining it and creating prototype and mock-up interfaces.
 Accessibility Experts – Accessibility experts are people who have professional
and/or academic experience with software accessibility, and will provide advice
and research to help the users/designers develop the software. This group
involves a wide variety of individuals, from doctors and psychologists to web
designers and human-computer interface experts.
 Technical Writers – Technical writers will be responsible for documenting the
software and creating user manuals and references. Unlike traditional software
development, technical writers will be involved in the process from the beginning
due to their ability to define a finished product.
 Other – Several other uncategorized people will be involved in aspects such as
project management, publicity/marketing, budgeting, etc.
The process will follow an iterative development cycle. The key here is that each
step is careful and deliberate and must be completed fully as it provides a foundation
for the next step. The entire process will take considerably less than two years to
create a stable, mature product. Each step of the process, its anticipated timeframe
and a description is given below.
Meiyo Unlimited
CEO: Viamonte Sherman
2/18/07
RFP #706
1. Research/Initial Design (6 months) – This stage involves studying how such
aforementioned computer users use computers. This will be done through
both simple observation and discussion with the users.
2. Interpretation and Prototyping (4 months) – This stage involves taking the
information from the previous step and collectively interpreting it to create a
realistic representation of user needs. At this point, prototyping and testing
will be performed, and any information gained through that will be rolled
back into the process. The goal of the first two steps is an in-depth
understanding of the problem and its solutions.
3. Specification and Design (2 months) – This step uses everything learned
during the first two steps to create a detailed image of what the software will
be like – that is, how it will function, operate, be distributed, etc. This
involves creating comprehensive specifications and writing a user manual to
accurately define what the finished product will be.
4. Design and Development (4 months) – This is the technical part of the
process, where the actual software’s technical structure is designed and
implemented. Though this is primarily the domain of software
engineers/programmers, other groups will be involved to ensure that the
process proceeds in the proper direction.
5. Testing (As long as necessary) – This involves checking for both software
bugs and usability issues. A large group of potential users try out the software
and identify problems that should be fixed. The fixed software is then
returned to the user for further testing. This process is complete when the
software, along with it’s documentation, is deemed ready for release.
6. Maintenance (Lifetime of the software) – This phase is where the mature
software is distributed for real life use. Additional changes and maintenance
can be performed to account for bugs/issues discovered, the need for
additional feature or changing technology.
Resource Request
The budget for this project is fairly simple and similar to that for any software
development project. The major difference is that it also includes services from usability
and accessibility experts and users themselves. Also of note, there is no additional
revenue from the sale of the software; it will be freely available and the code opensourced as a way of encouraging further development in the field of accessibility.
Item
Description
Other Costs
Management, Expert services
Software
Programmers, Software Engineers for
Development
development, testing and maintenance
Marketing &
Recruitment of volunteer testers,
Publicity
distribution of software.
Total Projected Cost
10% Buffer to cover unforeseen expenses
Actual Cost
Cost
$600,000
$1,200,000
$200,000
$2,000,000
$200,000
$2,200,000
Meiyo Unlimited
CEO: Viamonte Sherman
2/18/07
RFP #706
Sources
"Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines." 3 Feb. 2000. W3C. 18 Feb. 2007
<http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG10/>.
Cook, Stephen. "Speech Recognition Howto." 19 Apr. 2002. The Linux
Documentation Project. 18 Feb. 2007 <http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Speech-RecognitionHOWTO/software.html>.
"How People with Disabilities Use the Web." 5 May 2005. W3C. 18 Feb. 2007
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/>.
"Introduction to Web Accessibility." Sept. 2005. W3C. 18 Feb. 2007
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php>.
Norman, Donald. The Invisable Computer. 185-201.
Walsh, John. "Improving Web Accessibility for the Visually Impaired." Library
Hi Tech News 8 Nov. 2006: 29-31. Emerald Insight. Folsom Library. 18 Feb. 2007.
"Web Accessibility." Wikipedia. 16 Feb. 2007. 18 Feb. 2007
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility>.