Hi All,

As some may have read in multiple press accounts of late, Microsoft is
releasing a dictionary relatively soon.  The product, known as Encarta
World English Dictionary, is said to be the first completely new english
dictionary in more than 20 years and will be published in print and on Cd.
Below is an exchange I had with someone involved with the product at
Microsoft.  The response, which I'm sharing with permission as you'll read,
came in response to an inquiry I sent to [log in to unmask] asking about
accessibility of the dictionary and use of Active Accessibility or other
accessible software design.

Without having the actual product it is difficult to know how well the
dictionary will or won't work with screen readers or other access
technology.  However, it certainly doesn't sound promising for the initial
release of the product which I find disappointing.

I am sharing this information for two reasons:

1. I mentioned the dictionary and wondered about accessibility a bit ago in
certain internet discussions.

2. If you have an interest in seeing accessibility happen join me in
raising the issue with the people at Microsoft.  What happens this fall
when schools, libraries and other locations purchase this software and
those of us using access technology can't use it?  How long will we wait?
Personally I think Microsoft should commit to better targets than are
hinted at in the exchange I'm sharing and if the dictionary turns out to
not be accessible I hope institutions who have guidelines on purchasing
accessible software will steer clear of the product until accessibility
happens.

I am not forwarding this simply to shoot internet darts at Microsoft.  I do
feel people need to know what the company is saying about the dictionary
though.  The assorted television ads and other publicity Microsoft has done
in the last year with respect to the company's belief and work in
accessibility don't exactly match what's happening with a product like this
new dictionary.

