About Solona

“Accessibility with Human Style”

Solona is a suite of Internet-based tools that empower visually impaired people to independently negotiate inaccessible objects. We enable people to overcome obstacles that are encountered on a regular basis due to inaccessible images and web page design.

Each tool within Solona is Human-Powered. In other words, everytime a user submits an image to be solved, a sighted human operator is on the other side to translate the image. By harnessing human power to solve inaccessible images, Solona can provide higher quality and more accurate solutions than any fully automated program or service. More importantly, this allows Solona to provide a truly platform independent service. Whether a person uses Windows, Mac, IE, Safari, Ubuntu, Opera, FireFox, Solona can accomodate any user environment.

Solona is a non-profit corporation registered in Texas. There is no charge for using any of our services.

Many people ask the question: “Where did the name Solona come from?” Honestly, I just sat down and put letters together. I had some criteria for the name: unique, easy to pronouce in many languages, one word, it could not include my name in any way, and it could not contain the word Captcha. After several hours, and domain name searching, I settled on Solona!

Solona offers three tools:

1. CSS (Captcha Solving Service) – this tool provides a way for people to independently solve inaccessible Captchas. For more detailed info, please visit the CSS Page

2. RAIVE (Remotely Analyzing and Interpreting Visual Elements) – the newest tool offered by Solona, RAIVE is a service that allows a person to submit an image of anything, or any kind of digital file along with a question. An operator reviews the ‘Package’ and delivers an answer to the question based on the information on the image or in the file. For more detailed information about RAIVE, please visit the main RAIVE Page.

3. reCAPTCHA Training – this is a way for people to practice solving reCAPTCHA Captchas in a game-like atmosphere without having to navigate a long form on a website. People can keep track of how many were solved correctly and fine tune their skills in order to be equipped to solve reCAPTCHAs using the audio alternative. Take a moment and see how good you can do at solving some reCAPTCHA audio Captchas; visit the reCAPTCHA game page.

There are several essential components that are woven into the fabric of Solona:

1. Practicality – each tool is designed based on it’s ability to provide useful and practical assistance to users.

2. Accuracy – the tool is only as good as it’s ability to deliver precise and accurate information to the user.

3. Tool Usage and Navigation – Solona emphasizes efficient design within each tool. In other words, the user will be able to use Solona rapidly and efficiently. Each tool is repeatedly tested for screen reader optimization.

4. Platform Independence – Each tool offered by Solona is completely compatible with any Operating System, browser, and file format. It does not matter which browser or OS you have.

5. Localization – A goal for Solona in 2010 is to localize each tool to accomodate several languages. This will provide a broad range for non-english speakers.
Security and Privacy – Solona is very proactive about your privacy and ensuring that any information or files that you submit to Solona are handled responsibly. Here are some points that address security and privacy:

a. Solona does not require extensive registration information

b. Your identity is not revealed when you submit a Captcha or a Package to RAIVE

c. Solona DOES NOT retain any copies of information submitted. As a policy, the server automatically deletes all images within 10 minutes of being solved.

d. As a matter of prevention, Solona strongly recommends that you capture the image of a form or CAPTCHA image prior to filling out any fields on the form. This is a further step to protect your privacy

e. Solona adheres to a published Privacy Policy

History and Future

Solona officially launched on April 13, 2009. The concept of Solona was given the name “Image Interpreter” because we were trying to interpret the words embedded in images of Captchas. After thorough testing with initial users, the interface was released on April 13, 2009 with the Captcha Solving Tool. RAIVE, the newest tool, was developed in late 2009 and released in December, 2009. Many interface updates have been implemented over the months. The goal is always to make each tool more effective and efficient for the users. Solona submitted paperwork to become a Texas Corporation in November, 2009, and applied for 501(C)3 status, for which we are still waiting. The future of Solona will be dictated by the need for accessiblity tools. We hope that advocacy efforts contribute toward a more accessible internet.

Advocacy for Accessible Captchas

Solona actively engages with web site operators who do not provide accessible Captchas. In many cases, a website uses well-known Captcha tools, such as reCAPTCHA, and removes the audio portion. This is an obvious disregard for the intent of the reCAPTCHA tool. Solona reviews the Captcha, then contacts the company to let them know of the problem. We encourage web site operators to make responsible choices when implementing Captchas in order to accomodate as many people as possible.

Here are some examples of recent Captcha campaigns:

-AVG Forums

-Dell Outlet Store (online)

-www.wakerupper.com

-phpBB

-mog.com

-EzineArticles.com

reCAPTCHA Training

In addition to providing tools and advocacy, Solona also provides a platform for people to practice solving reCAPTCHA Captchas. reCAPTCHA is a very widespread implementation and it provides an audio alternative for visually impaired people. However, many people report diffuculty when using the audio alternative. Solona believes that a game like environment in which people can practice using the tool over and over will improve the chances of successfully solving reCAPTCHAS on ‘live’ webpages.

Contributors

Solona would not be what it is, and would not be a sustainable service, were it not for the effort of many people. Here is a list of people who make Solona a great site and a fantastic service. Thank you so much for your continued contributions and efforts!
Larry Crouch – Lead PHP, MYSQL, API programmer

Kyle Steed – Page layout designer

Mike Williams, David Lewis – Apple polling widget for operators

Christopher Toth – Integrated Solona API into his Qwitter application (www.qwitter-client.net)

Theresa Ford – Developed an app for Mac users to automate Solona usage (pending release early 2010)

Valerie Hunter – Professional voice recording of spoken instructions

If you have any interest in contributing to Solona, please [contact me!]
I also wish to thank a group of people who initially helped by testing out Solona and recommending changes for screen reader optimization:

Sarah Alawami (http://www.marrie.org)

Terrell Jones (http://terrellj.blogspot.com)

Michael McCarty (http://www.kentucky-acb.org)

Solona Steering Committee

In order to ensure that Solona is meeting the needs of the community, a Steering Committee exists which is made up of people from the blind community. Committee members review new features, problems, and back-end operations as a way to verify exactly how Solona works.

Cara Quinn, California – Apple and VO expert (http://www.caraquinn.com)

Brandon Bracey aka serrebi, Canada – Windows, JAWS expert (http://www.twitter.com/serrebi)

Steve Sawczyn, Maine – Apple and VO expert, Assistive Technology Trainer (http://www.atmaine.com)

Jeff Bishop, Arizona – Windows Eyes expert, Information Technology Professional (http://www.jeffbishop.com)