GSoC/GCI Archive
Google Summer of Code 2012

Inclusive Design Institute

Web Page: http://wiki.atutor.ca/display/atutorwiki/Google+Summer+of+Code+2012

Mailing List: mailto:fluid-work@fluidproject.org

The Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) is the lead organization of the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI), a collaboration of eight Ontario post secondary institutions, together focusing on the development of inclusive information technology. IDRC is primarily a research and development organization, part of the Department of Design at OCAD University in Toronto. Its primary mandate is to promote access to information and information technology for all. Many of its activities involve working with international and local standards groups to introduce accessibility related specifications into their developing standards. It is an organization of computer scientists, engineers, educators, and practitioners, who all work together to develop leading edge technologies that are inclusive to everyone. The IDRC and IDI are not-for-profit organizations. They offer services for people with disabilities, providing guidance on issues related to learning, technology use, and access to information.

Projects

  • AChecker Interactive Interface The project aims to redesign the AChecker interface from scratch. The new design will be much more user-appealing, providing dynamic access to the various functionalities of the AChecker. The new interface will be compliant with W3C WAI ARIA specification which will guarantee system accessibility. Once the design is finalised, it will be developed using PHP and AJAX technologies with JQuery and XML.
  • AChecker manual evaluations AChecker is an accessibility evaluation tool , which evaluates the accessibility of any URL according to a specific set of international standards. What makes AChecker stand out is its feature to show the likely and potential errors in the URL , where human interventions and decisions are necessary to be made, to decide whether the URL is accessible enough for the end user. At present , AChecker lists all the warnings( likely and potential errors) and also exports them to the report . The aim of this project is to introduce a feature wherein the end user can evaluate these likely and potential errors , and declare whether they are "real errors” dynamically in the report page. These errors will be reflected in the report which will be exported.
  • AContent to ATutor Live Content Link Extend ATutor content integration capabilities to present content that exists in AContent. This will allow instructors to search through the AContent elearning content repository. Instead of downloading or importing content for their courses, they can simply create a link within their ATutor content and have AContent content display as if it were part of ATutor content. This will allow content to be updated in AContent and propagate through all courses in ATutor that have that content linked in.
  • ATutor Calendar Module Extension In last years Google Summer of Code development started on the ATutor Calendar module. The initial structure for the module, and its linking into other ATutor modules to collect dates (e.g tests dates, assignments due, course start dates) were setup to automatically generate content for the calendar. The aim of this project is to build on these features, making it possible for students and instructors to create personal calendar entries, to share entries, and to integrate other calendar data (e.g. Google Calendar, Outlook) into their calendars.
  • ATutor Chat Redesign The technology evolved since the time AChat was developed. The WAI-ARIA standard, developed by W3C, introduced new notion of live regions that make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. The goal of this project is to make a new accessible chat with WAI-ARIA live regions extending the one already created by more efficient data transfer, larger feature set and intuitive interface.
  • Google App Module for ATutor. The project intends to implement a module to be used in ATutor, that helps content authors to utilize popular Google App such as Google Docs, Google Calendar, Youtube, etc. & create highly interactive course content. The users of the module can also access & share these resources using Google App services, from within Atutor environment.
  • Highly customizable and accessible web based ePub reader This project is about implementing a web based ePub reader component based on open web technologies for infusion framework. The ePub reader developed will be screen reader accessible utilizing tools for customizing user experience. Having a highly customizable reading experience on the web will contribute to a growing number of new learning tools in the educational domain.
  • HTML5 Image Editor The goal of this project is to expand on Pulkit Goyal’s HTML5 Image Editor to include image editing functionalities that can be used in the context of image correction for optical character recognition.
  • Inclusive, Web-based Musical Instruments With the introduction of the "Audio Data" Api in Firefox 4, developers have been given a platform to create in browser synthesis tools. This project would utilize the “Flocking” synthesis environment and the “Infusion” development platform to create an in browser synthesis environment with various means of control. This project would offer individuals with limited mobility a platform in which they could compose and perform music
  • OpenID+OAuth module for ATutor The module provides OpenID feature to the ATutor. Which enables users to register and log in to the ATutor without much pain. They can manage their content without keeping a separate username password combo. This module can work with OAuth based Google app module to import Google services to the ATutor.
  • Towards non-visual/accessible programming Inclusive Design Institute is an organization that seeks to make the open web truly "Open". My selected project will help further the goal of an accessible internet. My proposal takes this a step further by making development of the web accessible to people of any situation. Decoupling the design and programming process from the absolute need of a keyboard and mouse. This GSoC project will aim to lay the groundwork for a downloadable web-app that removes the text-based editing of HTML & CSS, by translating the language to a more visual drag-and-drop or speech driven environment.