Effective Practices for Description of Science
Content within Digital Talking Books
Before the workshop begins, please take a short survey:
ncam.wgbh.org/ncam_workshop_surveys.html
WGBH & Access
The Caption Center (est. 1972)
– Captions television, home videos, feature films
– CD & DVD-ROM
– Streaming video
Descriptive Video Service (est. 1990)
– Describes television, home videos, feature films by inserting key visual
elements during pauses in dialogue
National Center for Accessible Media (est. 1993)
–
–
–
–
supports national policy decisions
develops technical solutions
conducts research
promotes advocacy via outreach
STEM Image Description
DAISY Digital Talking Books
– Provides standard for accessible digital books
NIMAS: National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
– Requires publishers to provide textbooks in digital form, including
images, for students with print disabilities
– Without image descriptions, many dtbs remain largely
inaccessible.
National Science Foundation
– Funded NCAM to develop guidelines for making STEM images
accessible
Project Partners
NCAM
American Foundation for the Blind
American Printing House for the Blind
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
George Kersher, RFBD and DAISY
Larry Scadden, Scientist and frmr NSF Program Officer
Project Goal
Provide Research-Based Guidelines for making STEM
Images Accessible.
Project Process
1. Collect Images and Descriptions
2. Evaluate And Refine Descriptions
• 2 Round Delphi Survey
•
•
•
User Testing
•
3.
15 Blind STEM Professionals and graduate students
15 Sighted “Describers” from AFB, RFBD and APH
60 B/VI STEM Focused Adults (including STEM Professionals and
Graduate Students)
Publish Results
What
Images?
STEM Description Guidelines
ncam.wgbh.org/publications/stemdx
Brevity
The most frequent recommendation from
respondents was for more brevity in description.
It takes people with visual impairments more time
to read books and articles than people without
visual impairments and the process should not be
further slowed down by unnecessarily long image
descriptions.
Brevity
PREFERRED Descriptive Practice:
•
The Venn diagram shows 2 intersecting
circles, one labeled Africa 93 and the other
labeled Asia 155. The area of intersection is
labeled 70
PREVIOUS Descriptive Practice:
•
The figure is a Venn diagram and shows 2
intersecting circles inside a large rectangle.
The circles do not touch the rectangle. The
circle on the left is labeled Africa and the
number 93 is under Africa and above the
circle. The circle on the right is labeled Asia
and the number 155 is under Asia and above
the circle. The intersection of the 2 circles is
shaded and has the number 70 in the shaded
region.
Data
Description should focus on the data and not
extraneous visual elements.
Elaborately illustrated diagrams often contain key
data that can be made accessible by presenting the
data separate from description of the overall
image.
PREVIOUS
Description emphasizes visual
PREFERRED
Description emphasizes data
Clarity
If the reader needs to listen to a description
several times because it is poorly written or
is presented in a confusing manner, then it is
not accessible.
Clarity
Drill-Down Organization
Drill-Down = brief summary followed by
extended description and/or specific data.
Drill-Down organization allows the reader
to either continue reading for more
information or stop when they have read all
they want.
Drill-Down
The figure is a pie chart.
Title: Figure 5-2. Distribution of injury
deaths by intent: United States,
2003-2004.
•
•
•
•
•
Unintentional 67%
Suicide 19%
Homicide 11%
Undetermined 3%
Legal intervention or operations of
war less than 1%
Tables
Tables, charts and graphs should be
presented as tables, not as narrative
description.
Proper coding (captions, table headers, and
table data) provide better access to tables
than narrative description.
Brief summaries or overviews of the charts
should be presented before the tables.
Tables
Processes
Processes that are presented visually can be
converted into nested lists with good results.
–
–
–
–
Flow Charts
Diagrams
Illustrated Chemical Reactions
And More!
PREVIOUS
PREFERRED
Mathematics
Math equations should be marked up with
MathML and rendered in a way that is
preferable to the individual reader.
Narrative Description
Many STEM images are best described by
linear, narrative description or “traditional”
description. Follow the guidelines!
–
–
–
–
Brevity
Drill-Down Organization
Clarity
Emphasis on Data
Narrative Description
•
The fish embryo is long, narrow and straight. Its head
is small, round, and contains gill arches. A large flap
extends to the left, from just below the head to the
middle of the embryo. A segmented bony structure
runs the length of the embryo on the right.
•
The reptile embryo is much longer and fatter than the
fish embryo, but is curled into a fetal position. Its
head is bent forward and is twice as large as that of
the fish embryo. The reptile embryo has twice as
many gill arches as the fish embryo, but the flap on
the left side is only half as long. A segmented bony
structure runs the length of the embryo on the right.
•
The bird embryo is curved more than the fish
embryo, but is not as long or as curved as the reptile
embryo. The head of the bird embryo is almost as
large as that of the reptile embryo, but has fewer gill
arches. A flap the same size as that of the reptile
embryo extends to the left. A segmented bony
structure runs the length of the embryo on the right.
Arrows point to the gill arches of all three embryos.
Navigation Control
Description presented as text is generally
preferred over recorded audio because text
readers provide superior navigation control.
Properly marked up HTML, especially lists
and tables, provides speedy and
independent access to data that is
unavailable through traditional linear,
narrative description.
