The AEGIS European Project: Mainstreaming Accessibility Through Open Source

Christophe StrobbeK.U.Leuven, Belgiumchristophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be

Overview

● Background● Areas & goals● 3rd generation accessibility● Open Accessibility Framework (OAF)● User-centred design (UCD)● Open source● Examples

Demographic Shift

● EU demographic shift:● 2000: 15.7% over 64● 2010: 17.6% over 64 (2007 estimate)● 2020: 20.7% over 64 (2007 estimate)

● EU-25 employment rates of older workers● 40% in 2004● 59% in 2025 (2007 estimate)

i2010

EU policy framework for information society and media● Aims

● to create a Single European Information Space, which promotes an open and competitive internal market for information society and media services,

● to strengthen investment and innovation in ICT research,

● to support inclusion, better public services and quality of life through the use of ICT

New Standards and Legislation

● US: Section 508 & 255 refresh(comments on Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking could be submitted until 25 June)

● EU: Mandate M/376:● public procurement of accessible ICT

products and services● W3C:

● WCAG 2.0 (Dec. 2008), ATAG (authoring tools), UAAG (user agents)

AEGIS

● ± 20 partners● Coordinator: CERTH-HIT (Greece)● Companies: Sun/Oracle, AOL, RIM,

Vodafone, …● Research: Fraunhofer, Univ Poli Madrid,

Univ of Cambridge, Czech Tech Uni, Univ of Toronto, K.U.Leuven

● Others: Technosite, ACE (cf. oatsoft),…● Sept. 2008 – Feb. 2012 (42 months)

AEGIS: Areas

● Desktop● Rich Internet Applications● Mobile applications

● User-centred design

AEGIS: Goals

● Determine whether 3rd generation access techniques will provide a more accessible, more exploitable and deeply embeddable approach in mainstream ICT (desktop, rich Internet and mobile applications)

● Open Accessibility Framework (OAF) to address aspects of the design, development and deployment of accessible mainstream ICT

First Generation Accessibility

● 1960s – 1980s● Expensive, bolt-on

solutions● Limited and slow● E.g. Optacon,

talking calculator, simple screenreaders

Second Generation Accessibility

● Late 1980s – today● Works with graphical user interfaces● Text to speech, speech recognition● Often relies on reverse engineering the

OS, replacing the video driver, chaining the keyboard driver

Second Generation Accessibility

Third Generation Accessibility

● “Engineered accessibility”● All the information needed by AT is

provided through a single programming interface=Accessibility API

● Introduced to desktop Java by Sun● Later: GNOME, Apple Accessibility APIs,

MS UI Automation, IAccessible2

Open Accessibility Framework OAF

● Address the whole “accessibility chain”: design, development, deployment● Document describing the framework of

things needed for 3rd generation accessibility

● Collection of open source components implementing various aspects of the OAF, proven in AEGIS and contributed back to the open source projects of which they are part

Six Components of the OAF

● Creation domain

1.Define “Accessible”

2.Create stock/re-usable components

3.Developer / author support tools● Use domain

4.Support “Accessible” in the platform

5.Create/distribute the accessible app

6.Assistive Technology & AT support libraries

User-Centred Design

● AEGIS development supported by user-centred design

● Downloads:● Use cases: http://www.aegis-

project.eu/ > Results> Deliverables > Deliverable D1.1.3

● 17 Personas: (Creative Commons License) http://www.aegis-project.eu/ > Results > Personas

User-Centred Design: Personas

User-Centred Design: Personas

Open Source

● Most software produced in AEGIS will be open source

● => Eliminate license costs as argument against accessibility

● Contributions to mainstream applications that are available as open source

Why Open Source? (1)

● Most common assistive technologies (AT) are very expensive (JAWS >$1000, ZoomText)

● Some countries refund assistive technologies

● Some governments buy assistive technologies for use in workplace

● => Governments are effectively biggest buyers of assistive technologies

Why Open Source? (2)

● AT is often too expensive for ● developers who want to test their

products● users outside richest countries, e.g.

– no AT refunding in Greece, etc– AT costs X times monthly salary =>

cracked AT● Governments can’t convince AT

developers to make certain improvements

Why Open Source? (3)

● Even in rich countries, budgets for AT refunding are under pressure

● Proposal:● invest in open source AT● => probably cheaper in the long run● => countries without money for AT also

gain access

Desktop Developments: AT (1)

● Contributions to GnomeShell Magnification (ATRC, University of Toronto)

● Contributions to Orca screenreader (ATRC, University of Toronto)

Desktop Developments: AT (2)

● Continuation of Dasher: alternative text entry system (Cambridge Univ)

● http://www.inference.ph

y.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

Desktop Developments: AT (3)

● Continuation of OpenGazer: gaze tracking with webcam (Cambridge Univ)

● http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/opengazer/

Desktop Developments: OOo (1)

● Concept Coding Framework (CCF) in OpenOffice.org Writer – for persons with cognitive impairments

Desktop Developments: OOo (2)

● odt2daisy (http://odt2daisy.sf.net/; Vincent Spiewak & K.U.Leuven)● released at OpenOffice.org Conference

November 2009● convert OpenDocument Text (ODT) to

digital talking books in DAISY format● MS Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS

Desktop Developments: OOo (3)

● odt2braille (K.U.Leuven)● to be released later this month!● export ODT to Braille or emboss directly

from OpenOffice.org Writer● supports BRF and Portable Embosser

Format (PEF)

Desktop Developments: More...

● Improvements to eSpeak● English, Dutch, Swedish, Greek, ...

(languages represented in AEGIS consortium)

● Open, cross-platform support of desktop accessibility framework on Windows: ● involves exploring potential

improvements to the Java Access Bridge (ATRC, U of Toronto)

Web/RIA Developments (1)

● WAI ARIA implementation in JavaScript UI libraries● jQuery UI (popularity!)● MooTools (popular, but a11y still weak)● Fluid Infusion (a11y was goal since

beginning)● Accessibility in JavaFX UI components

Web/RIA Developments (2)

● Cross-platform support for WAI ARIA in open-source browser, i.e. Mozilla Firefox (overtaken by events)

● Open developer tool for creating accessible RIAs (in NetBeans)

● Demo of Content Management System with jQuery UI widgets

● Haptic maps

Mobile Platform Developments (1)

● Screen reader● On-screen keyboard ● AAC with symbol support for instant

messaging● Open-source text-to-speech engine for

mobile phones (porting eSpeak to JavaME)

Mobile Platform Developments (2)

● Alternative text entry for users with motor impairments – Dasher

● Captions and audio descriptions for video

● Accessible phone dialer and contact manager (JavaFX)

Upcoming Events

● 2nd Pan-European Workshop/User Forum● Sevilla, Spain, 6 October 2010

● 1st AEGIS Conference● Sevilla, Spain, 7-8 October 2010

● GNOME Accessibility Hackfest● Sevilla, Spain, same week● http://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/HackfestAEGIS2010

Contacting AEGIS

● http://www.AEGIS-project.eu/ ● Twitter: aegisproj● Project coordinator:

Dr. Angelos Bekiaris: abek@certh.gr ● Technical manager:

Peter Korn: peter.korn@oracle.com ● AEGIS Project Ontario:

http://aegis.atrc.utoronto.ca/