An Open Letter To Twitter Regarding Nonvisual Twitter Applications
Doug Lee
August 18, 2012

This is the text of a letter I sent around 7:15 PM (Eastern time) to Twitter. This is the raw original email format.

From: Doug Lee <dgl@dlee.org>
To: trademarks@twitter.com
Subject: Exceptions for nonvisual Twitter apps , such as those purposed for blind users

My name is Doug Lee. I am a developer and assistive technology
specialist, helping to make applications and environments accessible
and efficient for use by people who are blind. See my signature block
for links to my personal and professional web sites. I am doug_lee42
on Twitter, and I use dlee_code as a place to announce developments in
some of my public development projects. I am also blind.

I am writing to request assistance for those who develop Twitter
applications with an inherently nonvisual focus, in light of the
very visually-oriented new API use requirements.  This is an open
letter, the text of which also appears at
https://www.dlee.org/twapi_request.htm.

My method of interacting with Twitter is through an application
called Qwitter. The development of Qwitter itself was discontinued,
but not before it spawned a few replacements, notable among which
is The Qube (http://quartzprojects.co.uk). These Twitter access
applications use the Twitter API to present tweets and actions in
a format tailored for use by blind users. Many interactions are
accomplished with no visual displaying of tweets at all. For example,
I am able to move through timelines, mentions, DM's, etc., using
only spoken output and no on-screen text. I can reply to a tweet
without ever actually bringing it to screen by typing a keystroke
that pops up an edit control where I type my response. (In some
cases when I use desktop computers, I don't even attach a monitor
to the computer.)

I am concerned, on reading the general API requirements and,
specifically, the new Display Guidelines (now requirements) imposed
on API users (see https://dev.twitter.com/terms/display-guidelines).
My basic concern is that the new rules will make would-be app
developers feel forced out when their focus is nonvisual in the
first place.

Specific problems with applying the Twitter Display Guidelines to
nonvisual apps include, but are not limited to the following:

- Display of user avatars is completely impractical.

- The concept of a "link" does not apply directly to a spoken line of
  text that contains a Twitter ID or a URL. Alternate means of
  allowing simple access to user profiles, web pages, etc., can be
  provided by these apps, however.

- Forced inclusion of the date/time stamp in a speech-centric
  interface significantly increases the length and complexity of what
  a user must hear for each tweet. (When skimming through 50 tweets,
  it is very tedius to be forced to hear the date and time with each.)
  Simple but optional announcement of timestamp information is a far
  superior approach.

- Forced specific formatting of timestamps can cause awkward speech
  phrasing; e.g., "27 Apr" does not pronounce well. It should be
  sufficient to require that nonvisual apps allow the timestamp to be
  spoken intelligibly on user demand.

I request exemption of applications with a naturally nonvisual focus
from the new strict visually-oriented requirements, and that this
exemption be made clear for current and would-be app developers so
they will not come to believe that continued non-visually-oriented
support of Twitter is a hopeless endeavor. (This sense of hopelessness
already exists among developers of nonvisually-oriented Twitter
applications.)

I believe that, as a fair tradeoff, such nonvisual applications may be
required to provide all actions required of other apps, though perhaps
not by the same normally required means. For example, though a
nonvisual app may not make a profile link out of a person's Twitter
id, the app may fairly be required to provide an easy means of pulling
that person's profile. To use Qwitter and The Qube as examples, I can
type a keystroke after hearing a (non-displayed but spoken) tweet and
pop up a list of the Twitter ids in that tweet, selecting one of which
with arrow keys will bring up that user's profile on screen for
examination.

I am aware that Twitter has allowed the console (text-only) app
Ttytter (http://www.floodgap.com/software/ttytter/) to survive
without being forced to adhere to the new visual rules - which of
course are not practical in the text environment where Ttytter runs. I
hope this is evidence that my request makes sense to Twitter and may
receive similar attention, though my request is broader in scope.

I appreciate your consideration of my request. I may be reached at
this email address (dgl@dlee.org) or in Twitter at doug_lee42, or in
Skype at dlee42.

-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl@dlee.org                https://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee@ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your
right to grow." --unknown source