1. Powerpoint available at
LaTeX and MathML - What Content Creators Need to Know
Powerpoint available at
AHG website
accessiblek.com
Krista Greear
Assistant Director
Disability Resources for Students

2. Introduction Disclaimers UW’s experience
Disclaimer: I’m an explorer not necessarily an expert.
Focused on STEM and learning disabilities since that was the need on my campus.

3. Game Plan Teach You – STEM Accessibility 5 Terms You Need to Know
Demos of Accessible and Inaccessible STEM Content
Collaboration Opportunity

4. Teaching You – STEM Accessibility

5. What is STEM (and STEAM)?
Science
Technology
Engineering
Arts
Math
For this presentation, I’m focusing on STEM, not STEAM

6. Who Needs Accessible STEM?
Those with
Learning disabilities
Traumatic brain injuries
Blind
Who else?

7. Where is STEM Content? Physical handouts
Electronic docs (Word docs, PDFs, pptx)
Online learning tools (MyMathLab)
Websites
Videos
Whiteboards
Mobile Apps

8. Data about UW and STEM # quarters # different classes # files # pages
# files with STEM content
% of files 9
228
7,968
124,114
800
10.04%
# pages with STEM content
% of pages
UW time to convert accessible STEM content
Hours to convert 11,132 pages
Weeks of full-time work
11,132
8.97%
10 pages / hour
1,113
27.83
Looked at Canvas classes where there was a request for accessible documents.

9. Making STEM Accessible
Obtain publisher PDF
Remove “eye candy” in Adobe Pro
Convert files to TIFF
OCR with Infty
Export to XML
Use MathType and Word to edit math
Edit for other accessibility elements
This is what UW does.

10. Immediate Take Aways Stop doing it alone!
Stop pretending you don’t need (fill-in-blank here)!
Start thinking at 30,000 feet
Start very small

11. 5 Terms You Need to Know

12. Accessible
“Accessible means that individuals with disabilities are able to independently acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services within the same timeframe as individuals without disabilities, with substantially equivalent ease of use.”
University of Montana Office of Civil Rights settlement agreement, 2012
We’ve seen this before! I recommend becoming very familiar with it. But what are other definitions you like to use?

13. Text-to-Speech
Text to speech, abbreviated as TTS, is a form of speech synthesis that converts text into spoken voice output. Text to speech systems were first developed to aid the visually impaired by offering a computer-generated spoken voice that would "read" text to the user.
Webopedia definition
Who uses text-to-speech? (don’t have to answer)
What are some names of TTS software?

14. Screen Reader
A screen reader is a software application that enables people with severe visual impairments to use a computer. Screen readers work closely with the computer's Operating System (OS) to provide information about icons, menus, dialogue boxes, files and folders.
Humanising Technology Blog
What are some names of popular screen readers?

15. LaTeX
LaTeX, which is pronounced «Lah-tech» or «Lay-tech» is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.
LaTex Project.org
Who has heard of LaTeX?
Who on your campus would know the most about LaTeX?

16. LaTeX Example
Designed for print
A different language

17. MathML
MathML is a low-level specification for mathematical and scientific content on the Web and beyond. MathML can be used to encode both the presentation of mathematical notation for high-quality visual display, and mathematical content, for applications where the semantics plays more of a key role such as voice synthesis.
W3C Math Homepage
Who has heard of MathML?
Presentation MathML vs Content MathML?
Who on your campus would know the most about MathML?

18. MathML Example Designed to be on the web
Many adaptive technologies will recognize it
Becoming the standard for making math accessible
Very flexible in different environments – word doc, Braille, web

19. MathType Stand alone MS Word and PowerPoint plug in
Exports LaTeX or MathML
Available on Windows or Mac
This is the software recommendation.
Less than $100 per license

20. Demos of Accessible and Inaccessible STEM Content

21. Video: Difference between
Image PDF
Text Selectable PDF
and MathML Word Doc
YouTube Video

22. Video: Using Text-to-Speech
Image PDF
Text Selectable PDF
and MathML Word Doc
YouTube Video

23. Resources that Simplify STEM (well, an attempt anyways)

24. How Math Content Created
It’s Challenging. And Fun!
File Type
How Math Content Created
End User’s Tool
PDF
Word doc
HTML
LaTeX
Text
Graphic
MathML
Screen reader
(JAWS, NVDA,
VoiceOver, ChromeVox)
Text to speech engine
(CAR, VoiceDream, Mac TTS)
Speech Recognition
(Dragon, Dictation)
It was at the preconference where folks said it would be helpful to have a table where they can see if the combo of certain factors will produce a desirable result

25. Comparing LaTeX & MathML
Accessiblek.com
Accessible STEM Content

26. STEM Accessibility Cheat Sheet
Accessiblek.com
Accessible STEM Content
I need collaborators :]

27. Which Browsers Support MathML?
This website is really cool. You type in something and it will tell you which browsers/which versions support that.
Can I Use…?

28. Thank you! accessiblek.com Krista Greear Assistant Director
Disability Resources for Students