HTML5 video on mobile browsers

This paper reports on research investigating the current ability of HTML5 to play video in mobile browsers. Smartphones and the Mobile Internet are rapidly becoming an important platform for access to information anytime and anywhere. HTML5, the new HTML standard incorporates features like video playback that have been previously dependent on third-party browser plug-ins but there are no browsers that currently provide 100% support for HTML5. All the tests reported in this paper were carried out using smartphones with screen sizes 3.0 to 4.8 inches and the ability to replay videos of a range of formats, move directly to time points in the video and display closed captions were investigated. Key findings were that: video cannot be started programmatically; only selecting on the screen can trigger playback; no visual elements sitting over the <video> will receive click events while the video is visible (playing or paused); there are many HTML5 video players but MediaElement.js was found to currently be the open source player satisfying the greatest number of requirements

Synote mobile HTML5 responsive design video annotation application

Synote Mobile has been developed as an accessible cross device and cross browser HTML5 webbased collaborative replay and annotation tool to make web-based recordings easier to access, search, manage, and exploit for learners, teachers and others. It has been developed as a new mobile HTML5 version of the award winning open source and freely available Synote which has been used since 2008 by students throughout the world to learn interactively from recordings. While most UK students now carry mobile devices capable of replaying Internet video, the majority of these devices cannot replay Synote’s accessible, searchable, annotated recordings as Synote was created in 2008 when few students had phones or tablets capable of replaying these videos

Physico-Chemical Techniques Applied to Organic Natural Products: Studies of Sesquiterpenoids From Warburgia ugandensis (Sprague)

The major part of the thesis is concerned with the isolation and structural elucidation of four new crystalline sesquiterpenoids, constituents of the heartwood of Warburgia ugandensis (Sprague) Canellaceae, a tree native to East Africa. The principal method used in the assignment of structure and absolute configuration has been chemical degradation to products for comparison with known compounds. Extensive use has been made of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Two of the components isolated have been shown to be members of the eremophilane group of sesquiterpenoids. A brief description of the proof of constitution of these compounds has been made in two preliminary communications. The known sesquiterpene alcohol drimenol was also proved to he a heartwood constituent of Warburgia ugandensis. Further work with a second consignment of the heartwood has resulted in the isolation and identification of two sesquiterpenoids of the bicyclofarnesane group, a butenolide hydroxyacetate named ugandensolide and a dialdehyde (ugandonsidial). Ugandensidial has been proved to be identical with cinnamedial, a constituent of Cinnamosma fragrans (Baillon) Canellaceae. The final section of the thesis describes biosynthetic studies with the eremophilane sesquiterpenoids of the plant Petasites hybridus (L.) Compositae. These are compounds of the petasin type. Preliminary results in this long-term project, which involves the feeding of 14C-labelled precursors to the plant, are briefly reported and proposals for further research are discussed

Evaluating the mobile web accessibility of electronic text for print impaired people in higher education

The aim of this extended abstract is to demonstrate a framework that provides a novel solution for evaluating the mobile web accessibility of electronic text for print impaired people in Higher Education (HE). The current framework explores over 500 device settings. Furthermore, the scope of this research is outlined alongside two research questions. The paper then concludes by suggesting the potential impact this research could have on existing standards, the public availability of metadata and guidelines, and the automatic generation of personalised eTexts as per user need

Synote Discussion. Extending Synote to support threaded discussions synchronised with recorded videos

Synote Discussion has been developed as an accessible cross device and cross browser HTML5 web-based collaborative replay, annotation and discussion extension of the award winning open source Synote which has since 2008 made web-based recordings easier to access, search, manage, and exploit for learners, teachers and others. While Synote enables users to create comments in ‘Synmarks’ synchronized with any point in a recording it does not support users to comment on these Synmarks in a discussion thread. Synote Discussion supports commenting on Synmarks stored as discussions in its own database and published as Linked data so they are available for Synote or other systems to use. This paper explains the requirements and design of Synote Discussion, presents the results of a usability study and summarises conclusions and future planned wor

Inclusive teaching and learning: what's next?

