[BlindMath] Invitation to Alpha Test: maidr - Accessible Multimodal Data Visualization Python Package for Matplotlib, Seaborn, Jupyter, Google Colab, and More

[kperry at blinksoft.com]

Hello Blind math community,
 
Today, we are thrilled to announce that (x)Ability Design Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is ready to invite you to the alpha test of our multimodal data representation Python package, called "maidr."
 
maidr (pronounced as 'mader') stands for multimodal access and interactive data representation. This is an accessible framework for multimodal data representation. With maidr, blind and sighted users can easily augment data visualizations into touchable (Braille), readable (text), audible (sonification), and conversational (AI) formats that work for both screen readers and refreshable braille displays.
 
The following summarizes the key features and design principles of maidr for Python:
 
1. Accessibility: maidr is designed to be accessible to both blind and sighted users from the ground up. Beyond the passive consumption level, blind users can also independently create, modify, and share data visualizations with others.
 
2. Inclusivity: maidr does not pursue a special version for blind users. Instead, it provides a unified interface that supports both visual and non-visual data exploration. This way, blind and sighted users can work together on the same data science projects.
 
3. Integration: maidr seamlessly integrates with the popular and mainstream data science environments (e.g., Python, pandas, and NumPy) as well as data visualization libraries in Python like matplotlib and seaborn.
 
4. Unintrusiveness: maidr does not require changes to existing core data visualization code. Without needing to reconstruct an accessible version separately, you can just import maidr package and use maidr.show() to your plots. Blind and sighted users can use and share the same visualization codebase in their shared data science projects.
 
5. Synchronization: maidr treats visualization as one of the multimodal data representations and ensures that all representations (e.g., visual, tactile, textual, audible) cursor and braille routing key positions are synchronized across different modalities.
 
6. Reactivity: maidr supports widely adopted reactive and interactive computing including Jupyter Notebooks, Jupyter Labs, Google Colab, Streamlit dashboard, and Shiny dashboard. maidr also supports interactive computing inside code editors, such as Visual Studio Code.
 
7. Reproducibility: maidr supports the generation of accessible data visualizations as part of the reproducible data science workflow with Quarto scientific publishing system. You can easily create accessible data representations within your reproducible reports, website blogs, slides, e-books, dashboards, and more.
 
8. Scalability: maidr supports a wide range of data visualization types, including bar plots, histograms, line plots, box plots, heatmaps, scatter plots, and more. maidr is designed to be extensible to support new visualization types. [Multi-figure and multi-layer visualizations are underway to support complex data visualizations.]
 
We believe that by making data visualizations accessible, we can empower blind and sighted users to work together on data science projects, share insights, and make data-driven decisions collaboratively.
 
We are currently looking for alpha testers to provide feedback on maidr for Python. If you are interested in participating in the alpha test, please fill out the following Google form:
 
* Blind and low-vision users: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvOkEkOvOflqJpZ-nEkntt8hcuqZIw0bGzz6a0p1ONkxfJUw/viewform
 
* Sighted users: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKq9pva8LDzrTkh77zfTV1F63aQaN40cCMQTqVZRcKqC58mQ/viewform
 
We will invite selected participants to the alpha test and provide detailed instructions and resources in a separate groups.io thread.
 
Please feel free to share this announcement with your colleagues, friends, and networks who might be interested in accessible data visualization.
 
All the best,
 
JooYoung Seo
Assistant Professor
(x)Ability Design Lab
School of Information Sciences
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
https://xabilitylab.ischool.illinois.edu/