Augmenting XML Schema Definitions (XSDs) for People With Disabilities

Computer Science Master’s Thesis Presentation Augmenting XML Schema Definitions (XSDs) for People With Disabilities Under Supervision of Dr. Robert W. Kerbs Jefferson Hirk May 31, 2012

Outline • Introduction • Problem Description • Research Goal • Implementation • Software Demonstration • Questionnaire • Conclusion • Future Work • Questions Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Introduction • More than 54 million Americans live with some form of disability including mobility, hearing, learning, and vision. • An estimated 180 million people around the world have some form of vision problem. • Vision impairment is one of the most widespread problems in the general population. Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Definition of Vision Impairment • Individuals with low visual activity, from which ordinary eyeglasses, contact lenses, or intraocular lens implants do not provide clear vision or address levels of color blindness and blindness. Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Problem Description • Millions of people around the world have some form of vision problem, and this number is rising. • Although a vast number of assistive technologies are available, equipment used to help assist people with a disability, many of them are expensive, difficult to use, and platform dependent. Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Research Goal • To create a more user-friendly XML Schema environment for people with disabilities, in particular, the visually impaired • To create a Graphical User Interface (GUI) software that can read in a MusicXML file, draw the music sheet and include usability features • MusicXML Schema will be our example Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Some Definitions • Extensible Markup Language (XML) – A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable • XML Schema - A description of a type of XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed by XML itself Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Implementation • Java • XML • MusicXMLSchema • Netbeans IDE • Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

JAXB Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

MusicXML File Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Software Features • Opening a MusicXML or a saved file • Saving a file • Printing the music sheet • Changing the colors of the background and foreground of the music sheet using a simple list or advanced menu selection • Zooming in or out of the music sheet • Changing the line thickness of music sheet • Reset the software settings • Help content of the software • User guide Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Software Demonstration Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Magnification Function Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Line Thickness Function Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Questionnaire • Main objective: to test the usability of the software • Ten participants tested the software Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Questionnaire Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Questionnaire • Participants all agreed that the augmented version was helpful and easy to use. • A color blind participant found the augmented version to be useful and the usability helped reduce eyestrain. • Most participants commented that the zoom and changing the foreground and background colors were useful. • Most participants would reuse and buy the software if they had a need to look at music sheets. • One user had a minor issue using the software that is caused by the system setup Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Conclusion • Our research goal was to create a more user-friendly XML Schema environment for people with disabilities, in particular, the visually impaired. • Objective of the research was achieved. • Software was found to be useful and easy to use. • Our results proved that the same methodology can also be applied to other XML Schemas such as business, financial, math, or science. • Please visit music.jhirk.com to learn more about the software Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Future Work • Audio functionality • Edit music sheets • Magnifying lens Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

References • E. T. Loiacono, S. McCoy, and W. Chin, "Federal Web site accessibility for people with disabilities," IEEE, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 27-31, Jan. 2005. • S. Liu, W. Ma, D. Schalow, and K. Spruill, "Improving Web access for visually impaired users," IEEE, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 28-33, Jul. 2004. • J. Roy and A. Ramanujan, "XML schema language: taking XML to the next level," IEEE, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 37-40, Mar. 2001. • http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/javase/index-140168.html#binsch Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Acknowledgements • Dr. Robert W. Kerbs • Dr. Salam Salloum • Dr. Fang “Daisy” Tang • Annie Montes • Brenda Arnold Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Questions Augmenting XSDs for People With Disabilities

Augmenting XML Schema Definitions (XSDs) for People With Disabilities