ASSISTIVE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ON LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

Wayne Chenoweth
Training Specialist/Instructor
High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges
21050 McClellan Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
Voice: (408) 996-4636
FAX: (408) 996-6042
E-Mail: wchenowe@ginko.htctu.fhda.edu
WWW: www.htctu.fhda.edu

Don Dutton
Instructor
High Tech Center
Rancho Santiago College
1530 West 17th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92706
Voice: (714) 564-6268
FAX: (714) 539-5922
E-Mail: ddutton@compuaccess.com
WWW: www.compuaccess.com

Laurie Vasquez
Instructor
Santa Barbara City College
721 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Voice: (805) 965-0581 x2529
E-Mail: vasquez@gate1.sbcc.cc.ca.us
WWW: www.sbcc.cc.ca.us

Web Posted on: November 22, 1997

Local Area Networks have become the norm for many workplace and educational settings. As users move from an isolated desktop computing model to a more distributed computing model they gain access to shared resources. Can users with disabilities benefit from this emerging standard? Will current assistive computer technology function in a networked environment?

This paper will survey the relevant issues of assistive computer technology integration on college campuses. Topics discussed will include: solutions to installation and configuration problems for assistive computer technology in various networked environments and administrative issues to consider when providing access technology to the entire campus. The focus here is on the college campus, but any large computing environment will encounter similar issues.

In the ideal computing environment the computer would adapt perfectly to the user's particular needs and preferences no matter where he or she interacts with the computer. If the user wants to write, all the writing tools familiar to the user would be available at any workstation, and the same would be true for any particular assistive technology the user might need to access any computer. As desktop computing matures to include a more distributed model of networked resources we have the potential for realization of this ideal.

Many software developers are now making their applications network aware. A large number of programs can now appear on users' desktops regardless of where they actually reside permanently. Unfortunately, access software remains for the most part only on the particular computer where it was installed. Reasons for this situation abound: performance, hardware limitations, copy protection, and relatively limited resources of access technology developers. For the most part, access software is designed to run on only one computer at a time which may or may not limit the user depending on the setting. However, in the educational setting where students must perform multiple tasks in many computer labs spread out over a campus, this model presents many needless obstacles to their education.

Our experience with working to improve the accessibility of campus computing facilities has turned up some interesting trends. It seems that understanding networking of the people kind is as important as understanding networking of the computing kind. Although there are some interesting parallels, the irony here is that it is usually the human aspect that is the most limiting and not the technology. The people- networking aspects will be discussed later while we take a look at some examples of how to configure access software on local area networks.

Assistive software for the Macintosh desktop computer is, for the most part, limited to the computer it has been installed on and does not lend itself to network use. In the PC desktop world, similar limitations exist, but there are some notable exceptions which provide a model for future development. A brief discussion of installation and configuration issues follows.

Zoomtext for Windows, a screen enlarging application, allows for flexible location of both the program files and user configuration files. When a site license is purchased for this program, it can be installed on a server allowing users to access it from anywhere on the network. Further, it provides for a particular user's configuration to be saved in a specified location. If the user configuration is also saved on the server this permits the user to work at any location and still have a particular setup available, i.e., Zoomtext with the setting changes they have made.

The above scenario represents perhaps an ideal setting for users with disabilities in networked environments. Admittedly, for this to happen there must be considerable planning on the part of the network system administrator for this to take place. We will discuss the administrative and personnel issues later in the paper and take look at some of the technical issues now.

One of the fundamental obstacles to each user having unique settings preserved is the logon method used at many college campuses. Instead of one user account and password for the entire campus, students may get generic user accounts and passwords and may have many of these if they use different labs on campus. This may reduce the administrative workload in some cases, but it can become more difficult for users as well.

Typically, campuses evolve over time from a number of smaller isolated local area networks to a larger more unified network. This is especially true today in light of Internet connections where any user with Internet access is part of a much larger network. As campus networks become more unified, a single user account for the entire campus is starting to be the goal. Some colleges are trying to implement this even for a student's entire time enrolled at the campus. Although it requires more planning at the outset, having one account can reduce administration in the long term. Unique accounts can also provide students with better accessibility throughout the campus computing environment once they have been setup with the access applications they need.

