SBIR/Phase I: The Accessible Semantic Web

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a proof-of-concept, multi-modal Universal Access Web Interface that provides the user with a choice between text, speech, and animated American Sign Language (ASL). A representative knowledgebase, encoded using Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema, will be translated into differentiated representations in Vcom3D's Character Animation Markup Language (CAML). CAML, developed under a previous NSF SBIR grant, is currently being used in several educational products and on Websites (including www.signingavatar.com) to create grammatically correct ASL, as well as synthesized speech with correct prosody and coordinated gesture and expression. The effectiveness of the proof-of-concept Universal Access Web Interface in K-12 educational environments will be tested. Based on successful demonstrations of the proof-of-concept , the extensibility of the Interface to more general knowledgebase domains will be examined. In particular, the investigative team will evaluate the applicability of Resource Description Framework (RDF), Ontology Web Language (OWL), and other Semantic Web initiatives to the creation of a standards-based Accessible Semantic Web. The project has potential to produce in Software Tools that can be used to economically create e-Learning materials that are accessible to both deaf and blind persons. Longer-term development, in concert with the emergence of the Semantic Web, can result in products that provide general accessibility to Web-based information in multiple language modalities.