Jeffrey P' Bigham

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WebAnywhere
A Screen Reader On-the-Go
Jeffrey P. Bigham jbigham_at_cs.washington.edu
University of Washington Seattle, Washington,
USA webinsight.cs.washington.edu
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Promises and Challenges
Introduction

• Advancement in Technical Challenges
• ARIA, AxsJAX, others
• Access to Applications Anywhere
• Email, documents, social connections
• No screen reader on most computers
• Another program to support
• Awareness
• Cost

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Accessing the Web On-the-Go
Introduction

• Many devices - Serve different needs
• Devices you have to carry
• Expensive
• Need to carry with you
• Installation Executables
• Not installed on most computers
• Need permission to install them
• Operating System Built-Ins
• Narrator on Windows
• VoiceOver on OS X

Hearsay
Fire Vox
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WebAnywhere Summary
WebAnywhere

• Self-voicing, web-browsing web application
• Runs on any web-enabled computer or device
• Designed for Minimal requirements
• Runs on locked-down public terminals
• No software to install
• Assist web developers in creating content1
• Accessible Across the World

1 Mankoff et al., Is your web page
accessible? a comparative study of methods
for assessing web page accessibility for the
blind. CHI 2005.
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• Screenshot

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WebAnywhere Architecture
WebAnywhere
Client interface in Javascript Speech MP3s
retrieved from server Played with Flash or
Embedded Players
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WebAnywhere
(15 in Seattle, WA)
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Released
WebAnywhere Release

• Available Free
• From May 2008
• Peaked at 5000 / week
• Steady at 1000 / week
• Overwhelming Response
• Blogs
• News and other media
• Email

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Comments
WebAnywhere Release

• BRAVO!! Finally visually impaired individuals
  are able to bust through the biggest barrier
  placed before us so far, thanks to Web Anywhere.
  -- Minnesota
• This is great newsnot everyone can afford JAWS,
  etc. - Kentucky

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Scarier Comments
WebAnywhere Release

• i am blind and have been for 23 years i have no
  sight at all i do have jaws on my pc but it gives
  me alot of problems at times and is costly to
  upgrade.
• we were thinking of purchasing JAWS, but were
  thinking of using WebAnywhere as an alternative
  (paraphased)

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Requests
WebAnywhere Release

• Current screen reader features
• This often varied from user to user
• Very few have mentioned latency
• People located all over
• LANGUAGUES
• Released on the web everyone can access it
• Immediate access to a global audience

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WebAnywhere by Country
WebAnywhere Goes Global
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Global Effort
WebAnywhere Goes Global
Developer in Norway helping to code. Person in
Brazil developing Portuguese language. Person
in China developing Chinese language.
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WebAnywhere is Open Source
WebAnywhere Goes Global
webanywhere.googlecode.com
lt
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Future Work
Future Implications

• Many, many improvements possible
• New languages, more shortcuts, better TTS,
  security, ARIA, downloadable TTS, improved
  robustness, integrate with existing screen
  readers, better prefetching, aggressive caching,
  user studies, plugin support, visual
  highlighting, explicit support for web
  developers,

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Broader Themes
Future Implications

• Platform for Assistive Technology
• What you want, where you want it
• Advantages of Web Application
• Rapid iterations of design
• Rapid dissemination of new designs
• Rapid expansion across the world

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On any computer near you
Conclusion

• Released in May 2008
• http//webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/
• Contribute to the open source project!
• http//webanywhere.googlecode.com/
• Come to the DEMO

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Conclusion
Conclusion

• WebAnywhere an Important Option Now
• Blind web users on-the-go
• People unable to afford another screen reader
• An easy way to experience screen readers
• WebAnywhere platform for assistive tech.
• Works everywhere
• Harbinger of global market to come

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The End webanywhere.cs.washington.edu webanywhere
.googlecode.com
Our supporters National Science Foundation Grant
IIS-0415273 A Boeing Professorship Microsoft
Imagine Cup Thanks to Anna A. Cavender, Sangyun
Hahn, T.V. Raman, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Lindsay
Yazzolino, and our user study participants and
consultants.