This is fantastic!  Let's stay on top of this one.  Pop Chart sounds like a
winner.  I'd like to see a stand-alone version that end users could
purchase.
_____________________________________________________
Terry Martin -- President
VOILA Technology, Inc.
54 Castle Road
Rochester, NY 14623
Phone:  (716) 321-1451
FAX:  (716) 334-3971
Email:  [log in to unmask]
URL:  http://www.mainaccess.com
____________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Alfieri" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 7:49 PM
Subject: TECHFW: For NIH site, software can turn graphics into text


>                            earthlink.net> ==+
> For NIH site, software can turn graphics into text
>
> National Cancer Institute found a program to help it convert millions of
> complex graphics on its Web site into accessible text
>
> BY DIPKA BHAMBHANI | GCN STAFF
>
> Though most agencies a year ago were awaiting the Access Board's standards
> for accessibility under Section 508, Dan Grauman had begun making the
> National Cancer Institute's Web site accessible.
>
> The computer specialist for the Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics Division
> was creating a site where millions of graphics could be converted into
> accessible text in seconds.
>
> The National Institutes of Health site was not completely accessible by
the
> board's June 21 implementation deadline, but Grauman is glad to have found
a
> way to convert the institute's 5 million graphics and easily add more.
>
> Automated conversion
>
> He's using PopChart [D] software from Corda Technologies Inc. of Lindon,
> Utah, that automates the conversion process.
>
> "We have graphs created dynamically on the fly," Grauman said. There was
no
> application that could do the automatic conversion, he added. "This is the
> amazing part of that technology."
>
> Under a $50,000 contract, Corda does the Web programming, maintains the
> PopChart server and hosts the cancer institute's site.
>
> Using a chart template, Grauman creates a graph. Then the chart is sent to
> the Web via Corda's proprietary Web application server.
>
> Users who click on a graphic almost immediately will see a text conversion
> of it on the institute's site.
>
> By September, the institute will run the program from its own server, a
> 700-MHz dual-processor unit with 2G of RAM and Microsoft Windows NT Server
> 4.0.
>
> "We are soon releasing an additional product that will allow a novice,
> someone nontechnical, to cut and paste data from Microsoft Excel that will
> generate descriptive data," said Ron Saffell, director of government and
> education sales for Corda. The application will come out next month.
>
> Grauman said many agencies have to convert charts themselves, describing
in
> text each picture or table, which can cause errors. "You have to worry
about
> mistakes," he said.
>
> "The alternative is that for every chart you have to program and set up a
> code so there's a link which has the chart, then that link takes you to
> another Web page," Saffell said. "That would be an undue burden; then the
> agencies could say, 'No way.' "
>
> Fast text conversion
>
> Saffell said many agencies could convert their graphics in less than a day
> using PopChart. The cancer institute's nearly yearlong project is a rarity
> because of the number of graphics.
>
> The institute's 5 million graphics cover all states, more than 3,000
> economic areas, five race options and 40 types of cancer.
>
> Meanwhile, Grauman already has plans to narrate a 20-minute video tour of
> the site and convert the video into formats that site visitors can view
with
> Apple QuickTime and RealAudio from RealNetworks Inc. of Seattle.
>
> "That would be beneficial to the sighted users," Grauman said.
>