11 march 2008kaiser: coms e61251 coms e6125 web-enhanced information management (whim) prof. gail...

11 March 2008 Kaiser: COMS E6125 1

COMS E6125 Web-COMS E6125 Web-enHanced Information enHanced Information Management (WHIM)Management (WHIM)


Prof. Gail KaiserProf. Gail Kaiser

Spring 2008Spring 2008


Today’s Topics• Web & Society • Web Accessibility (partially

adapted from Prof. Michael Chiang, MD, Departments of Ophthalmology & Biomedical Informatics)

http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/research/Faculty_Profiles/profiles/chiang_mf.html


Societal Issues• Information Sharing• Privacy• Intellectual Property• Accessibility• Security and others…


Information Sharing: Web 1.0

• The original purpose of the Web!• Generally viewed as an information resource,

download without upload• Websites owned by “someone else” may store

your information in a database – usually limited to basic identification (name, address, phone number, credit card) and “preferences”

• Relatively limited opportunities to post your own website – might be universally browse-able but in practice typically visited by few


Information Sharing: Web 2.0

• User communities and participation• Message boards with user-supplied content• Portals with user-selected content “portlets”• Syndicated feeds• Blogs, wikis, collaborative filtering• The Web as Platform, mashups, user-supplied

applications• …


The Right To Privacy• Secrecy (confidentiality): The extent

to which we are known to others• Anonymity: The extent to which we

are the subject of others’ attention• Solitude: The extent to which others

have access to us


Rights to Sue (wrt Privacy)

• Intrusion upon seclusion or solitude, or into private affairs

• Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts

• Inaccurate reporting: Publicity that places a person in a false light in the public eye

• Appropriation of identity: “identity theft”


A New Yorker cartoon from 1993


But in 2008, yahoo, google, aol, <fill in

here> know• You’ve searched for local veterinarians and

groomers• You’ve read reviews comparing flea powders• You’ve ordered “chew sticks” and “squeaky toys”• You’ve printed coupons for Alpo• You’ve downloaded 101 Dalmations and Lassie

“on demand” movies• Your email contains sales notices from petco.com Your “My Pictures” folder contains 100s of

images of fire hydrants and frisbees


Web Tracking• Bits: How Do They Track You? • Data collection events:

– Pages displayed– Search queries entered– Videos played– Advertising displayed (both same party and

third party)• In December 2007 alone, yahoo

collected 400 billion events, aol 100 billion, google 91 billion, microsoft 51 billion

From study bycomScore publishedin NY Times online3/9/08


Caveats• Not all of this data is useful• Not all of it is retained by the

companies with access to it• Much of it cannot be traced back to

individuals• Several data collection events may be

triggered by a single Web page • Does not include user-volunteered data

(website registration, social networking)


Why Track?• Targeted advertising supports

“free” services and content• But collected information can be

used for other purposes…


Privacy Before and After

• Before the Web, you participated in a variety of activities

• These might have involved groups of people, in public or private, possibly even “the press”

• Photos or recordings might have been taken, with or without your knowledge

• You might have borrowed or purchased books or magazines related to your activities

• You might have sent/received letters by snailmail

• What is different now? Does it matter?



• Before the Web, you might have typed your name, address, phone number, birth date, social security number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc. into your PC for personal storage

• It was unlikely anyone outside your household could access your PC

• Now you type at least part of that information into your PC all the time (if you make online purchases and/or sign up for online services)

• And you have no idea who might be reading them, from either your PC (if connected to Internet) or from the Websites you sent them to



• Your name, phone number, address were always easily available (phone book, reverse listings)

• So was your birth date, although harder to obtain (birth records, drivers license)

• And your SSN - lots of forms ask for it• Your checking account and/or credit card

numbers were available through the issuing banks and the merchants where you made purchases

• So what is different now? Does it matter?


Societal Issues• Information Sharing• Privacy• Intellectual Property• Accessibility• Security• Others…


What is “Intellectual Property”?• Patents

– Exclusive right to prevent others from making, using or selling a novel, useful, non-obvious invention

– Term generally 20 years

• Trademarks– Word, name, symbol or device used to indicate the

source of goods or services and distinguish them from others

– Prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but does not prevent others from making/selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark

– Term “forever”


What is “Intellectual Property”?

