More than 30,000 government websites have achieved barrier-free services, and visually impaired people-I ＂see＂ the world with my ears.
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In recent years, the Chinese government and all walks of life have actively promoted the construction of information accessibility and achieved remarkable results. With the development of technologies such as picture-to-speech and text recognition, visually impaired people have opened up a new "visual" world with the help of the Internet, and their sense of acquisition has been continuously enhanced. Information barrier-free technology is becoming more and more mature. How to further promote and apply it?
For the visually impaired, the Internet is not only a way to enrich their lives, but also an important channel to integrate into society, and it is also a means to realize self-reliance and improve their lives. In recent years, the Chinese government and all walks of life have actively promoted the construction of information accessibility, opening up a new "visual" world for the visually impaired. However, there is still much room for improvement in the popularization and application of information barrier-free technology, and some "obstacles" still need to be "cleared".
What are the information "obstacles"? The underlying design is insufficient, and many Internet products cannot be "read" smoothly.
When he founded Shunshou Technology, Jiao Yigang didn’t think that blind people would be customers of bookkeeping and wealth management products, and he didn’t even think that blind people would have any inconvenience when using products.
In 2018, Shunshou Technology cooperated with Shenzhen Information Accessibility Research Association to optimize and transform products. The research institute has a team of blind engineers, who will test the information accessibility of websites and mobile phone applications and submit the problems and suggestions to the developers.
Liang Zhenyu, head of Shenzhen Information Accessibility Research Association, said that with the help of technologies such as picture-to-speech and text recognition, common Internet products, including WeChat, Taobao, Gaode Map and Didi Taxi, have been well used by the visually impaired. However, there are still many Internet products that cannot be successfully read by screen reading software and need further optimization.
For example, in some music apps, the play button is just an icon with no explanatory text added. This is no problem for healthy people, but the software can only say the word "button" stiffly when reading the screen, and can’t say its specific meaning, which is not conducive to the visually impaired to receive information.
There are still many such "sills". For example, some important or dangerous buttons are often marked in red to attract people’s attention, but the visually impaired can’t get such tips, which often leads to some misoperation; Some products will leave some meaningless empty bytes when they are designed and developed, which will not be displayed under normal circumstances, but these redundant elements will be read aloud, resulting in many pauses or meaningless repetitions.
At the end of 2018, the Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation held a seminar. Visually impaired users reflected some "obstacles" in surfing the Internet: some clients had difficulty reading information aloud; Open electronic documents in social software, sometimes they can’t be read; Some take-away software, to turn off the screen reading function, can order food on the menu bar.
Huang Chang, deputy director of the national information accessibility public service platform, believes that the information accessibility construction of some websites is not satisfactory, which has a lot to do with not considering information accessibility when laying the foundation.
"Ideally, when Internet products are designed at the bottom, information accessibility requirements are taken into account." Liang Zhenyu said, just like a residential building, if there is no elevator during the design and construction, it will not only increase the cost, but also damage the infrastructure.
How to build a network blind road? It is not only a "plus item", but also a "required item"
In recent years, He Chuan, director of the Information Accessibility Center of China Braille Publishing House, will communicate with some Internet companies whenever he has the opportunity. He wants to let the other party know that blind people also have Internet needs, and the products need to be optimized for the convenience of blind people. What makes He Chuan feel gratified is that most enterprises are very friendly and will refer to his advice for improvement.
"Internet companies are willing to optimize for our blind people, but this is not a reasonable way to promote information accessibility." He Chuan said, "There are so many companies that we can’t tell them one by one."
He Chuan, who has been engaged in information barrier-free work for many years, believes that information barrier-free technology is very mature. The reason why it has not been promoted in all Internet products is that many people regard this work as giving love and doing charity, and it is a plus item, not a compulsory item.
Around 2003, information accessibility began to enter the public view of our country, and after more than ten years of efforts, it has made great achievements. Huang Chang said that more than 30,000 websites of party and government organs and institutions in China have completed information accessibility construction, but many social service websites still lack information accessibility services.
In 2008, China revised the Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons, in 2012, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment, and in 2016, the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Capacity Building of Website Barrier-free Services all put forward clear requirements for Internet barrier-free construction. However, these laws or regulations are principled opinions and lack mandatory binding force. He Chuan said that to promote information accessibility, compulsory and concrete measures are needed.
Huang Chang said that some people still have misunderstandings and think that information accessibility is only for the visually impaired. Everyone may face obstacles in obtaining information due to aging, injury, etc. Although it is more necessary for the visually impaired, it serves everyone. "We should have such a consciousness: to make information accessible, today is for the blind, for your grandparents, tomorrow is for mom and dad, and the day after tomorrow is for ourselves."
How to promote the application of technology? Cultivate professionals and establish a supervision mechanism for the implementation of standards
"It would be nice to offer some information barrier-free courses in computer teaching in colleges and universities." In recent years, Li Qingzhong, chairman of China Blind Association, has visited many colleges and universities.
Li Qingzhong told reporters that there is a shortage of information-accessible professionals in China. In recent years, only a few universities in China, such as Lanzhou University, have begun to pay attention to this work. "If future engineers don’t understand information accessibility and don’t have this awareness, how can they consider facilitating the use of visually impaired people when developing products in the future?" Li Qingzhong said.
Jiao Yigang was also deeply aware of the lack of talents when he was doing the barrier-free optimization of his products: "The way of thinking and usage habits of visually impaired people on the Internet are different from those of healthy people. Without special training, it is difficult for programmers to think from the perspective of the blind. "
According to industry experts, according to international practice, there is a set of standardized standards for the information barrier-free construction of Internet products, and in theory, the corresponding codes should be written with reference to the standards. More than 20 years ago, the World Wide Web Consortium formulated a series of standards, specifications, testing methods and techniques on web accessibility, and cooperated with governments and enterprises around the world to promote them around the world.
In 2012, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a new edition of "Technical Requirements for Accessibility of Website Design", which put forward accessibility standards for website construction. However, the implementation of standards is not ideal, for example, some components of web pages cannot be operated by keyboard, the blind people’s access efficiency is low, and the information service content is seriously lost.
Li Qingzhong believes that in the information barrier-free construction, the implementation of some standards is not ideal, in addition to the lack of mandatory norms, but also because there is no supervision mechanism for the implementation of standards. He suggested that a corresponding agency could be set up to monitor this work.
"Information barrier-free construction needs top-level design, and I hope it can become a part of public service infrastructure planning." Huang Chang said. (Reporter Yu Sinan)