CSUN trip report: screen readers, ATMs, and more! (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:53:51 -0800
From: Peter Korn <peter.korn@SUN.COM>
Reply-To: Java Accessibility interest mailing list
     <JAVA-ACCESS@JAVA.SUN.COM>
To: JAVA-ACCESS@JAVA.SUN.COM
Subject: CSUN trip report: screen readers, ATMs, and more!

Greetings,

Last week was the annual CSUN Conference on Technology and Persons with
Disabilities.  Accessibility to the Java platform was one of the themes of
the conference, and there were a number of conference sessions devoted to the
topic, as well as a 3 hour evening session on Java Accessibility hosted by
Sun Microsystems.  Access to Java applications was demonstrated at the show
by IBM, Henter-Joyce, Syntha-Voice, and Sun.  In addition, Sun showed a few
new technologies which showed the benefits of Java Accessibility outside of
the traditional desktop realm.


The first Java Accessibility presentation was by Earl Johnson of the Sun
Accessibility team, titled "A Primer on the Java Platform and Java
Accessibility" on Wednesday afternoon.  In this presentation, Earl gave a
broad overview of the history of Sun's development of Java technologies and
the Java Accessibility effort.  The presentation paper can be found at:
http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0193.html

The next presentation was from Richard Schwerdtfeger and the IBM Special
Needs Systems group, titled "IBM's Self Voicing Kit Technology for Java:
IBM's Solution to Bring Cross-Platform Accessibility to Mainstream Computing"
on Thursday morning.  This presentation, expanded to two hours, included
detailed information on the architecture of the IBM Self Voicing Kit
technology for the Java platform, showing it's uses both as a screen reader,
as well as a tool for evaluating the accessibility of a given Java
application.  The presentation paper can be found at:
http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0098.html

In addition to the presentations by IBM employees, guests from CAST, the
National Security Administration (NSA), CPB/WGBH/CAM, and Sun Microsystems
gave demonstrations at this session.  CAST demonstrated Bobby
(http://www.cast.org/bobby), the web page accessibility test tool developed
for the Java platform and accessible because of its support of the Java
Accessibility API.  The NSA talked about how they are using the IBM SVK with
Solaris systems to get access to applications developed in the Java language
deployed within their organization.  CPB/WGBH/CAM showed an application
developed as part of their National Science Foundation-funded project on
CD-ROM Access for Blind and Visually Impaired students -> an application for
teaching how photosynthesis works which has a "no compromises" complex
graphical interface, totally accessible through the IBM SVK (for more
information, see their project web site at:
http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/cdrom/).  Finally, Sun Microsystems
demonstrated access to a shareware e-mail client developed for the Java
Platform, ICEMail (http://www.ice.com/java/icemail), sending e-mail between a
Solaris workstation and a Linux system, both running the Java 2 platform, and
both talking via the IBM SVK.


On Friday evening, Sun gave a 3 hour presentation outside of the normal
conference agenda.  At this presentation, Sun devoted the bulk of the time to
showcasing accessible Java applications through various different assistive
technologies which support the Java Accessibility API.  At the end of the
evening, Sun also showed applications for Java Accessibility outside the
traditional confines of "desktop computing": an accessible ATM machine and
environmental control systems.

The first product demonstration of the evening came from Henter-Joyce, which
showed an unreleased version of their screen reader, JFW, working with the
Bobby web page checker Java application.  Bobby was launched just like a
typical Windows application -> from the Start menu where it had been
installed.  This invoked a Java virtual machine into which Bobby was loaded.
Through a not-yet-released version of the Sun Access Bridge to Native Code
technology (http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/jaccess-1.2/doc/bridge.html),
JFW then read the contents of the Bobby application.  With JFW, Bobby behaved
just like an accessible Windows application.  Tabbing through dialogs,
manipulating menus, and editing text in the various text fields of Bobby
worked as a JFW would expect from a typical Windows application.  A press
release from Henter-Joyce on their Java Accessibility support can be found
at:  http://www.hj.com/NewsCommentary/JavaCSUN.html

The second product demonstration of the evening came from Syntha-Voice, which
showed an unreleased version of their screen reader, WindowBridge, working
with the sample Swing application Stylepad.  Stylepad is a text editor which
supports rich text attributes and graphics.  Through a not-yet-released
version of the Sun Access Bridge, WindowBridge provided access to the
Stylepad application and the text document contained within it.  Showing off
one of the key features of the Java Accessibility API, WindowBridge spoke the
attributes of the text contained within the Stylepad document, stating when
the text was underlined or in boldface, what the font name and size were, and
the red, green, and blue components of the color used for text that wasn't
black pixels on a white background.  When someone from the audience asked how
long it took Syntha-Voice to develop the level of support for the Java
platform that was being demonstrated, they answered that it took them less
than a week.  More information about WindowBridge can be found at:
http://www.synthavoice.on.ca/

The third product demonstration of the evening came from IBM, which showed
their Self Voicing Kit (http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/svk) in
conjunction with BluePages, an internal IBM application used for looking up
fellow employees.  IBM demonstrated the power and flexibility of their
technology, which is written in the Java language and therefore platform
independent.

The next set of folks were from the NSA, echoing their earlier presentations
as part of the IBM session.  Gary Day and Chris Murphy talked about how easy
it was to make the Java applications they were developing for the NSA
accessible.  They recounted how rapidly development went for them in the Java
platform, and how by simply following a few simple guidelines they wound up
with a very accessible set of applications that were to be deployed through
the NSA.

