Presenting mathematical expressions to visually-impaired users is a challenging task because, unlike text, a mathematical expression is bi-dimensional and has some distinguishing characteristics. At present, the state-of-the-art solutions present mathematical expressions to blind users in only one presentation format and with no consideration of user’s context. In this work, we present mathematical expressions in more than one presentation format and consider the context of the user, his environment and this computing system as well as the nature of the expression itself and of the user’s preferences. The solution presented in this work is most efficient when users are familiar with many presentation formats. Unlike the current state-of-the-art solutions, ours takes into account the user’s situation and present a solution that is suitable to his context and capacity. This work is our contribution to an ongoing research to make informatics more accessible to handicapped users.

No abstract

No abstract

A multimodal interface allows computing with input and output that best suits the needs of a user, including those with disability. In our multimodal multimedia (MM) computing system for visually-impaired users, the selection of media, modalities and types of applications for activation depends on user's context and application data. The adaptation of a computing system to the needs of a mobile user is essential in order that the user could continue working on his task at anytime and anywhere, thereby increasing his productivity. Our system is adaptive because the user could access his information anytime and anywhere. This access to user information is made possible through wired and wireless networks. The user profile, user task and data, and the system's knowledge database (KD) do "follow" the user wherever he goes, hence the system adapts accordingly based on the user's condition. Our system detects user context and the user's application data, consults the KD and selects the appropriate media, modalities and types of applications for activation. This work is an original contribution to the ongoing research in helping the visually-impaired users to become autonomous in using the computing system. Our aim is to improve the computing productivity of a visually-impaired user.