IBM is developing a Web-based tool for the blind to access virtual world. One of the questions that doesn't get asked too frequently is how the switch from a text-based Web to more graphics and then immersive worlds affect the visually disabled. IBM's approach is based on providing textual descriptions for objects and landmarks as well as allowing users, sighted and blind, to provide oral annotations for items in virtual worlds. I wasn't able to log in and check it out, which could be a function of the early stage or user error, but it sounds like an interesting approach to the problem of accessibility.
"Currently, the application interfaces only with the Second Life platform; however, as a long-term goal, it might be possible to make this user interface portable to more than one virtual world implementation," explains IBM's post from last week. "If successful, that portability would enable blind users to learn only one client application that is specifically tailored for their needs rather than learning a separate new application for each virtual world."
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