Inclusive production of tactile graphics

Abstract

In this article a collaborative workstation for creating audio-tactile graphics is presented. The system is based on a common open source office suite and supports a transcriber for tactile graphics with several tools. In addition the system allows a blind reviewer to get involved at every stage of the creation process. This is achieved through a refreshable two-dimensional tactile display. The blind participant can independently manipulate graphical objects and make annotations in parallel. As a result, a tandem team of a sighted graphic creator and a blind partner may create a tactile graphic with better quality.