New Accessibility Features in MathJax v3.0 (Lecture session)

Media

Presented at 11:45am in WB I on Friday, November 16, 2018.

Speaker(s)

• Volker Sorge, Dr, Progressive Accessibility Sol.

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Beginner
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

We present an overview of the accessibility features of the new release of MathJax, a library for rendering mathmatical formulas on the web. We demonstrate how to convert mathematical teaching material into web content that can be rendered with MathJax and automatically be made accessible for students with visual impairments and dyslexia.

Abstract

With more and more mathematical teaching material being made available online, its accessible representation is a major concern. And while formulas on the web can be represented in MathML, no major browser completely implements this standard. Consequently the MathJax library that provides a solution to render Mathematics in any browser, has become a quasi-standard for displaying Mathematics on the web.

As MathJax has undergone a major reimplementation effort over the last two years we will present the accessibility features provided in the new version, which include:

* Automatic voicing of formulas * Interactive navigation with synchronised highlighting * Different collections of speech rules like MathSpeak and ClearSpeak * Nemeth Braille output

We will also demonstrate how mathematical teaching material can be converted into web documents renderable with MathJax, and how the preservation of the original LaTeX sources can lead to an improved accessibility experience.

Keypoints

1. Generating universally accessible Math for the Web
2. Employing the MathJax assistive technology extension
3. Converting mathematical teaching material into accessible content

Disability Areas

Vision

Topic Areas

Assistive Technology, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Volker Sorge

Volker is Professor in Document Analysis and Accessibility at the University of Birmingham, UK and Adjunct Faculty at IIT Delhi, India. He is working primarily on diagram recognition, mathematical document analysis and handwriting recognition. Practical applications of his research include STEM accessibility with a particular focus on Web technologies and eBooks. He has been working as a Visiting Scientist with Google on math integration into ChromeVox. He is a member of the MathJax consortium responsible for the integration of accessible rendering of mathematical formulas on the web. And with his company Progressive Accessibility Solutions, he concentrates on accessibility technology that exploits image analysis to generate accessible STEM diagrams.