[Athen] [EXT]Re: PDF remediation help

[Philip Kiff]

So I found Adobe's media release [1] from yesterday (GAAD, May 18) that 
sparked the Forbes and other article (links at end of emal).

Adobe has a page in their Developer documentation area [2] with more info.

They have a free demo [3] (requires login) where you can test it out.

I think that what Adobe are announcing is the new API aimed at 
developers, not just a new iteration of the Auto-Tag feature that has 
been built into Adobe Acrobat Pro for many years.

Adobe seems to be suggesting that this API is partially driven by their 
so-called "AI" branded as "Sensei". It is not clear to me that the 
AutoTag feature in Acrobat Pro runs  the exact same code as that in 
their (new?) API. Leaving aside the misleading marketing language around 
the phrase "artificial intelligence", I have the impression that Acrobat 
Pro's AutoTag feature depends entirely on code run locally on your 
computer, whereas the AutoTag API will run somewhere in Adobe's Cloud. 
Maybe the results will be similar. Who knows.

Is that different than the AutoTag in the "new Acrobat" that you're 
talking about Bevi?

Like Bevi and Susan, I find the AutoTag feature currently included in 
Adobe Acrobat Pro to be mediocre. Though I often still use it as a 
starting point when I am remediating files.

But I can see a value in having an API that developers can incorporate 
into their own PDF generation processes or when trying to automate 
large-scale remediation efforts on collections of files. There are 
already some other document accessibility companies that offer automated 
solutions for remediation of PDF files in bulk, I think, so I expect 
this signals that Adobe has decided to enter into this business market 
more aggressively.

There are two other items worth noting that appear towards the end of 
Adobe's press release. This fall, they plan to release a stand-alone PDF 
accessibility checker and they plan to include the AutoTag feature in 
the free Adobe Reader instead of it requiring the purchase of the 
expensive and overpriced Adobe Acrobat Pro. I'll be curious if the 
accessibility checker will be a new product that checks against a full 
set of WCAG or PDF/UA criteria to compete with offerings from CommonLook 
and PAC, or if it will simply be a stand-alone version of the 
rudimentary Accessibility Check feature currently built into Adobe 
Acrobat Pro.

[1] Media Release:
https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2023/Media-Alert-Adobe-Scales-PDF-Accessibility-With-Adobe-Sensei-AI/default.aspx 


[2] Developer AutoTag API page:
https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/apis/pdf-accessibility-auto-tag/

[3] Demo Sign Up:
https://acrobatservices.adobe.com/dc-accessibility-playground/main.html

Phil.

Philip Kiff
D4K Communications

On 2023-05-18 18:45, chagnon at pubcom.com wrote:

>

> We’ve been testing the new Acrobat for a year or so, and keep testing 

> the AutoTag feature.

>

> It gets better with every new edition, but it’s been around for a few 

> years and we still can’t depend on it for much.

>

> It did do one PDF just ok, sort of: it was a one-page document with 

> one heading and several paragraphs of body text. Tagged the title at 

> the top of the page as <H5>, which from our testing seems to be the 

> default heading tag AutoTag uses for the first heading.

>

> Duh.

>

> It seems to be sales hoopla from Adobe in honor of GAAD day. Time will 

> tell if we actually get anything of substance from Acrobat.

>

> Sure wish Adobe would focus on making a more accurate PDF from MS 

> Office and InDesign so that we don’t have to remediate the PDF after 

> it’s made, but maybe that’s asking too much!

>

> *— — —*

>

> Bevi Chagnon *| *Designer, Accessibility Technician*|* 

> Chagnon at PubCom.com <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com>

>

> *— — —*

>

> *PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing*

>

> consulting • training • development • design • sec. 508 services

>

> *Upcoming classes* at www.PubCom.com/*classes* 

> <http://www.pubcom.com/classes>

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> <https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_07-20/alt-text_part-1.shtml>*

>

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

> Behalf Of *Susan Kelmer

> *Sent:* Thursday, May 18, 2023 4:53 PM

> *To:* enews at toptechtidbits.com; Access Technology Higher Education 

> Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] [EXT]Re: PDF remediation help

>

> To quote from the article:

>

> “For example, before using the new Adobe API, a global financial firm 

> spent more than 9 hours to make each individual presentation slide 

> deck accessible. With Adobe’s new API, the firm has automated 70–80% 

> of that process.”