Four Words to Remember
Brevity
Data
Clarity
Control
The Breathing Process
Diagram of the breathing process.
Inhalation
• A muscle at the base the lungs, called the diaphragm, moves
downward.
• Inside the lungs, pressure decreases and air rushes in.
• Ribs move upward and outward.
• Volume of the chest cavity increases.
• Air flows into the nose and mouth.
Exhalation
• Diaphragm moves upward.
• Inside the lungs, pressure increases and air moves out.
• Ribs move downward and inward.
• Volume of chest cavity decreases.
• Air flows out through the nose and mouth.
A diagram titled: The Promise of Stem Cell Research.
A petri dish is labeled, Cultured Pluripotent Stem Cells.
Arrows connect the dish of Stem Cells to the following items:
• Identify drug targets and test potential therapeutics
• Toxicity Testing
• Tissues/Cells for Transplantation
 Bone marrow for leukemia & chemotherapy
 Nerve cells for Parkinsons & Alzhiemer's disease
 Heart muscle cells for heart disease
 Pancreatic islet cells for diabetes
• ? (left blank)
• Study cell differentiation
 Understanding prevention and treatment of birth defects
An illustration labeled, "Geological unconformities."
• The illustration shows a cross-section of a grassy hill, with
five horizontal layers. The layers alternate between layers
of rock and layers of soil.
• In one area, a U-shaped section of mixed rocks and soil
cuts down from the surface through four layers. This
section is labeled "mixed strata."
• The hill slopes down to trees and water. The steep slope is
not grassy and the layers are visible. This is labeled
"exposed buried strata."
• On the other side of the water is a smaller hill with three
horizontal layers that match the first three layers of the first
hill.
How the Woodpecker Avoids a Headache
This page contains several captioned illustrations of a woodpecker.
1. The central illustration shows a woodpecker gripping a tree branch with its feet. The woodpecker stands upright on
the vertical branch. The woodpecker is yellowish-green with brown and white showing on the edges of its wings
and tail feathers. Its breast and head are lighter green, with bright red feathers across the top of its head. Its beak
is sharply pointed.
2. A diagram shows a woodpecker's skeleton.
Caption: The woodpecker is superbly adapted for chipping away wood and picking out insects from cracks. The beak
is very strong with a chisel-like tip, and the neck muscles highly developed for hammering. Even more
remarkable are the flexible, elongated hyoid bone which enables the tongue to be greatly protruded, and the
complex muscles which push the tongue in and out, stiffen it for spearing insects or move it from side to side to
explore the crevices of a rotting log.
3. Diagrams compare a woodpecker's foot to a magpie's foot. The magpie's four toes all point roughly forward, like our
fingers, while the woodpecker's toes point in all four directions.
Caption: The woodpecker's skeleton shows several special adaptions. The skull is particularly sturdy to withstand the
force of the blows as it hammers with its beak; the leg bones are large and strong; the end of the spine curves
downwards to enable the tail feathers to act as a prop. One toe of the woodpecker's foot is reversed to give a
strong grip
4. A diagram shows a woodpecker's fanning tail feathers.
Caption: The feathers in the woodpecker's tail are exceptionally stiff, and the outermost feathers are reduced in size,
allowing the tail to act as a prop.
5. On a diagram of a woodpecker's skull, labels point to different bones and muscles.
–
The tip of the woodpecker's tongue: "Horny barbed tip to spear larger insects."
–
The outside of the woodpecker's long tongue: "Sheath of skin."
–
The inside the woodpecker's mouth: "Muscles which can stiffen the tongue or move it from side to side."
–
Muscles at the top of the woodpecker's neck: "Muscles which pull the tongue in."
–
The back of the woodpecker's skull: "Muscles which when contracted push the tongue out."
–
A thin bone that starts near the woodpecker's eye and curves backward around the bird's skull to the base of
its tongue: "Hyoid bone."
An illustration shows a cross-section of the human heart.
The heart is made up of four chambers, two smaller ones on top (the left and right
atrium) and two larger ones below (the left and right ventricle.) A series of
arteries and veins carry blood to and from the chambers. Valves separate some
of the chambers and blood vessels. The diagram includes the following labels.
– right atrium: small upper chamber
– superior vena cava: carries blood from above into the right atrium
– inferior vena cava: carries blood from below into the right atrium
– right pulmonary veins: small blood vessels connected to the right atrium
– right ventricle: large lower chamber
– tricuspid valve: separates the right atrium and right ventricle
– pulmonary artery: carries blood from the right ventricle to the lungs
– pulmonary valve: separates the right ventricle and pulmonary artery
– left atrium: small upper chamber
– left pulmonary veins: small blood vessels connected to the left atrium
– left ventricle: large lower chamber
– mitral valve: separates the left atrium and left ventricle
– aorta: carries blood from the left ventricle to the rest of the body
– aortic valve: separates the left ventricle and the aorta
Thank You!
• There are many more examples on the Guidelines
Website.
• We will be adding more examples and training
sessions.
• Please take a short post-training survey at:
ncam.wgbh.org/ncam_workshop_surveys.html
Contact Information
Bryan Gould
Project Manager
WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
bryan_gould@wgbh.org
ncam.wgbh.org/publications/stemdx