CSUN's Experience with IBM WebAdapt2Me for Easy Reading

The advent of the new software IBM WebAdapt2Me, which helps people with various disabilities customize the way they browse the web, has transformed the experience of reading and learning. The software makes reading those online textbooks easy.

Prof. Wayne Dick, chair of the computer engineering and computer sciences department at California State University, Long Beach, who made an in-depth study of the software, found promising results by successfully implementing the technology on a trial basis. He came to know about the software from a scientific paper written by Dr. Vicki Hanson, manager of accessibility research for the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Prof. Wayne, born with toxoplasmosis, which destroyed his retinas and left him with minimal vision, got the ideal atmosphere at his campus that consists of a sizeable number of students and professors with disabilities to experiment the potential of the new software. Always on the lookout for new technology that can make learning easier for members of the campus community, Prof. Wayne thought the software sounded just right for the campus.

With the new WebAdapt2Me software, students and faculty could read the online textbooks more easily. The professor successfully tested the software among a group of 10 “adventurers” formed jointly by him and Dr. Vicki. The group consisted of people with visual, hearing, and other disabilities at the university, described by Prof. Wayne as people “who are not afraid to experiment.”

Incorporating feedback from this early user group, IBM provided a WebAdapt2Me package that includes 200 licenses of the software, IBM WebSphere Application Server, and IBM Tivoli Directory Server to the university as part of an IBM Global Services engagement that allows the university to integrate IBM WebAdapt2Me into their Web delivery environment. They also provide configuration, installation, maintenance, and support services.

Facility to change the size of the type, the color and the contrast of the page to enable easier viewing, and change the page layout for easier navigation is available WebAdapt2Me. “If the color, contrast, size, and style of the text is not right, reading is uncomfortable and nauseating”, says Wayne. One of the user-friendly features of WebAdapt2Me is its ability to enlarge the type with “intelligent reformatting” for a smaller computer screen.

Wayne, like his fellow campus adventurers, testifies how the software WebAdapt2Me has transformed the experience of reading and learning in his life. “For someone like me to be able to sit back and read and not have reading be a constant physical challenge is something quite unexpected in my life. Now, with new programs like WebAdapt2Me, everyone can look at the same book and learn the same content, rendered in the way that works best. I love the name WebAdapt2Me, because with the range of disabilities people live with, one size of technology does not fit all. WebAdapt2Me turns every computer into a reading machine.”

WebAdapt2Me will be available to all the faculty members and students in California State University campus in Long Beach. This includes adults who are returning to campus to train for new careers, and the participants in the school’s Senior Citizen Education Program. This will benefit the 10,000 people with disabilities in the University system,” Wayne hopes.

Source: IBM