>

> Should we tell them?  Should we tell them that had they just created 

> the file correctly in the first place, it would have taken only a few 

> minutes, and no 9 hour remediation would have been required?

>

> NINE HOURS?   What the heck were they doing?  Oh yeah, they were using 

> Adobe to fix an Adobe file. That works.

>

> /sarcasm

>

> *Susan Kelmer *

>

> Alternate Format Production Program Manager

>

> Disability Services

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

> Behalf Of *Top Tech Tidbits

> *Sent:* Thursday, May 18, 2023 2:49 PM

> *To:* chagnon at pubcom.com; 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' 

> <athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] [EXT]Re: PDF remediation help

>

> Here’s some additional information released by Forbes:

>

> Adobe Wants To Help Make PDF Documents More Accessible With AI-Based 

> Auto-Tag API | May 17, 2023 | Steven Aquino | Forbes

>

> https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenaquino/2023/05/17/adobe-wants-to-help-make-pdf-documents-more-accessible-with-ai-based-auto-tag-api/?sh=5d0d4855b24c

>

> *Aaron Di Blasi, PMP*

>

> **

>

> Publisher (2020-Present)

>

> *Top Tech Tidbits*

>

> The Week's News in Adaptive Technology

>

> https://toptechtidbits.com <https://toptechtidbits.com/>🌐

>

> *From:* chagnon at pubcom.com <chagnon at pubcom.com>

> *Sent:* Thursday, May 18, 2023 2:09 AM

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

> <athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Cc:* enews at toptechtidbits.com

> *Subject:* RE: [Athen] [EXT]Re: PDF remediation help

>

> Hi Aaron,

>

> I don’t know why the article is being posted as news. It’s grossly out 

> of date and is from the Microsoft news network portal.

>

> Adobe's New AI Automates PDF Accessibility Tags

>

> https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/adobe-s-new-ai-automates-pdf-accessibility-tags/ar-AA1biX4V

>

>   * The photo captions reference software releases in 2013, “Adobe

>     announced Monday, May 6, 20*_13_*…” and the rest is pure nonsense.

>   * The AutoTag feature has been in Acrobat Pro for quite a few years.

>     It’s had marginal improvement every year, but overall still sucks

>     at correctly tagging a document, separating text from graphics,

>     and creating a logical reading order. We teach our clients and

>     students how to use it only when there’s no better way to

>     remediate a bad PDF.

>

> We’re beta testers for Adobe and I don’t see anything substantial on 

> the horizon for Acrobat anytime soon, other than an overhaul of the 

> user interface (which is getting bad reviews). We still have hope for 

> the future, however.

>

> I’m chalking up this news release as stale and inaccurate.

>

> *— — —*

>

> Bevi Chagnon *| *Designer, Accessibility Technician*|* Chagnon at PubCom.com

>

> *— — —*

>

> *PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing*

>

> consulting • training • development • design • sec. 508 services

>

> *Upcoming classes* at www.PubCom.com/*classes* 

> <http://www.pubcom.com/classes>

>

> *— — —*

>

> Latest blog-newsletter 

> <https://mailchi.mp/e694edcdfadd/class-discount-3266574> – *Simple 

> Guide to Writing Alt-Text 

> <https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_07-20/alt-text_part-1.shtml>*

>

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

> Behalf Of *Top Tech Tidbits

> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 17, 2023 5:52 PM

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

> <athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] [EXT]Re: PDF remediation help

>

> Per recent discussions, this article was just released 8 hours ago. I 

> think we should expect a number of updates from Adobe regarding PDF 

> accessibility, remediation and AI in the coming months.

>

> Adobe's New AI Automates PDF Accessibility Tags

>

> https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/adobe-s-new-ai-automates-pdf-accessibility-tags/ar-AA1biX4V

>

> *Aaron Di Blasi, PMP*

>

> **

>

> Publisher (2020-Present)

>

> *Top Tech Tidbits*

>

> The Week's News in Adaptive Technology

>

> https://toptechtidbits.com <https://toptechtidbits.com/>🌐

>

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