• Copyrights – Exclusive right to reproduce and distribute, prepare

derivative works, perform or display publicly– Protects form of expression, not the subject matter of

the expression– Fair use - for purposes such as criticism, news reporting,

teaching, research– First sale doctrine – can use over and over, perform

privately, lend, lease, resell (that one copy)– Term depends on whether published or unpublished,

generally lifetime of author (performer, artist, etc.) plus 70 years, or 95 years from creation if work for hire


Digital Documents• Copies are perfectly reproducible an infinite

number of times• Copies can be made at zero cost• Copies can be distributed at zero cost• Technical protection systems can be

circumvented (by experts) on programmable computers

• Thus content owners have little control over the subsequent dissemination and use of their work

• How does this impact the author’s exclusive rights? How does this impact fair use and first sale doctrine?


IP Before and After• Before the Web, you might have written

fiction or non-fiction• You might have composed or performed

music, art, drama, film, etc.• You might have invented a brilliant new

technology, business practice, recipe, etc.• Perhaps you made money or achieved fame

by doing so• Is there any difference now? Does it matter?


Societal Issues• Information Sharing• Privacy• Intellectual Property• Accessibility• Security• Others…


Computer/Internet/Web “Practical” Access

• Legal, social and economic impediments– Not allowed (by government, by

community, by parents, by school)– Too expensive


Computer/Internet/Web Accessibility

• Physical impediments– Cannot see screen output– Cannot enter keyboard input– Cannot use mouse– Cannot use speakers, microphone,

etc.


Web Accessibility Motivation

• Rapid advances in IT

• Internet use becoming nearly universal (see statistics)

• Influences on education and employment

• “Digital divide”: people w/o Web access

• Visually disabled users

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm


Visual Disability Statistics• Prevalence of visual loss rising

• More visual problems in older persons

– Americans > age 65 will double by 2040

• U.S. Census (2002):

– 7.9 million “had difficulty seeing words and letters in ordinary newspaper print” (even with glasses)

– 1.8 million “unable to see”


Web User Interfaces• Then: Early browsers (Lynx) text-based

– Limitations in computing speed

– Partially sighted magnifiers, large monitors

– Blind teletype to voice output

• Now: GUI’s with point-and-click navigation, widgets with dependence on visual cues

http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html


Modern GUIs


Modern Web Interfaces


Examples of Visual Disability - Original


Decreased Visual Acuity - Blur


Central Scotoma


Decreased Peripheral Field


Hemianopia


Decreased Contrast Sensitivity


Another Example: Original


Colorblindness


Macular Vision


Retinis Vision


No Vision


Interactions with GUIs• Smaller icons Decreased speed &

accuracy

• Larger icon set size Decreased speed & accuracy

• Decreased visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, or color vision Decreased task accuracy


Americans with Disabilities Act• 1990, applies to entire nation

• “Reasonable accommodation”

• “Effective communication”

• Employment, public accommodations, telecommunications

• Internet in workplace Broadened scope of law

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/pubs/ada.htm


Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 504

• Applies to all educational programs receiving federal funds

• Universal accessibility to students with any disability:– Sensory– Physical– Cognitive

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/504.html


Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 508

• Applies to Web-based information technology (Public Law 105-220, 1998)

• All electronic and information technology developed, procured, or used by federal agencies must be accessible

• Direct purchases by federal government

• Important legal reference for accessibility

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=105_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ220.105


Assistive Technologies:Goals and Challenges

• Alternative, equivalent mechanisms

• Special challenges for Web accessibility:

– Mathematical & scientific notation

– Images and videos

– Forms, tables, frames, etc.


Screen Magnifiers

• Popular for partially sighted users

• Background tasks

• Full or part screen

• Image smoothing algorithms


Braille Displays• Completely blind

users

• Connect to keyboard

• Arrays of pins generate Braille letters

• Line-by-line output


Braille Displays• Input via regular

or Braille keyboard

• Purely text-based - Less helpful for Web interfaces

• Only 10% of blind children use Braille as primary reading medium


Screen Readers• Background applications

• Translate text & graphics to auditory output– External hardware speech synthesizers or

– Software to drive sound cards

• Orientation for users:– Announce menu bars, pop-ups, etc.

