Computer Accessibility--Past, Present and Future

Jim Wantz
NWS/HPCC

In the past blind people gained access to the Internet via text-based tools. At present many screen reading programs running under WINDOWS have the capability to "speak" icons, thus rendering graphical information meaningful to the blind. We will examine two possible approaches to improving accessibility. One, is the use of a text-oriented operating system to execute applications that substitute for their more graphical counterparts under a GUI-oriented operating system like WINDOWS. The second approach is the substitution of touch and sound to represent otherwise inaccessible graphical symbols.

The second approach would of course run under a GUI operating system. We will see that each approach has its advantages and are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, one could use text mode in Linux and/or XWINDOWS or Gnome to run others.

BIO - Jim Wantz Jim has been working with NWS since 1972. For the first 8 years he was an instructor at the National Weather Service Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Jim then worked for 5 years in the Systems Experimentation Branch of the Integrated Systems Lab. For the past 16 years Jim has been an applications developer for what is now called the Meteorological Development Lab of the Office of Science and Technology of the NWS. For the past 4 years he has also been working with NOAA's HPCC.

Science Center Exhibit/Demo Thursday - 10:00 - 10:25 P.M. Other demo times will be posted at the exhibit.