On Tech Talk this week, I had a great conversation with Troy Otilio from @AiraVI about their new Access AI feature, which has recently been released as a beta in the Aira Explorer app. We spoke about where this feature came from, the impact the use of AI has on privacy, and so much more about AI and Aira in general. Have a listen here or wherever you get your podcasts

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/…

@rnib #aira #AccessAI #AI #chatGPT #gemini #blind #accessibility #podcast

‎RNIB Tech Talk: Tech Talk 508: Access AI, WelcoMe In Currys, RNIB Gamer Survey on Apple Podcasts

‎Show RNIB Tech Talk, Ep Tech Talk 508: Access AI, WelcoMe In Currys, RNIB Gamer Survey - 16 Apr 2024

^{Apple Podcasts}

Slides from my Notes on synthetic speech talk at #GAconf today:
decks.tink.uk/2024.html

And the original blog post from 2021:
tink.uk/notes-on-synthetic-spe…

#accessibility #a11y #gaming

Starting with version 3.1.12, #pandoc-generated #EPUBs conform to the EU Accessibility Act. w3.org/TR/epub-a11y-eaa-mappin…

Relevant metadata fields are listed in the "EPUB metadata" section of the manual: pandoc.org/MANUAL#epub-metadat….

#accessibility #A11y

A little accessible and inclusive content creation hot tip:

Instead of just linking directly to xkcd, consider linking to the relevant entry on explainxkcd.com instead (or as well as linking to xkcd).

There, each xkcd comic has a full, descriptive transcript, and the hover text is printed as plain text, making the comic much more accessible for your blind (or otherwise screenreader-using) followers and for mobile users alike.

Plus, the joke explanations are helpful!

#accessibility

Remember these guys? They were the ones who, when approached, said #accessibility wasn’t a high priority on their road map. So, bye bye. Post News, the a16z-funded Twitter alternative, is shutting down

techcrunch.com/2024/04/19/post…

Orca the Linux screen reader now has a website!

orca.gnome.org/

Thanks to @snwh

And thank you Joannie, @igalia and the community for all the ongoing work and support.

#Linux #GNOME #freedesktop #a11y #accessibility

Here's a neat exploration of the curb cut effect for accessibility in @gnome - using accessibility tools to aid in testing automation! Has pros and cons identified in the article, but interesting nonetheless.

➡️ fedoramagazine.org/automation-…

#Fedora #Gnome #accessibility #a11y #Linux #OpenSource

Automation through Accessibility - Fedora Magazine

Using Accessibility as an automation testing tool. Learn about DesktopQE's automation stack to test Desktop Applications.

^{Michal Odehnal (Fedora Project)}

👉🏼 Building a culture of accessibility

“Accessibility isn't solely important in the final product; it's crucial at every step of the process. Adopting accessible practices from the outset unlocks your team's full potential.”

tetralogical.com/blog/2024/04/…

#accessibility #culture

Building a culture of accessibility - TetraLogical

^TetraLogical

‘When security and accessibility clash: why are banking applications so inaccessible?’
nicchan.me/blog/when-security-…

I once did a presentation for a bank client explaining all the ways preventing paste disables users.

The response: “But we have to, for security.” No ability to justify beyond that, no consideration of user impact, no offer of supporting data.

Security theater is often used to abrogate #accessibility requirements. #a11y

Or maybe Matt Mullenweg, head of the multi-billion dollar WordPress corporate entity, could honor his prior commitments to #accessibility and sponsor this.

It should be embarrassing to him and his company that he doesn’t. That this event has to even *ask* for free labor.

@yatil

YOWZA
Form Extractor Prototype

“This tool extracts the structure from an image of a form.”

github.com/timpaul/form-extrac…

#ai #LLM #UX #accessibility

GitHub - timpaul/form-extractor-prototype

Contribute to timpaul/form-extractor-prototype development by creating an account on GitHub.

^GitHub

Microsoft announced their latest round of FOSS fund recipients. We're thrilled to share that @NVAccess are among this quarter's recipients. From: github.com/microsoft/foss-fund

"A project of the Microsoft Open Source Programs Office, the FOSS Fund provides up to $10,000 USD in sponsorships to open source projects as selected by Microsoft employees."

Congratulations also to The GNU Compiler Collection, Urllib3, CLAP & MSW.

#OpenSource, #FOSS #Free #Software #NVDA #ScreenReader #Accessibility #A11y

Everette Bacon, Aira’s Vice President of Blindness Initiatives, was featured on the most recent episode of Talking Technology sharing Aira’s history, functionality, and future developments including the new Access AI feature and recent Eclipse event coverage.

#AccessForAll #OnYourTerms #AssistiveTechnology #Accessibility

youtube.com/watch?v=UAQ8YJA1Zb…

Talking Technology with V I Labs Episode 54 – Aira, Voice Dream, and a Solar Eclipse

On the show this week we catch up with Everette Bacon, Vice President of Blindness Initiatives at Aira Technologies to find out about the inspiration behind ...

^YouTube

...and here we go: #id24 will return this year on 12 September 2024.

The call for presentations is now open inclusivedesign24.org/2024/

#a11y #accessibility #inclusiveDesign

Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)

A free 24-hour online community event on accessibility and inclusion

^{Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)}

Department of Justice just formally set WCAG Version 2.1, Level AA as the technical standard for government sites. ada.gov/notices/2024/03/08/web…

#accessibility #a11y

Our new Chief Technology Officer, Gerald Hartig, is being interviewed on Vision Australia Radio tonight at 8:10pm AEST (About 1hr 15mins after I post this). You can tune in online at: player.listenlive.co/65731/

#NVDA #ScreenReader #Accessibility #Interview #News #A11y

Vision Australia Radio Adelaide

Accessible news, information and entertainment. Vision Australia Radio offers a range of interesting and informative programs that feature readings from the latest newspapers, magazines and books.

