Preparing Accessible Math Documents using MathJax (hands-on)

Presented at 2:00pm in Standley I (Adobe Lab) on Thursday, November 21, 2019.

#29958

Speaker(s)

  • Volker Sorge, Dr, Progressive Accessibility Sol.

Session Details

  • Length of Session: 2-hr
  • Format: Lab
  • Expertise Level: Beginner
  • Type of session: General Conference

Summary

We instruct on creating accessible math content from a variety of sources using exclusively free available open source tools. We concentrate on the generation of alternative document formats including speech and Braille suitable for web and ePubs. And we teach how to use assistive technology with the new MathJax version 3 library.

Abstract

Providing accessible teaching material for Math is still often considered a challenging task in higher education. Following our 2016 workshop on the automatic transformation of math documents into web-accessible content, this lab aims to teach participants the new generation of open source tools based around MathJax v3. It will concentrate on

* How to automatically convert common input formats (LaTeX, Word, and Markdown) into alternative output formats containing Speech and Braille, in bulk rather than expression by expression.

* How MathJax's assistive technology extension can be employed to support students with visual impairments and dyslexia in accessing mathematical formulas including support for synchronized speech, Braille output, magnification and highlighting.

* How to tailor accessible content to individual needs by varying speech output and providing specialisation by subject areas like physics or computer science.

Keypoints

  1. Transforming Math documents into universally accessible content
  2. Generating Math in alternative formats like Speech and Braille.
  3. Employing the MathJax assistive technology extension.

Disability Areas

Cognitive/Learning, Vision

Topic Areas

Accessible Educational Materials, Alternate Format, Assistive Technology, Uncategorized

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.

Material and Handouts