This may also be of interest to librarians--especially in connection
with setting up a virtual reference desk.  

Axel
Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregg Vanderheiden" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 8:52 AM
Subject: [UACCESS-L] New Chat Application Includes Accessibility
Features
for Users of Screen Readers and Screen Magnifiers



New Chat Application Includes Accessibility Features for Users of Screen
Readers and Screen Magnifiers


Dagmar Amtmann, Ph. D., Assistant Director, UW Center for Technology and
Disability Studies
Debbie Cook, Director, Washington Assistive Technology Alliance

Chat is a popular Internet based application that allows participants to
communicate instantly, similar to talking on the phone. Chat
participants
typically exchange messages by typing text using a keyboard. The
messages
are exchanged instantly, allowing for real-time, synchronous
communication
using computer networks instead of telephones.

If you think that chat is mainly used by teenagers to exchange gossip,
you
may be surprised to learn that instant communication is increasingly
used
for corporate communications. Market research analysts estimate that by
2004
over 5.5 million instant messages will be sent over the Internet by
corporate users.

With the popularity of chat applications steadily increasing,
accessibility
of these tools becomes very important to users with disabilities. In
addition to popular use of the chat applications by themselves, all
distance
learning packages commonly used by educational institutions, government,
and
corporations include a chat feature that allows instructors to
communicate
with students, trainees and other participants in real-time.

From the accessibility point of view, chat presents one of the more
difficult challenges for users of screen readers and magnifiers. How
accessible chat applications are for users of screen readers depends in
part
on how they were developed. Screen readers are able to handle some
HTML-based chat applications, but most chat programs use the programming
language Java to create an updateable region of the screen that can be
used
for chatting with other users. Developers using Java typically pay
little or
no attention to the application's accessibility to users with
disabilities.
As a result, most applications do not allow the user to control how and
when
new messages are displayed. Typically, the window refreshes
automatically,
displaying new messages as soon as they arrive, and making the
environment
very confusing for the users of screen readers.

The good news is that the Special Needs Opportunity Windows (SNOW)
Project
based in Toronto, Canada developed and recently released A-Chat, a chat
application with accessible features.

A-Chat, designed for blind and low vision users, is both keyboard
accessible
and screen reader friendly. For example, the user controls how often
messages are refreshed and can even set this feature to manual so that
the
screen will not refresh while it is being read. The user can choose to
receive an audible alert each time a new message is received. Layout of
received messages can be set in ascending or descending order allowing
the
user to read messages in the order they were sent or to read the latest
one
first. The user selects whether all messages or only new messages are
displayed and that helps reduce clutter on the screen. Users also have
control the type and size of the font,and the color combination for the
display, making it easier to read for low vision users.

The text and voice chat features of instant messaging programs like MSN
Messenger are generally accessible and are well supported by assistive
technologies, but are mostly used for personal communication with
friends
and family.

Voice chat products are also becoming increasingly popular and allow
users
to chat orally through their computer's microphone and speakers, but
these
applications may present a challenge to users with speech impairments
and
those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

For educational, corporate, and government communications, A-chat
provides
an accessible alternative and a viable model of accessibility for other
text
chat applications. It is currently available free of charge to
non-profit
groups and educational organizations as a freeware beta and can be
downloaded from http://snow.utoronto.ca/chat.html.