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MathML Accessibility Project
Current DirectionAs noted earlier, there is no effective means of speaking MathML. While processes exist for TeX, these do not readily fit into the web-browsing paradigm. The requirements for speaking mathematics, audio formatting and user context selection, are not as of yet supported by popular browsers. Technologies for both, however, promise to be implimented in the near future.
XSLT, a recent proposal by the W3C, is an XML language designed for the translation of an XML source into some other XML language. Support for XSLT is forthcoming in Netscape's beta browser Mozilla, and partially available in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0. Hence, it will soon be a widely available technology. It is believed that XSLT is sufficient for a MathML to Audio-Formatted Natural Language (AFNL) transformation. Additionally, the XSL specifications allows multiple stylesheets to be loaded simultaneously; One might be a general transformation, the second a series of user-defined rules for short-cuts. The XSL transforations will be accomplished at present using open source XML and XSL tools available from the Apache Project.
Audio formatting is a second proposal from the W3C; CSS2 contains specifications for manner of speech sufficient for the purposes of reading mathematics. Unfortunately, there is limited support for CSS2, and little prospect indicated by Netscape and Microsoft. Instead, the MathML Accessibility Project shall consider an alternative audio formatting language, noting that once a translation from MathML to any AFNL is implimented, alterations to a different AFNL should be trivial. Instead, the Java Speech Markup Language (JSML) will be used. This is an open format, supported by the Java Speech API (JSAPI; implimented by IBM's ViaVoice, Lernout & Hauspie's TTS for Java Speech API, Conversa Web 3.0 , Festival).
The main purpose of the presentation scope of the MathML Accessibility Project will be the creation of an XSL stylesheet for the translation of MathML to JSML. This will be accompanied by a Java Applet capable of loading and applying those stylesheets, and outputting the results to the ViaVoice JSAPI. This Java Applet will serve primarily as a test mechanism for the transformation, but will also be publically available for embedding in an HTML document.
Contact Information
- Taras Kowaliw - Concept Communication Architect, Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
J.P. Robarts Library, First Floor, University of Toronto Information Commons
130 St. George St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3H1
Telephone: (416) 978-4360 Fax: (416) 971-2629For additional information please e-mail Laurie Harrison