MathML Cloud
Sanders Kleinfeld, O’Reilly Media
Sue-Ann Ma, Benetech Labs
July 15, 2015
The DIAGRAM Center
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A Benetech Global Literacy Initiative
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Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible
Materials
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Goal: Make it easier, faster, and cheaper to create and
use accessible images for students with print disabilities
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5-year Research & Development Center funded by the
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP)
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Awarded to Benetech along with partners:
– The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible
Media (NCAM) at WGBH
– U.S. Fund for DAISY
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Today’s Webinar is Presented By…
Sanders Kleinfeld
Director of Publishing Technology, O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Sue-Ann Ma
Product Manager, Benetech Labs
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Housekeeping
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Download slides at
http://diagramcenter.org/webinars.html
Please enter your questions in chat window
Q & A at the end
This webinar is being recorded
We will notify you when a recording of this
webinar is posted at
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Importance of STEM
STEM fields play an increasingly critical role in ensuring states’
economic vitality and the economic growth of the nation as a
whole. Every high school graduate needs essential competencies
in STEM as preparation for postsecondary education, work, and
citizenship.
- NGA Center for Best Practices
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Initial Goal of MathML Cloud
See
(sqrt 54 = x^3)
Hear
“Start Root 54 End Root
equals x cubed”
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Why is Digital Math So Hard?
Inputs
• Several ways
to input math
Outputs
• Visual rendering
(what you see)
• Aural rendering
(what you hear)
Other Needs
• Solving math
• Collaboration/feedback
• Navigation/drill-down
• Math diagrams
• And more…
Tools
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Addressing the Digital Math Problem
“MathML Cloud”
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MathML Cloud on the Web
Visit MathML Cloud: https://mathmlcloud.org/
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MathML Cloud Outputs Provides Options
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MathML Cloud Adoption
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Integration Options for MathML Cloud:
1. Try it out
2. Use the API
3. Take the code
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Target Audience: large-scale content producers (e.g.
publishers and conversion vendors)
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Volume impact!
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Technical resources to help integrate into the existing pipeline
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Born Accessible means starting early in the production chain
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Reach out to Benetech’s existing partners
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About O’Reilly Media
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O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators
through its books, online services, magazines, research,
and conferences.
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Publishes ~150 frontlist STEM titles each year in print and
ebook (EPUB, MOBI, PDF) formats each year
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Majority of frontlist titles are focused on computing topics;
small but significant percentage (~10-15%) contain
complex mathematical equations
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O’Reilly’s Production Workflow
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Books are authored and produced in O’Reilly’s Atlas
platform (https://atlas.oreilly.com).
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Production is performed on source files in XHTML5,
DocBook XML, or AsciiDoc formats.
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Equations are embedded directly in source files in either
LaTeX or MathML markup (usually LaTeX, because of its
more lightweight syntax).
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Print and ebook outputs are autogenerated using a XSL
and CSS-based toolchain.
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O’Reilly’s Production Workflow (flowchart)
AsciiDoc or DocBook
Packaging
XSL + CSS
EPUB
Antenna
House +
Print
CSS3
Print PDF
XHTML5
Antenna
House +
Web
CSS3
Web PDF
(optional; can start with XHTML5)
Packaging
XSL + CSS
EPUB
Custom XSL for
EPUB postprocessing +
KF8/Mobi7 CSS
Mobi-ready EPUB
Source Content
Intermediate Output
Kindlegen
Mobi (KF8)
Final Output For Sale
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O’Reilly’s Challenge
How do we take our LaTeX equation
source content and automatically
convert it so that it’s optimized for both
print and electronic output formats?
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O’Reilly’s Challenge
Neither MathML nor SVG are
currently viable equation formats for
ebooks, due to wildly inconsistent
rendering support across the
ereader ecosystem
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MathML rendered in iBooks
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MathML rendered in Kindle Fire
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SVG rendered in iBooks
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SVG rendered in Kindle “classic”
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What’s left?
Only reliable, universal ebook
equation rendering format is bitmap
graphics (JPEG, PNG, GIF). But
how to autogenerate these graphics
from LaTeX and make them
accessible?
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O’Reilly Media’s Pilot Program
O’Reilly uses MathML Cloud API
(https://github.com/benetech/mmlc-api/wiki/API-Definition) to
batch-convert large quantities of LaTeX equations:
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Making requests to MathMLCloud API
Generating alt text for Pythagorean Theorem in LaTeX via
cURL POST request to MathML Cloud API:
LaTeX:
a^2+b^2=c^2
cURL request:
curl -X POST -d "math=a^2+b^2=c^2" -d
"mathType=TeX" -d "description=true"
https://mathmlcloud.org/equation
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Other Benefits to a MathML Cloud–Based
Workflow
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Equation renderings are autogenerated; no need for an
illustrator to produce them in an image editor
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Revisions can be made directly in the TeX/MML source; no
need to edit bitmap graphics directly
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Equation content is web-ready as TeX/MML markup and
can be rendered in the browser with MathJax:
http://www.mathjax.org
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For O’Reilly, time savings of 5-10 hours per book that
contains math content
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Beyond the pilot
O’Reilly is currently piloting:
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Generating PNG images from LaTeX source using
MathML Cloud API at mathmlcloud.org
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Generating alt text descriptions for PNG using MathML
Cloud API at mathmlcloud.org
Future work:
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Setting up O’Reilly-hosted MathML Cloud server
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Completing integration into automated Production
toolchain
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Looking Ahead for MathML Cloud
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May 2015: MathML Cloud enters Beta
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Second half of 2015:
– Monitor feedback from pilot programs & early adopters:
• Publishers
• Conversion Vendors
• edTech (e.g. LMS, authoring platform providers)
• Academic Institutions (e.g. alt media & educators)
Note: MathML Cloud is NOT optimized for all audiences
– Tweak MathML Cloud as needed
– Explore additional tools, features, and funding resources to
continue supporting the digital math arena for all learners
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Questions?
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For More Information
DIAGRAM Center Research
http://diagramcenter.org/research.html
Twitter @DIAGRAMC
https://twitter.com/DIAGRAMC
Email us
info@diagramcenter.org
Born Accessible
http://benetech.org/our-programs/literacy/born-accessible/
Benetech Global Literacy
http://benetech.org/our-programs/literacy/
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Even more resources
Visit our webinars page at
http://diagramcenter.org/webinars.html
●Tactile Graphics with a Voice
●New Models for Creating Accessible Interactive Widgets for STEM Learning
●3D Printing for the Accessible Classroom
●Accessible Image Sample Book
●Office Hours with the Image Description Experts
●Tools for Creating Accessible Math
●Best Practices for Integrating Accessible Images into eBooks and DTBs
●Accessible Images: From Creation to End User
●How to Describe Complex Images for Accessibility
●Digital Accessible Math Images
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Thank you for attending!
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