^{Vision Australia Radio Adelaide}

Director @tink is quoted in the Financial Times this week discussing the increasing presence of AI in the world of digital accessibility.

ft.com/content/3c877c55-b698-4…

#FinancialTimes #AI #Accessibility

Lots of things happening in the AI/LLM space that could have implications for #accessibility

Ferret-UI from Apple:
arxiv.org/abs/2404.05719

ScreenAI from Google
research.google/blog/screenai-…

#a11y #ai #LLM

Ferret-UI: Grounded Mobile UI Understanding with Multimodal LLMs

Recent advancements in multimodal large language models (MLLMs) have been noteworthy, yet, these general-domain MLLMs often fall short in their ability to comprehend and interact effectively with user interface (UI) screens.

^arXiv.org

Speaking of #overlays, there is yet another one: #WebAbility

I have already made a PR to add it to the Overlay Fact Sheet:
github.com/karlgroves/overlayf…

As with other overlays, it makes WCAG/ADA promises, fails to fix stuff, replicates platform features (poorly) in CSS, and introduces WCAG violations just by adding it to a site.

Cool business model.

#accessibility #a11y

Adding WebAbility as an overlay by aardrian · Pull Request #1189 · karlgroves/overlayfactsheet

From Introducing WebAbility.io: Ultimate Web Accessibility Widget for ADA & WCAG Compliance, a press release from Techyweb Solutions INC.: WebAbility.io offers easy, comprehensive solutions for we...

^GitHub

Jupyter notebooks in 2024 is still not accessible.

In his #PyCascades talk, Venkatesh Potluri (who is blind) noted that popular Python libraries like matplotlib etc still can't embed alt text.

He made a patch for it, but the notebooks still don't pick up alt text.

#accessibility #Python #jupyter

"Blind internet users struggle with error-prone AI aids", reports an article in the Financial Times:
ft.com/content/3c877c55-b698-4…

#FT has a paywall but three articles can be accessed for free if you register.

TLDR is that AI #accessibility widgets over promise and under deliver. Repeatedly.

#AI #GenerativeAI #a11y

#AudioEye has a blog post where its CAO talks about “trust, transparency, collaboration, and innovation.”

Which is code for rebranding its #overlay product without issuing refunds for its prior guarantees.

Anyway, I offer my thoughts in a bit more detail as a comment on the post that got me sued:
adrianroselli.com/2023/02/audi…

#accessibility #a11y

#AudioEye Will Get You Sued

Disclaimer: This post and the headline is my opinion. I provide verifiable facts throughout to inform that opinion. I am also not a lawyer, and this post does not constitute legal advice. The content reflects my genuinely held beliefs and opinions.

^{Adrian Roselli}

This piece is worth reading if you’re in tech criticism or infosec/cybersecurity and are being asked for commentary on IoT and smart home devices.

People aren’t foolish for using IoT or for wanting things to be easier in their homes. This tech makes positive and meaningful change for people of all kinds of abilities. It’s valid to worry about the privacy or security issues that IoT is riddled with, but don’t draw a direct line from there to blaming the user - some people have no alternatives that don’t involve giving up independent access to their own homes and lives. Everyone deserves to live in ways that fit their needs.

Instead, join the push to hold manufacturers and providers to account for poor security and privacy practices. Advocate for better, more respectful and accessible default configurations. Help people understand how to anticipate and mitigate the worst of these issues when they’re setting things up, and give them power and agency over their home systems.

We all deserve to have tech that works for us, in all the ways that matters.

#accessibility
#a11y #infosec
#cybersecurity
#iot #smarthome

theverge.com/24080201/smart-ho…

How smart home technology made my home more accessible

Using one’s phone or voice to flip a light switch may be convenient since you don’t need to get up. For the author and other disabled people, this makes it accessible.

^{Steven Aquino (The Verge)}

I was going to boost this as a good example of a well-written image description, but does this work?

(Don't have access to a screen reader right now.)

mas.to/@swisslet/1121784244902…

#accessibility #a11y #ImageDescription

swisslet (@swisslet@mas.to)

Attached: 1 image Steve Martin is a comic genius. Here’s a ‘personalised’ letter he used to send out to fans. That flip at the end is perfection. #SteveMartin #comedy #letters

^mas.to

Today's Web Design Update: groups.google.com/a/d.umn.edu/… Subscribe info: d.umn.edu/itss/training/online… #Accessibility #A11y #WebDesign

Featuring @siblingpastry, @TPGi, @stvfrnzl, @aardrian, @a11ytalks, @SteveFaulkner, @zeldman, @fastfinge, @chrisdavidmills, @adactio, @feather, @nethermind, @intopia, @dennisl, @hdv, @scottohara, @scottohara, @cory, @PK_info, @berry220, @gerrymcgovern, et al.

The European Accessibility Act will come into effect in June 2025, impacting businesses globally.
What does it mean for your business? Are you preparing?
#Accessibility #EURegulations #BusinessCompliance

bbeb.com/post/102j2d4/the-glob…

The Global Impact of the European Accessible Act (via Passle)

In June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will come into law. While the law is based in the EU, it will impact businesses in the UK, USA and any that...

^Passle

The Inaccessibility Cycle

#disability #ableism #accessibility

NV Access is very pleased to share the release of the NVDA 2024.1 Release Candidate. Unless any major issues are identified, this will be identical to the final release. We encourage all users to test the Release Candidate. Many updates including on-demand speech mode, native selection in Firefox, bulk actions in the add-on store and much more! Read the full details and download at: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2024-1r…

#NVDA #NVDAsr #Accessibility #A11y #ScreenReader #News #NewVersion #Release