Issues in Globalization of E-Learning Content and Accessibility

Issues in Globalization of E-Learning Content and Accessibility

2004-12-13

Sung-shik Shin

LG Electronics

gregshin at lge dot com

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Table of Contents

■ Terminology■ Globalization and accessibility■ Globalization issues revisited■ Conclusion■ References

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Terminology

Globalization(G11N)■ encompasses both internationalization and localization ■ putting into place the requisite materials, financial, and personnel resources in a

global market to support your product or service on a local level

Internationalization (I18N)■ preparation necessary for cost effective

localization ■ process of planning, designing and

implementing a "culturally and technically" neutral product

■ needs to be addressed in the earliest product planning stages

■ properly internationalized product is easier to localize than a non-internationalized product

Localization (L10N)

■Adapting a product to a particular language & culture

Translation■Transcribing into one's own

or another language ■ part of localization

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Globalization and AccessibilityLearner Aspects Possible Solutions Global Aspects

Hearing impairmentTemporal silence

■ Provide caption.■ Provide video/audio description.■ Provide transcripts.■ Provide translations.

Hard to comprehendNo sound device

Visual impairment■ Provide alternate text.■ Design color independently. Dyslexic condition

Cognitive/learning disabilities

■ Use clear language.■ Provide culturally neutral icon, symbols.■ Avoid animations.■ Specify natural language.

Second languageLanguage barrierDyslexiaCulturally different

Physical disabilities■ Provide keyboard access.■ Use interoperable technologies.

Different Environment

Limited environmentAssistive technology

■ Standard compliance■ Provide multi-modal content.■ Use interim solutions.

different technologyLimited bandwidth

Novice users the old

■ Avoid time-limited response.■ Provide tool tips.■ Size independent design■ Clear navigation

Different convention

General

■ Separate structure from presentation.■ Use markup properly.■ Keep universal design.

Translation burdenInternationalization cost

Globalization issues revisited

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Character problems■ Always declare character encoding.

• XML: <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?>• HTML: <meta http-equiv=“Content-type” content=“text/html;charset=UTF-8” />

• CSS: @charset “utf-8”;• JavaScript: <script type=“text/JavaScript” charset=“utf-8”>

• HTTP header: Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8■ Numerical Character Reference(NCR) vs. literal

characters• Only use escapes for characters in exceptional circumstances.• Unicode characters can be represented literally in UTF-8.

■ Markup vs. Unicode characters• Some Unicode characters are not suitable for use with markup.• Other Unicode characters are OK.• ‘Compatibility characters’ vary in appropriateness.

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Language

■ Languages are different from character encoding scheme.

■ Specify natural languages• <html lang=“ko”>• <xml xml:lang=“ko”>• <blockquote lang=“fr-CA”>

■ Avoid abbreviations, and acronyms, jargons. • Na

Not available? Numerical aperture? Not applicable? Sodium?

• Use <acronym>, <abbr> markups.

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Fonts

■ Do not rely on typeface only.• Use semantic markup instead.

■ Always set generic font families.• font-family: “Times New Roman”, Times, 바탕 , Batang, UnBatang, serif;

■ Do not design font-dependent layout.• Different OS supports different font-size.

• Let learners select their own preferred fonts.

Generic font family

sans-serif serif Monospace

Font examples

Arial, Helvetica, Dotum

Times, Batang

Courier, Dotumche, Batangche

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Locale specific data

■ Date & Time• 02/04/03?

Feb 4th, 2003?, April 2nd, 2003?, April 3rd, 2002?,…

• Use ISO 8601 date & time format. 2004-02-03T13:20 (UTC +0900)

• Or use Accept-Language HTTP header.■ Numbers, Currency

• 123,456?■ Names, address, phone numbers

• Nguyen Ngoc Lan?■ Sort

• French sorting order is different from that of English.■ Search

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Display capacity

■ Use relative size rather than absolute unit.• pt, px, cm, in,…• em, ex, %, small, larger,…

■ Use viewport (display, voice, braille, etc) independent design.

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Pop-ups■ Popups are big barrier

• for the disabled • for the assistive technologies• for the unsupported user agents (such as PDA or TV web)

■ They are blocked by more user agents.■ They are regarded awkward by many cultural groups.

■ If you REALLY want more than two windows, TITLE them properly.

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Browser compatibility

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

DecemberJuneJanuary

InternetExplorer 6

InternetExplorer 5 Opera

Mozilla

Source: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp, 2004-12-08

Netscape Navigator

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Grand design principles

■ Separate form factors from content.• Use style sheets and course templates.• Write structure (content) first, and add design

templates.• Think versatile content for different devices, different

preferences, different cultures.

■ Provide design resources, use MULTI media.• Layered graphics• Vector design (SVG, SMIL, MathML, …)• Programmable (parametric) design• Reusable resources (audio, video clips, image clips,

text transcripts, titles…)

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Translation of other things

■ Screen capture• Is software available in all languages?

■ Graphic letters• Use markup instead if available.

■ Avatar, virtual human• Is it culturally neutral?• Configurable / modifiable by parameters?

■ Voice actors• Aren’t they too many?

■ Video, audio & flash• Media types: Windows Media, Real Media, QuickTime, …• Provide captions, collated text transcripts.• Separate text equivalents from video.• SMIL is a good alternative.

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Cultural difference■ Don’t rely on colors only.

• Provide alternative texts or markers.• Colors have different connotations in different countries.

■ Don’t rely on non-verbal cues only.• Provide alternative descriptions.• Provide orientation information.

■ Local regulations• Section 508(US), Disability Discrimination Act(UK,

Australia)• Local, national certification, standards, patent/legal issues

■ Consider the cultural, religious variations.• Avoid culturally sensitive graphics.• Give access to in-country SMEs(Subject Matter Experts).• Use glossaries, translation memories.

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Conclusion

■ Global issues and considerations should be integrated into the early stages of content development.

■ Learners are not alike in their ability, level of motivation, preference, technology readiness, and cultural backgrounds.

■ Accessible content is more ready to internationalization.

■ Compliance to web standards can reduce possible inaccessibility from global learners.

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References■ Date & Time(ISO 8601):

http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/popstds/datesandtime.html■ Unicode : http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.0.1/■ IANA(Internet Assigned Numbers Authority): http://www.iana.org■ I18N: http://www.w3.org/International/■ Character Model: http://www.w3.org/charmod/■ Personal Information Exchange: http://

www.imc.org/pdi/vcardoverview.html■ Quality Assurance:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/WD-qaframe-spec-20040830/■ Learner Profile: http://www.imsglobal.org/profiles/index.cfm■ IMS Accessibility: http://www.imsglobal.org/accessibility/index.cfm■ Multimodality: http://www.w3.org/2002/mmi/■ Section 508: http://www.section508.gov

Issues in Globalization of E-Learning Content and Accessibility

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