Constraint scalable vector graphics, accessibility and the semantic Web

Graphics can represent concepts in a way that is easily understood. Metadata can be utilized to enable users to gain information related to the graphic and its content. For the visually impaired, the ability to access the information depicted in graphics would be an important step towards web usability. Constraint scalable vector graphics (CSVG) is an extension to SVG originally developed to provide increased flexibility in describing diagrams. CSVG provides increased capability in the form of semantic zooming, differential scaling and semantic preservation. A research project is proposed to produce a global ontology for CSVG written in Ontology Web Language (OWL). OWL facilitates a greater degree of machine understanding, greater expressivity and greater reasoning capabilities than many other semantic languages. The CSVG ontology will enable graphics to be annotated in varying levels of abstraction, thereby allowing the graphic to be reused in other contexts.