Kelly



>X-From_: [log in to unmask] Wed Jul 28 23:15:45 1999
>Delivered-To: [log in to unmask]
>From: Jim Cox <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Kelly Ford <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: RE: Microsoft Dictionary
>Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 16:11:56 -0700
>X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0)
>
>Kelly,
>
>I will try to work with Dave to create and post some kind of white paper on
>Encarta accessibility for the web site.  I'm so busy this month with
>planning for our next releases -- work that must happen now or else our team
>will be unable to move forward -- that I can't possibly have that task done
>in the next few weeks.
>
>In the short term, it's alright to share the information that I provided.
>And go ahead and bug me again in a month if you don't see anything on the
>site.  As I said, feedback motivates action.
>
>Thanks again.
>
>Jim Cox
>Encarta Product Planner
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kelly Ford [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 1999 5:45 PM
>To: Jim Cox
>Subject: Re: Microsoft Dictionary
>
>
>Can I either share this information with others who are asking me about
>this dictionary or will Microsoft make something available on the
>accessibility web site you have at
>
>http://www.microsoft.com/enable
>
>People are asking about this dictionary.
>
>Kelly
>
>At 12:43 PM 7/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>>Kelly,
>>
>>Dave Bolnick of the Microsoft Accessibility team forwarded your message to
>>me.  My name is Jim Cox and I work as a product planner for the Encarta
>line
>>of reference titles here at Microsoft.  As a product planner, it's my job
>to
>>listen to customers and help guide the product team towards features and
>>content that will be useful and valuable to our users.
>>
>>It is certainly an important goal for us to be accessible to as many
>>potential users as we can possibly be.  Each year, we try to make progress
>>towards the ultimate goal of full accessibility for users who are hearing
>>impaired, visually impaired, or unable to use a pointing device.  As an
>>example, Encarta Encyclopedia was the first product of its kind to include
>>closed-captioning of all audio.  This year, we have added variable text
>size
>>to the articles, and the text size defaults to the largest type on machines
>>where the Windows display has been set for high-contrast and large fonts.
>>
>>Also, we have worked with the Microsoft Research team to include new
>>technologies in Encarta Encyclopedia.  These technologies allow the
>computer
>>to read articles aloud and allow users to use voice to command and control
>>the program.  We recognize that these are not true accessibility features,
>>of course, because users must be able to see the screen and to select text
>>in order to enable the features.  Although these technologies are not quite
>>ready for prime time, we know that our inclusion of these technologies puts
>>pressure on the research group to hasten their development into much more
>>robust and useful accessibility tools.
>>
>>I am often asked about why our Encarta products -- the Encyclopedia,
>>Interactive World atlas, and Bookshelf -- are not fully compatible with
>>screen readers.  With Active Accessibility and Windows 98, most of this
>>capability is provided to the application for free by the operating system,
>>so why would we not have this in Encarta and Bookshelf?  The answer is that
>>we created Encarta and Bookshelf before either Windows 95 or the Web
>>existed.  We spent a lot of time designing and implementing a custom
>>interface that would be appropriate for searching large databases and
>>displaying search results and multimedia content.  The resulting Encarta
>>product line has been a tremendous success in part because it creates an
>>environment that is inviting, comfortable, intuitive, and beautiful for our
>>sighted users.  In a very short time, it became clear that a significant
>>part of Encarta's success has been due to the fact that the custom
>interface
>>gives us a unique identity.
>>
>>Over the past few years, we have struggled with accessibility issues.  We
>>feel that we cannot simply scrap our custom look and feel and adopt a
>>standard windows user interface.  To do so would take away a large amount
>of
>>reason that sighted users like our product and prefer it over our
>>competition, and we think it would hurt our business. But we also know that
>>we have to make our products accessible to as many users as we can.  So we
>>are doing several things as follows:
>>
>>1.  We are working with our custom controls to make them more and more
>>consistent with the Windows systems controls so that they respond to system
>>settings.  We are not where we should be yet, and screen readers continue
>to
>>me the biggest challenge for us.
>>
>>2.  We have created a version of Encarta Encyclopedia on the web.  It's
>>available at http://encarta.msn.com/ as either a free concise encyclopedia
>>or a subscription-based Deluxe encyclopedia.  While the online deluxe
>>version does not have all the high-bandwidth multimedia features of the CD
>>product, it does have all of the articles and all of the basic media types
>>such as pictures and audio clips.  In addition, the online version runs in
>a
>>browser -- either Internet Explorer or Netscape -- and thus benefits from
>>accessibility features built into the browser.
>>
>>3.  We are looking again at the standard windows controls for title bars,
>>menus, scroll bars, and dialogs.  We are exploring the extent to which
>these
>>controls have been improved and made more flexible since the first version
>>of Windows 95.  We think that it may be possible to use many more standard
>>controls by exploiting new properties that allow us to alter default color,
>>mouse-over behavior, etc. without sacrificing access to screen readers.
>>
>>Armed with all that background, I will now address your original question.
>>We are releasing a new product this fall called the Encarta World English
>>Dictionary.  It's getting a lot of press right now because it is all new
>>content -- the first new dictionary written in English in over a generation
>>and the first-ever dictionary of World English, spanning words and usage
>>from the US, the UK, Australia, South Africa, and other English-speaking
>>places.  It's a big story.
>>
>>The first software version of the Encarta World English Dictionary -- which
>>we call EWED -- will be released this fall.  Although the content is new,
>>the code that we are using to present it is in large measure the same as
>the
>>code that we used for our most recent Bookshelf edition.  This Bookshelf
>>code uses our custom interface, so that means that the first version of
>EWED
>>will not be accessible to screen readers.
>>
>>I have already begun the process of planning for the second version of the
>>EWED product, to be released a year from now -- concurrently with the 2001
>>version of the Encarta Reference Suite.  For that next version of EWED, we
>>are very interested in making the application very fast and simple so that
>>it works as an effective complement to tools such as word processors, web
>>browsers, or reference products from which words are often looked up.
>>Towards that end, I am looking at option #3 raised above -- that of using a
>>much more standard set of Windows controls.  I believe that the use of
>these
>>controls will help us meet the goals of quick and easy access for all
>users,
>>and it should allow us to use Active Accessibility and be fully available
>to
>>screen readers.
>>
>>It is very early in the planning process for this next version of EWED, so
>>nothing here is certain and these plans should be regarded as a goal but
>not
>>as a firm promise.  Normally I would not discuss product planning details
>>with people outside the company at this stage, but I wanted you to know
>>about the types of efforts that we are making here and that we do consider
>>screen reader access to be an important problem to solve.
>>
>>I'm sorry that I was not able to give you the answer that you wanted to
>>hear, but I appreciate hearing from you about your concerns.  As I said at
>>the top of this note, my job as a planner is to listen to users and help
>>make the products that will be most valuable and useful to them.  I hope
>>that we are able to really get accessibility done right in all of our
>>products within the next one or two release cycles.  If we succeed in that
>>goal, that success will be largely attributable to the feedback we've
>>received from the accessibility community.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>
>>Jim Cox
>>Encarta Product Planner
>>
>>
>>
>
>


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html