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From: Aaron Leventhal ([email protected])
Date: 01/21/03
Peter,
I don't think he can use GOK, does it run on the win
platform?
> We are using our own neural signal processing
> software, which is bound to a win platform but does
> not currently offer any accessibility features (so
> sadly we cannot use Gnome which seems to be a
> wonderfully accessible OS).
Peter Korn wrote:
> Hi Aaron, Michael,
>
> I'm cc-ing the GOK Development mailing list <[email protected]>. I have a feeling
> that the GOK engineers aren't on the mozilla-accessibility mailing list.
>
> Michael - at the risk of repeating arguments Bill has made to you, I strongly
> suggest you take a close look at GOK. They've done a lot to provide direct
> access to menus, toolbars, and with their "UI Grab" feature, the contents of a
> dialog box. These they then format onto a switch keyboard for rapid direct
> access. While GOK does not presently do this with links on a web page, it would
> be a very straightforward application of their techniquies layered on top of the
> GNOME Accessibility API (through which an AT can enumerate the links in an
> AccessibleHypertext document such as the web page in Mozilla).
>
> As GOK is open source, it is perhaps the best place for research - you can build
> on the work of others to rapidly get the features you want, with no royalties or
> licensing fees. And, thanks to the fact that it the code is LGPL, you have a
> very strong incentive to contribute your work back to the commons - thereby
> allowing the next person to build on your work.
>
>
> By the way, I was recently at the Assistive Technology Industry Association
> conference in Orlando, where I spoke with researchers in Japan working on a
> brainwave<->switch interface, and other researchers in the U.S. looking at
> switch interfaces based on recognition of a limited vocabulary from people with
> highly dysarthic speech. Both were very interested in using GOK as a
> development and execution platform for their switch interfaces.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Korn
> Sun Accessibility architect
>
> Aaron Leventhal wrote:
>
>>Michael,
>>
>>It sounds like a really interesting project. Will there
>>be any way to access form controls in web content,
>>bookmarks or any of the menus or other features? Or
>>will it be for link activation and document reading only?
>>
>>I now understand your justifcation better for building
>>it into Mozilla, using XPCOM. However, since you are
>>currently only on Windows, did you consider the need to
>>access other applications? Will the switch software
>>possibly conflict with other switch software the user
>>may be using to access those other applications? Will
>>you need to work with switch solution manufacturers?
>>
>>As far as your other questions, I do think that forward
>>and back options would be useful. You could possibly
>>insert extra links or buttons for those things into the
>>start of each page as it is loaded.
>>
>>I will be in Stuttgart for 6 months starting in May --
>>perhaps we can meet and work on some solutions
>>together. Have you tried to connect with any users or
>>other experts in switch access? The Mozilla
>>accessibility newsgroup is probably not the best place
>>to do that -- accessibility on this platform is still
>>being developed, so only cutting edge people are
>>attempting to use those features.
>>
>>Good luck,
>>Aaron
>>
>>Michael Bensch wrote:
>>
>>>Hi Bill and Aaron,
>>>
>>>your points are appreciated and certainly got me thinking. GOK is an
>>>exciting project and maybe a good reason for switch users to switch to
>>>Gnome :-)
>>>
>>>A large part of the research here at the Institute of Medical Psychology
>>>and Behavioral Neurobiology in T�bingen is devoted to brain-computer
>>>interfaces (BCI) ie. users with severe motor disabilities, but able to
>>>generate neural signals with the brain which can be measured and
>>>interpreted as a binary choice.
>>>This type of interaction differs from standard switch access in two points:
>>>1. the probability for a correct signal can vary from 0.65 to 0.95
>>>depending on the user - we thus need response verification in our software.
>>>2. The maximum rate of communication is 10-20 bits per minute - we thus
>>>have to reduce the selectable "accessibles" on any screen to a bare
>>>minimum, and optimize the selection process by using a visual binary
>>>recursive subgrouping algorithm. (A "direct" or "scanning" selection
>>>technique, or even a keyboard (to answer Aaron's question) would be too
>>>inefficient.)
>>>
>>>We are using our own neural signal processing software, which is bound
>>>to a win platform but does not currently offer any accessibility
>>>features (so sadly we cannot use Gnome which seems to be a wonderfully
>>>accessible OS).
>>>
>>>Given these factors, I thought it best to create a XUL/CPP interface to
>>>have direct access to mozilla. This allows us to:
>>>1. present the visual binary subgrouping cue directly on the web page (I
>>>am using the inIFlasher interface for this - thanks to Joe Hewitt and
>>>any other contributors for this very useful piece of code!)
>>>2. access history information for further optimizing link selection
>>>(place links that are selected often, at the top of a huffman tree)
>>>3. Keep the "switch interpretation code" platform-independant using
>>>mozilla's wonderful XPCOM technology, rather than integrating it into
>>>our win software, making it even harder to migrate to another platform
>>>in the future.
>>>(If there are other solutions to 1. or 2. I would be very interested.)
>>>
>>>I agree with Bill that in the long run, more sophisticated switch
>>>'access methods' should be in the assistive technology itself, and that
>>>this is not really the responsibility of a web browser, but at the
>>>moment, for our particular application, I am positive that the close
>>>proximity of our module to the mozilla code base can only benefit its
>>>users!
>>>
>>>Having said all that, I still believe that many standard switch access
>>>users might see some use in this new interface. I must admit that I have
>>>never used switch access software and the following would interest me:
>>>
>>>1. What is the most efficient method to choose from say, 20 links on a
>>>page, that current switch access software provides? (with efficient I
>>>mean: with as little switch presses as possible. ie. a scanning
>>>interface would be inefficient.) How would a task like this be
>>>accomplished with the GOK?
>>>2. Does current software allow for response verification, ie. offer
>>>"back" options during selection of a link, in case of an error?
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Michael
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
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