Even if unique accounts are not used on a campus, access applications can be made available from a central server or servers. For example, the NetWare Application Launcher (NAL) allows applications to appear as objects which can then be used as needed. If the applications are made accessible to all users it is just a matter of training the users with special needs how to get to them. On NT servers, access applications can also be placed in shared directories to which all users have access.

On the server side, setting up applications for student access is a normal task. If assistive software is treated in the same manner, as just another application, all users can have access transparently.

Transparency in this case means that when an access feature is needed, it is available, and when it is not needed, it hides in the background and does not disturb any normal functions of programs on the network.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to setup all access software in the manner stated above. Some programs require extra hardware to function or are not designed to run anywhere but on the local machine. For example, screen reader applications require a speech synthesizer to produce the voice feedback for blind users and speech recognition applications require a sound card to convert speech into a digital form the computer can use. Multi-media sound cards like the Sound Blaster are beginning to take over these functions with some limitations. Usually when a sound card is used for speech input or output its normal sound functions are not usable. Perhaps future sound cards will remedy this situation. However, until usable sound is standard on all computers this will remain a limitation.

Few general rules exist for installation of access applications onto servers. It is always a good idea to check with the software developer for particular network installation questions as documentation may not provide enough information about network installation. Also, occasionally DOS or Windows applications will not install properly on an NT server. In this situation if the application is installed first on a DOS or Windows system then copied to the server it will run correctly.

Screen reader and speech recognition applications typically are not recommended to be run from a server because they need the maximum performance they can get out of a system and therefore need to be run locally. This too may change in the future as the typical computer performance increases to allow remote applications to run, for example, the latest version of the Kurzweil Voice can be run from a server and some screen readers can now run from a server too. However, until all access applications can run from a central server, many campuses opt for accessible workstations in labs that have the necessary hardware and software installed. This method must be used also when copy protection prevents installation on any computer but the local computer that has the copy protection authorization installed. Installation limitations like those stated above should be considered when trying to make an entire campus accessible. As the shift in focus from desktop computing to network centric applications continues, access technology must also account for this shift and become more network aware.

Fortunately, the Windows 95 operating system itself is much more network aware than previous versions. For example, with Windows 95 user profiles, each user can preserve his or her settings for a particular computer, including the access features built-in to Windows 95. If their user profile is stored on the server, this kind of setup will allow users to "roam" or login to any computer and get their unique settings. This works equally well for Microsoft Windows NT Server or Novell Netware. On NT Server this profile is stored in the user's home directory and in the user's mail directory on Netware. When users login their settings download to the local computer. If the hardware and applications are available on that computer, users also have all the access tools they need. This limits users to only those machines with the necessary hardware and software, perhaps designated as "accessible workstations", but it remains a more flexible configuration for the user.

As campuses become networked, a higher level of communication and cooperation between all parties concerned must develop. In the California Community College system we find the High Tech Centers staff typically perform a key role in facilitating campus computing facilities accessibility because they are most familiar with the technology. In general, the goal is to have students learn to use assistive technology in the High Tech Center lab, then to have access to that same technology in the other labs on campus. High Tech Center staff provide training and support to students and staff as needed. To achieve this goal requires the cooperation of many different people at various levels in a typical campus setting. Some of the questions to consider when moving toward campus accessibility follow:

• is there a campus-wide computing plan?
• is there a policy for incorporating access technology into new purchases?
• what amount of the entire computing budget is allocated for access technology?
• who is responsible for making decisions for upgrades or new computers?
• what committees should address integration and implementation?
• how do you initiate and plan strategies with other campus labs?
• How do you plan for ongoing technical support?
• what technical support is required in labs and what expertise with access technology is reasonable?
• What do students need to know about networks that will aid them in learning in other labs?

Every campus will need to address these issues in light of their particular organizational structure. However, when access to technology becomes a campus issue the same way curb cuts and accessible classrooms have, all students will have a richer educational experience.