[Athen] Sensus Access - what are the use-cases?

[Joe Feria-Galicia]

Allison, if you start with a remediated Doc file, the Sensus Access export
to PDF creates an accurate tagging structure.



It is also worth noting there is a Canvas LTI available for Sensus Access.
I did some testing earlier last year and documented the below findings.
Note, Sensus Access provides many more conversion options than Blackboard
Ally and has more available Braille conversion parameters.

_______________
Accessibility Conversion

* Indicates the file format is not available in Blackboard Ally

For a Scanned Document

   -

   .doc *
   -

   .docX *
   -

   RTF *
   -

   PDF Text over image
   -

   PDF Image over Text *
   -

   PDF
   -

   BeeLine Reader
   -

   XLS *
   -

   CSV *
   -

   TXT *
   -

   HTM

MP3

   -

   Must identify the original language before export begins
   -

   This feature crashed many times

Braille

Conversion parameters

   -

   Language
   -

   Contraction level
   -

   Format
   -

   Export
   -

   Lines per page
   -

   Characters per line
   -

   Pagination
   -

   Duplex

E-Book

   -

   EPub
   -

   EPUB3 with Media Overlay *
   -

   MOBI *

LTI Delivery method

   1.

   Campus email
   2.

   Download

Testing Notes

   -

   Many download files were very VERY slow to convert and then generated an
   error message
   -

      Instructions state: “For large files it is recommended to use the
      email delivery method.”
      -

   A remediated PDF file (Vargas - Borderlands.pdf) did not retain the
   logical heading structure when exported .doc .docx and html
   -

   A remediated .Docx file (Accessibility_QuickStart_11-6-2019.docx) did
   retain tagging when exported to Adobe Acrobat





*Accessibility Team Lead*
Research Teaching & Learning <https://rtl.berkeley.edu/>
University of California, Berkeley <https://www.berkeley.edu/>
Phone: (510) 516-3801
2850 Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705

Land Acknowledgement <https://cejce.berkeley.edu/ohloneland>


On Wed, Apr 6, 2022 at 1:35 PM Susan Kelmer <Susan.Kelmer at colorado.edu>
wrote:


> No, it does not tag. It simply runs OCR on a PDF to make the text

> readable.

>

>

>

> -Susan

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Swanson,Allison

> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2022 1:54 PM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Sensus Access - what are the use-cases?

>

>

>

> Hello All,

>

>

>

> I’m curious if Sensus Access is able to tag PDFs and if so, how well

> compared to other software that claims to do so? I know automated tagging

> is not ideal, but just wondering if it’s a feature.

>

>

>

> It sounds like a plus of the product is that non-faculty can also use it.

>

>

>

> *Allison Swanson*

>

> [image: Assistive Technology Resource Center Colorado State University]

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Stephen Marositz

> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2022 12:27 PM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Sensus Access - what are the use-cases?

>

>

>

> *** Caution: EXTERNAL Sender ***

>

> Hello Matt

>

>

>

> All really well said here by Susan.

>

>

>

> We had Sensus Access, Ally, and other similar tools for a long time. One

> advantage of Sensus Access was that users did not have to be logged in to

> the LMS or student portal to use it. Other than that, Ally is a good

> training tool for basic remediation by faculty if they want it.

>

>

>

> HTH

>

>

>

>

>

> Alex Marositz

> Accessible Technology Initiative Coordinator

> Information Security and Compliance

> California State University, Dominguez Hills

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Susan Kelmer

> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2022 6:05 AM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Sensus Access - what are the use-cases?

>

>

>

> SensusAccess is one of many tools that can be used to create accessible

> content.  On our campus, it is available to anyone with a campus logon –

> students, faculty, staff, even retirees.  You upload an inaccessible

> document, and get back an accessible document.  It is not perfect, but it

> is a workable tool, and gives everyone at least some option to make a

> document accessible. As with any software that purports to create an

> accessible output from an inaccessible document, it really does depend on

> the quality of the original. Garbage in, garbage out.

