[gui-talk] a search engine for the blind

[Joel Deutsch]

Hi Sherry,

This new Google search engine was also written about a couple of weeks ago 
in the New York Times tech update section and several other places, and a 
number of blind and low vision people on the mailing lists I'm subscribed to 
have been trying it out.  The principle is interesting, although personally 
I'm more concerned with the accuracy of search results rather than being 
blocked by Google from knowing about a site which doesn't come up to the 
standards written into this program.  If a site turns out not to be 
navigable, I can just try the next search result.  Add to this the fact that 
I tried out the search using search terms that ought to have led me to a 
site I already was familiar with an visit often, without any hassle, but 
this search engine didn't show it at least on the first couple of pages of 
results, which is where it comes up on a regular Google search.  I forget 
now which site this was, but it suggested to me that the criteria that are 
written into the algorithms that make this search engine's choices aren't 
just going to protect you from horrible, graphics-dominated sites that would 
frustrate you by silence or by focus problems, but all sorts of perfectly 
Jaws-civilized sites, as well.  But the thing is in a Beta stage, at 
present, so who knows how nicely it may become refined.  One thing that's 
interesting is to click on the FAQ link on the home page of that search 
engine, which explains basically how the thing is set up and what its 
intentions are.

There happens also to be another variant of Google that blind and low vision 
folks may appreciate, and this one is reached using the usual google.com URL 
but with a slash e at the end of it.  I  forget what the e stands for.

Here, the search results are, I think, the same as what you'd turn up using 
the regular Google with the same search terms, but the results are more 
simply presented, just a URL, practically.  I understand that if you can't 
make sense of that URL, lacking a few lines of sample text beneath  it, you 
can do this mouse hover thing and see some descriptive info that appears if 
you are sighted and hold your mouse pointer on the right place, or if you 
use the Jaws tools for accessing that "mouse over" deal.  Which I tried to 
learn, using Surf's Up, but found discouragingly complicated to do, so I 
never use that sort of feature.

But the alternative site's worth trying, in case it suits you better than 
the frustration I describe.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <fl_mom at earthlink.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List" 
<gui-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 6:58 AM
Subject: [gui-talk] a search engine for the blind


I ran across this article in a weekly newsletter I receive. I haven't tried
this site yet, but thought this might be of interest. The link to get to the
entire article is at the bottom of this e-mail.

Sherri
> A Search Engine For The Blind: Google Unveils Accessible Web ...

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by Chris Sabga
Infopackets Gazette
Infopackets Contributor

Google has just unveiled Accessible Web Search, a search engine for the
visually-challenged. Here's how it works: Regular Google sorts search
results primarily by how relevancy, but Accessible Search takes it a step
further by also listing pages will that will be easy for the blind to
navigate. To meet Google's Accessible Web Search criteria, a web Site has
to be "visually simple." That means it ...
... Click to read the rest of the article (and our most recent articles)
online:

http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/gazette/2006/20060726_a_search_engine_for_the_blind_google_unveils_accessible_web_search.htm

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