This paper reflects the ‘Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a route to Excellence’ published by the Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group’s (DSSLG) in January 2017 and highlights actions that may be required to attain the goals set out in the report. Here we link Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles with the Social Model of Disability and highlight how successful inclusive teaching and learning practice supports all students. The main findings that will require further consideration are: Successful inclusive teaching and learning practices involve planning, design, delivery and evaluation of curricula outcomes as part of a UDL agenda. It is essential to have sector wide agreement about the minimum expectations for inclusive teaching and learning practices that adhere to the Equality Act 2010. Strategic leadership is recognised as essential, but without collaboration with students including those with disabilities, results may not represent the needs of all stakeholders. Outcomes must be open to public inspection in particular those that involve maintenance and measurement of quality over time. Training and support to embed inclusion is vital to assist faculty, researchers, teaching support staff and other service providers. Being flexible, equitable and proactive in the provision of multiple means of curricula presentation and assessment modes. This includes making ‘reasonable adjustments’ and allowing for personalisation to support a diverse student population. Effective implementation and training in use of technologies is required to enhance productivity and enable inclusion. This includes tools for planning and organisation, note taking, reading and writing support. The need for clear pathways for student communication with named personnel to ensure the success of anticipatory actions and the requirements for reasonable adjustments. The sharing of expertise to support research into evidence of good practice

Arabic/English symbol dictionary: early challenges and technological opportunities

Over the last ten years there has been an expansion in the number of symbol sets available to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) users, their therapists, teachers and carers. They have tended to be developed in USA or Europe with English or European language word lists, although some have other language options including Arabic. The problem is that few show the traits of true localisation where solutions have to be found for “the differences between cultures and the problems that are likely to occur because of these differences” (Evers et al., 2000). Researchers have shown in relation to symbol use for communication that it is important to have: • translucency (How appropriate is a proposed symbol for a suggested meaning?) (Bloomberg et al. 1990),• guessability (Can subjects guess the intended meaning of a symbol?) (Hanson & Hartzema 1995, Dowse & Ehlers 2001,2003), and• iconicity (How distinctive are the symbols?) (Haupt & Alant 2003).Simple language translations may offer word for word matching within the lexicons, but they tend to miss the issues of local colloquial vocabulary, cultural, social and environmental differences which can all impact on the speed of communication especially when using many inappropriate icons, pictorgrams and other types of imagery to support dialogue and literacy skills

Generating acceptable Arabic Core Vocabularies and Symbols for AAC users

This paper discusses the development of an Arabic Symbol Dictionary for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) users, their families, carers, therapists and teachers as well as those who may benefit from the use of symbols to enhance literacy skills. With a requirement for a bi-lingual dictionary, a vocabulary list analyzer has been developed to evaluate similarities and differences in word frequencies from a range of word lists in order to collect suitable AAC lexical entries. An online bespoke symbol management has been created to hold the lexical entries alongside specifically designed symbols which are then accepted via a voting system using a series of criteria. Results to date have highlighted how successful these systems can be when encouraging participation along with the need for further research into the development of personalised context sensitive core vocabularies

Not the right kind of ‘digital capital’? An examination of the complex relationship between disabled students, their technologies and higher education institutions

The paper focuses on disabled students in higher education (HE) and their use of technologies to support their learning. Disabled students commonly report that they feel they have to work harder than other students because they have to manage both their disability and their study. Access to and accessibility of technologies affects how well disabled students manage this workload. Data were collected from disabled students in a teaching-intensive university in UK using an online questionnaire survey and a follow-up semi-structured interview. A ‘digital capital’ framework was used to explore the relationship between disabled students and their technologies and examine the potential complexities of this relationship in more detail. Our results show that while disabled students do have access to social and cultural resources; sometimes these resources are not appropriate or effective (e.g. school-based ICT qualifications) or they are not drawing on all the possible resources available to them (e.g. non-institutional based support or support from disabled students). This means that disabled students can lack the ‘right’ kind of digital capital to enable them to succeed within HE environments. These findings have implications for how HE institutions conceptualise and organise technology related support services for disabled students