Transformation frameworks and their relevance in universal design

Music, engineering, mathematics, and many other disciplines have established notations for writing their documents. Adjusting these notations can contribute to universal access by helping to address access difficulties, such as disabilities, cultural backgrounds, or restrictive hardware. Tools that support the programming of such transformations can also assist by allowing the creation of new notations on demand, which is an under-explored option in the relief of educational difficulties. This paper reviews some programming tools that can be used to effect such transformations. It also introduces a tool, called “4DML,” which allows the programmer to create a “model” of the desired result, from which the transformation is derived.

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