A semantic transcoding system to adapt Web services for users with disabilities

Abstract

Among the most critical issues of the internet today is how to make Web content accessible to all users, especially to users with disabilities. To meet the diverse needs and abilities of this population, the Web today calls for the development of new systems and methods to enable the same content to be adapted for display according to specific, often conflicting needs. One way to achieve this goal is through Web content transcoding. This paper presents a system, called Aurora, that transcodes Web content based on semantic rather than syntactic constructs. The goal is to deliver Web-based services (such as auction, search engine, travel, etc.) to a diverse set of users according to their specific needs. Using a schema-driven framework, Aurora extracts and maps Web content into domain-specific XML data based on abstract user goals. In doing so, it separates the meaning Web content from its presentation. The system further enables an extensible set of interface adaptors to generate custom Web pages, on-the-fly, from this standardized XML data. Ultimately, it streamlines and customizes the Web interface to faciliate navigation. The mechanisms of this rule-based semantic transcoding system and its advantages and limitations as a strategy to make Web services more accessible are the subject of this paper.