– Protocols for announcing standard GUI widgets

– Hyperlinks, navigation bar, page layout


Screen Readers• Examples:

– Freedom Scientific’s JAWS

– Dolphin’s Hal

– Microsoft’s Narrator (bundled with Windows)

• Good for varying levels of visual limitation

• Used in isolation, or in combination with other assistive technologies


But Screen Readers Do Not Solve The Problem

• Example Screen Reader Audio• The Web Page From Hell


Web Accessibility Initiative

• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

• Web Content Accessibility Guideline version 1.0 (May 1999), version 2.0 draft (December 2007)

• Various associated guidelines, e.g., Authoring Tool Accessibility

• http://www.w3.org/WAI/

http://www.w3.org/WAI/


Four Principles1. Perceivable - Information and user interface

components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive

2. Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable

3. Understandable - Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable

4. Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies


Example PerceivableProvide text alternatives for any non-text

content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language

– HTML ALT text for images and videos– Descriptive names for controls or user inputs

Also supports indexing by search engines

Another Example Perceivable

Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background– “Click the red button”

http://www.vischeck.com/

Normal Red-Green Color Blind


Example OperableProvide ways to help users with

disabilities navigate, find content and determine where they are

– Ensure that embedded objects (scripts, applets) are accessible to assistive technologies

– Mechanisms to bypass blocks of content

– Identify link purpose


Another Example Operable

Provide users with disabilities enough time to read and use content

– Be sure that blinking, scrolling or auto-updating objects can be stopped

– Screen readers can’t process moving text

Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures

Click here!!!


WCAG 2.0 Overall

• 12 general design “guidelines”

• Benefits larger population of users:

– Older technologies

– Slower Internet connections

– Mobile computing, etc.

– Difficulty reading or understanding text


Checking Compliance with Guidelines

• WAVE• Cynthia Says• W3C’s list


Web Accessibility Summary

• Recent IT revolution has produced major social change - disabled users are at growing disadvantage

• Rapid initial growth of Internet did not account for this

• Assistive technologies and legislative requirements are beginning to catch up


Upcoming: Revised Project Proposal• Due Monday March 31st • No more than four (4) pages• Post in Revised Project Proposals

folder on CourseWorks

http://bank.cs.columbia.edu/classes/cs6125/revised_project_proposal.htm

http://bank.cs.columbia.edu/classes/cs6125/revised_project_proposal.htm


Revised Project Proposal: New or Extended System

• Explain what your system will "do“• Describe value to prospective user community• Sketch the top-level architecture, including

hosts, processes and major subsystems• Diagram and explain the communications

flows, including protocols to be used and typical messaging sequences - including "error" cases

• Document any components that you are not implementing yourself (include URL)


Revised Project Proposal:

Comparison/Evaluation • Clearly indicate which system(s) you will be

evaluating (and how you will obtain)• Explain what you plan to measure and how

you will measure it (either quantitative or qualitative)

• Define what criteria you will use – and why are these significant or important

• Sketch the top-level architecture of those systems as they will operate during your experiments

• Discuss the design of your test application(s) and/or benchmark(s)


Revised Project Proposals

• Plan a <15 minute demo• Schedule with your TA between

April 22nd and May 6th

• TAs will be assigned per group – not necessarily same TA as for paper

• Final reports due Friday May 9th

Upcoming: StudentPresentations

• Topic can be paper, project, or something else relevant to class

• If project, coordinate with any other team members (e.g., schedule back-to-back)

• No more than 10 minutes• During class time April 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd or 29th

for on-campus students• Contact instructor by email to schedule asap (

[email protected]) • Last year’s slides available at

http://bank.cs.columbia.edu/classes/cs6125-s07/presentations

http://bank.cs.columbia.edu/classes/cs6125/presentation.htm

mailto:[email protected]


Reminders

• Full paper due Friday March 14th

• Revised project proposal due March 31st

• Schedule your presentation with the instructor for April 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd or 29th during class time for on-campus students (and any “local” CVN students who can come to class)




Prof. Gail KaiserProf. Gail Kaiser

Spring 2008Spring 2008