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Incredibly Big Minds

• By Paul Crichton
• 18 Sep 07, 04:25 PM

It has been a busy time for the big brains at IBM. Firstly, they announced that they had developed a technology to (BSL). They then followed that up by revealing that they are working on an audio tool to make . Sheesh. Give someone else a chance, why don’t you.

IBM has a great track record in the accessibility field. There was the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Page Reader, an entry-level screen reader beloved of visually impaired people and web designers alike. IBM is also working on a tool to make online video more accessible for visually impaired people.

The tool to translate written or spoken words into BSL is called SiSi – Say it Sign it in full. Input is processed and then delivered by way of an animated signing avatar. It has exciting possibilities. Where a BSL translator is not available for conferences, or university lectures, then SiSi could be employed. It can even be added to video. Imagine if chose to adopt SiSi. How cool would that be?

BSL is a complicated language, and full understanding requires more than simply following hand movements. Body language and facial expressions are also important, so BSL translators can still sleep at night at SiSi won’t make them redundant. But if an institution cannot afford a translator, or needs one at short notice, this could be a fantastic back up solution.

We’ve moaned more times than I really care to remember about the accessibility of virtual worlds. Most recently, when ICANN’s CEO Paul Twomey predicted that they are the future for commercial websites. So news that IBM is developing a 3-D audio environment for alternative reality is most welcome indeed.

The project, called Accessibility In Virtual Worlds is still at an early stage of development. When a user enters a website, their surroundings are described to them. The system acts like a kind of sonar, so users can hear what is around them – a tree rustling in the wind to the left, say, or the footsteps of another user approaching them.

Accessibility in Virtual Worlds sounds like it will need a great deal of collaboration with site owners for it to work properly and provide a full experience to blind users. However, it isn’t just visually impaired people who will enjoy 3-D soundscapes, which hopefully means that it will be widely adopted when it becomes available.

One random thought that occurs to me about both of these new developments. They are quite similar to some of the features in games created by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Jam that we looked at. Which merely underlines what a shame it is that ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Jam is on an extended hiatus.

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