After the NSA came Madeleine Rothberg and Tom Wlodkowski from CPB/WGBH/NCAM,
echoing their earlier presentations as part of the IBM session.  They showed
their photosynthesis teaching demonstration application in conjunction with
the IBM SVK.  One of the most powerful demonstrations of the high quality of
the access provided by this combination was at the screen showing a two
dimensional graph of the rate of production of oxygen by the plant as the
user varied the amount of light and other inputs.  As the user changed the
inputs, the rate of oxygen production changed visibly on the graph, and
simultaneously the IBM SVK spoke the new rate in a different voice.

The remainder of the Friday evening presentation was given by employees from
Sun Microsystems.  Lynn Monstanto showed JavaWorkShop
(http://www.sun.com/workshop/java/), a development environment for Java
applications, itself written entirely in the Java language.  Lynn, formerly a
member of the JavaWorkShop development team, showed how he used the Java
Accessibility Utilities test tools to ensure that JavaWorkShop would be
accessible, explaining how the Java Accessibility API works.

Peter Korn and Dena Shumila then demonstrated again for the evening audience
access to ICEMail with speech via the IBM SVK from both Solaris and Linux
systems.  Underscoring why ICEMail, an application simply downloaded off of
the Internet at the beginning of the show, worked so well with the IBM SVK,
Sun read from some of the six published books on the Java Foundation Classes
and Java 2 platform which discuss Java Accessibility and in many cases give
detailed, step-by-step instructions to Java developers on how to support
Accessibility and Assistive Technologies in their Java applications.

The last two demonstrations of the evening showed applications of Java
Accessibility outside of the traditional desktop environment.  The first of
these was a prototype Accessible ATM machine.  Marney Beard of Sun
demonstrated first how the ATM machine prototype works for a typical
mainstream user.  It behaved just like one would expect an ATM to behave,
asking her for her PIN code, giving her access to her accounts, and allowing
her to make deposits and retrieve cash.  Then Dena Shumila used the ATM.
This time, however, the ATM read from her JavaRing (in practice this would be
a plastic card) information specifying that she wanted the ATM to use a
low-vision Look & Feel, along with a particular screen reader, as part of her
ATM interaction.  The ATM then reconfigured itself, changing to a high
contrast screen with large text, loading in a screen reader, and speaking to
her.  It then asked her for her PIN, which she entered, and then it told her
about her accounts and she navigated through the ATM screens to retrieve some
cash.  Dena and Marney then explained how the Accessible ATM prototype works,
that it is based on the Java 2 platform, and that while it is a prototype,
the technologies inside it could be used and deployed by financial
institutions.  For more information about the Accessible ATM prototype, see
the presentation at: http://www.sun.com/access/presentations/AATM/ or the
white paper at: http://www.sun.com/access/wp-aatm/

In the final demonstration of the evening, Peter Korn of Sun Microsystems
talked about Sun's new Jini technology (http://www.sun.com/jini), and
implications for pairing Jini with the Java Accessibility work Sun is doing.
Peter demonstrated a Java application which controlled a lamp and a clock
radio.  This application used the Java Accessibility API, and so would be
accessible to all of the screen readers which were demoed earlier in the
evening.  Peter stated that the hope of the Sun Accessibility team is that in
the future, Jini-enabled devices such as elevators and stereo systems and
microwave ovens would provide user-interfaces for the Java platform which
used the Java Accessibility API and thereby worked with assistive
technologies.  A user in a wheelchair could then roll up to an elevator, have
the computer on the wheelchair discover the Jini-enabled elevator and then be
able to manipulate the buttons of the elevator directly from the Java
application downloaded automatically to the wheelchair.


On Saturday morning Madeleine Rothberg and Tom Wlodkowski gave a detailed
hour long presentation titled "Adapting Multimedia Software For Blind
Students: Choices And Challenges."  This presentation went into more depth on
the Photosynthesis teaching application they demonstrated earlier in the
conference, and discussed how easy it was for them develop the rich graphical
interface that was at the same time very accessible, using the Java
Foundation Classes and their built-in support for the Java Accessibility
API.  The presentation paper can be found at:
http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0156.html


Later Saturday morning, Gary Day and Christopher Murphy gave a presentation
titled "Information Technology Accommodation", in which they discussed how
the National Security Agency was using applications developed for the Java
platform on their thousands of Sun Solaris systems, accessible to their blind
employees.  The presentation paper can be found at:
http://www.dinf.org/csun_99/session0191.html


In addition to the presentations at CSUN, several companies were
demonstrating their work with Java Accessibility at the show.  IBM and
Henter-Joyce were demonstrating access to Java applications in their suites
on the 17th floor of the hotel, and Sun was showing access to Solaris and
Linux in their suite, as well as showing their Accessible ATM prototype and
giving away JavaRings.


Also available for the CSUN show were two articles on the Sun web site
discussing Java Accessibility.  In the front-page article titled "The Java
Accessibility API Hits the Road"
(http://java.sun.com/features/1999/03/access.html), Steve Malone introduces
the notion of Accessibility and discusses how the Java Accessibility API and
the Java platform combine to support people with disabilities.  Headlining
The Swing Connection, a web site dedicated to the Java Foundation Classes,
Mark Andrews describes how programmers should use the Java Accessibility API
to make their applications accessible in the article titled "Accessibility
and the Swing Set: How Swing Can Help You Create Accessible Apps"
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/special_report/accessibility/accessibility.html

Finally, Sun's documentation team had just released in time for CSUN a new
edition of The Java Tutorial, a definitive tutorial on how to develop for the
Java platform (http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/).  Throughout the
tutorial's coverage of the Java Foundation Classes are source code examples
which show how to use the Java Accessibility API.  In addition, a special
section titled "How to Support Assistive Technologies"
(http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/access.html) shows
step-by-step how to ensure that your Java application supports assistive
technologies.



All in all, it was quite a conference!



Peter Korn
Assistive Technology Architect,
Sun Microsystems

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