Various types of graphics are exchanged in our daily business and
education processes. In spite of the importance of business graphics, they are
not accessible for visually impaired people, especially for the blind, and this
impacts their productivity at work. Current serialization-based screen reading
techniques do not provide sufficient functionality for accessing graphics. In this
paper, we report the results of our survey to identify next generation
accessibility features in future graphics standards, especially for the
OpenDocument Format (ODF). We will first compare accessibility functions in
various types of existing standards. Then we will report our survey results for
three related areas, a survey of existing business graphics in presentation
documents to unveil the complexity of practical graphics, a survey of research
on various types of graphical taxonomies, and a survey of interface
technologies for representing graphics non-visually, such as screen reading and
pictorial Braille. Finally, we will propose three practical enhancements for
standard graphic formats based on the survey results.
By: Hironobu Takagi, Tatsuya Ishihara
Published in: RT0715 in 2007
LIMITED DISTRIBUTION NOTICE:
This Research Report is available. This report has been submitted for publication outside of IBM and will probably be copyrighted if accepted for publication. It has been issued as a Research Report for early dissemination of its contents. In view of the transfer of copyright to the outside publisher, its distribution outside of IBM prior to publication should be limited to peer communications and specific requests. After outside publication, requests should be filled only by reprints or legally obtained copies of the article (e.g., payment of royalties). I have read and understand this notice and am a member of the scientific community outside or inside of IBM seeking a single copy only.
Questions about this service can be mailed to reports@us.ibm.com .