Hello, Kirk: Reading the below makes me wonder whether you're aware of the MathML specification from the W3C: http://www.w3.org/Math/ Certainly, it is intended that this specification would support alternative representations of mathematical constructs, including semantic relationships among the elements of those constructs. A set of applications aimed at screen reader users is available from Design Science: http://www.dessci.com hth Janina Kirk Reiser writes: > Hello everybody: I am slowly over time posting this request to all the > mailing lists I know and think might be related to the topic. I am > hoping to gather enough interest that we can develop standardize > systems and get some implementation. > > > One of the irritations I have whenever I'm reading something technical > in text is the lack of useful representation of scientific or > technical notation. It happens in every book and document in every > format from ASCII text to HTML and even in documents such as MS Word. > To a small extent we have some rough accessibility with basic > mathematical texts because most character sets offer some amount of > arithmetic related symbols and they are often necessary for > programming and/or scientific calculations. Even then representing > calculus or other higher mathematical concepts are not well worked out > and certainly not standardized in any way. What there is currently is > a mixed bag of .tex mark-up or text representation of Nemith code > symbols. > > I would like to attempt to find standardized or common textual systems > and pull them together in one place as a resource for other people > writing new materials or editing previously available documents to > easily use. if there are no predefined systems, I would like to try > to build systems for each of the technical and scientific disciplines > for future writers and editors to use. I would also like to put > together a group of volunteers to edit at least one text in each > discipline so visually impaired students and readers can get past this > frustrating situation. We would make the books and papers available > through the bookserve project or other facilities if any are > interested in participating. > > Some of the disciplines which I believe need systems found or > developed include: physics, chemistry, electronics, mathematics and > any others people feel should be considered. > > If any of you know of any representational systems for any technical > or scientific disciplines please write or contact me in someway to let > me know about them. > > If anyone is interested in being involved in gathering and developing > symbolic systems or discussing them also please contact me. > > If you or someone you know might be interested in helping edit books > and papers using these symbolic systems, once again please contact me. > > Depending on how much response I receive will determine what type of > on going communication I put together. If you have suggestions for > that I'd like to hear them as well. > > I can be contacted at kirk at reisers.ca or on the #speakup channel on > freenode.net. > > Kirk Reiser > > -- > Kirk Reiser The Computer Braille Facility > e-mail: kirk at braille.uwo.ca University of Western Ontario > phone: (519) 661-3061 > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup -- Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net Email: janina at rednote.net The Linux Foundation Chair, Open Accessibility: http://a11y.org The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/
