Webstandards, Accessibility and Usability at Penn State

Second Life poses many interesting opportunities for new methods of learning. Any time a new technology comes along that can be used for education, accessibility is not generally a topic of discussion when deciding whether or not to put the technology into use, but it should be. Equitable access to the learning environment for everyone is something that federal laws protect. Online course designers may perceive that such considerations present barriers to innovation. However, providing accessible learning environments can open up greater opportunities for all users, not just those confronting disability issues.

This has been the approach taken by a few individuals from the University of Nevada when they developed TextSL. TextSL is a Second Life client designed for visually impaired and blind users that currently works with the JAWS screen reader. Educational institutions have been exploring many different ways to utilize Second Life as a learning tool and the topic of accessibility has been coming up. While Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, does not currently employ a position dedicated to the topics of accessibility and disabilities, they have done something very important to benefit all end users: they have released Second Life’s viewer as open source. This means that users can improve the UI and add functionality that meets their own needs.

In addition to the viewer being open source, Linden Lab has a few features currently built in to aid in a more accessible experience. The user has control over the text size of the interface within the preferences to accommodate visually impaired users. Linden Lab also provide text transcripts of their own events for the hearing impaired, which is something that can be done by any content creators for their own events.

There are also organizations working to provide accessibility to those who have mobility impairments. As shown in the video below, researchers are finding ways to control movement and navigation within Second Life by using brainwaves. Dragon Naturally Speaking can be used for any text input needs such as entering keywords into search boxes and communicating via the text chat.

YouTube Video

Linden Lab has accomplished these accessibility innovations by doing something most companies might cringe to consider: allowing the user to provide input and control the interface according to his or her own needs.