>

>

>

> Blackboard, like Canvas and other LMS’s, is simply a repository at its

> base.  Instructors can upload content, students can submit content.

> Blackboard (or Canvas) does not alter content, make it accessible, etc.

> It’s simply a giant electronic/digital notebook that you can put things

> into to keep them organized, and to give access to that materials to

> others. Blackboard Ally has some great tools that can make more of the

> content uploaded be accessible, but it’s not a cure-all. And it is not a

> standalone, like SensusAccess. It is again, just a tool.

>

>

>

> TRUE alternate media (aka, accessible documents/video) comes from a

> dedicated process for creating alternate format.  PDFs from publishers, for

> example, are produced using a dedicated process on the publisher’s end, and

> those PDFs tend to be accessible and ready to be used by most students (not

> all, more on that later).  These can often be used as-is.  It is extremely

> important to remember that publishers are under NO legal requirement to

> produce accessible documents.  The legal requirement rests on the

> institution.  Are we grateful for the accessible documents we DO get from

> publishers?  I know I am – makes my job easier.

>

>

>

> The real problem with content in any LMS is instructor-uploaded materials

> that are not accessible.  Faculty do not have the knowledge base to produce

> accessible materials like alternate media specialists do. They may not

> understand that just because it is digital doesn’t mean it’s accessible. We

> understand the difference between “yikes, yes, I can highlight that text

> with my mouse but where is the last half inch of each page?” and “this is a

> great PDF but our blind student really needs a Word file instead.”  This is

> why we get paid the big bucks (hah!).

>

>

>

> No ONE tool is going to do it all.  Maybe someday there will be no need

> for remediation.  But today is not someday. And while we can teach faculty

> and others to do better about what they upload into an LMS, the burden

> still falls on the alt media provider to create completely accessible

> materials, using a variety of tools to get it done. We have an entire

> toolbox of tools that we use.  I’m never more reminded of how far we have

> to go in the world of accessible documents until I’m creating accessible

> STEM content for a student with a visual impairment.  A current project is

> listening to video lectures and adding MathType and image descriptions to

> the Word transcript for a linear algebra class.  Or then there is a

> perfectly good PDF of a physics textbook but it must be turned it into

> textbook-formatted Braille for a student with blindness.

>

>

>

> Accessible documents are a spectrum…we can cover “most” students with

> well-formatted PDFs, but the 80/20 rule applies: we are going to spend 80%

> of our time remediating 20% of the materials for students with higher

> needs.  SensusAccess is a great tool that can take some of the burden away

> from us as alternate media producers.  It gives students and faculty a

> “quick and dirty” way to make a document readable in a pinch or on the

> fly.  It won’t replace the work that we are doing behind the scenes, though.

>

>

>

> Hope that helps?

>

>

>

>

>

> *Susan Kelmer *

>

> Alternate Format Production Program Manager

>

> Disability Services

>

> Division of Student Affairs

>

> *T* 303 735 4836

>

> *www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices

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> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Matthew Deeprose

> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2022 1:05 AM

> *To:* 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* [Athen] Sensus Access - what are the use-cases?

>

>

>

> Hi

>

>

>

> Numerous educational institutions have both Sensus Access and Blackboard

> Ally. The main difference is that with Sensus Access anyone can request an

> alternative format of content they upload, whereas Blackboard Ally is about

> producing alternative formats of content uploaded by someone (usually an

> instructor) to an LMS course.

>

>

>

> For those who have/use Sensus Access please could you share the use-cases

> and reasons for having it? I'm a little nervous it may be used as way to

> absolve institutional responsibility for ensuring suppliers such as

> publishers provide natively accessible content. So, I would love to hear

> how and why other institutions are using it.

>

>

>

> Thanks in anticipation.

>

>

>

> Matt

>

>

>

>

>

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