Braille Monitor               June 2023

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Accessible Remote Access with RIM

by Karl Belanger and Matt Hackert

Karl BelangerFrom the Editor: If you are blind, have you ever noticed how hard it is to give or get technical support? A new product offers significant advancement in this area, whether a blind person is offering technical support to another blind person, to a sighted person, or is getting support from a sighted person who does not use a screen reader. Here is an article from two experts who explain how it works and pass along their enthusiasm for the beauty of this software:

Ever lost your mind when a tech support representative on the phone asks you to click “that gear-shaped thingy,” or to look for some icon “down at the bottom of the screen”? Or, conversely, as you try to help a family member troubleshoot some problem, you ask them to click on Settings, however they just see icons on the screen with no text labels, and you have no way of directing them or telling them what to look for because there’s a disconnect in how sighted users understand their computing environment and how blind people navigate. Often, it just becomes easier when the tech support help can “take over” the computer and eliminate all the talking past one another that seems to occur because technical folks and the rest of us just have very different ways of communicating.

Matt HackertPneuma Solutions, an accessibility-minded software developer, recently released a new tool that is accessible to the blind that allows just that! Meet the Remote Incident Manager (RIM). It’s an innovative tool that allows one person to use their computer to “see” and control what’s happening on another’s computer, regardless of location so long as both are connected to the internet. The user may not even be aware that the person remotely connected is blind or uses a screen reader.

Getting Started

We’ll define some terms to help minimize confusion. “Controller” refers to the computer offering to provide assistance, and “Target” is the computer that’s being helped.

To set up and install RIM: Type “getrim.app” in your browser’s address bar. Select the Download link. Your computer will install a small file. Open this executable from your downloads folder to begin installation.

The Interface

The RIM interface is similar to a webpage. It includes headings, links, and buttons. Quick navigation commands work as you would expect them to, and entering information in edit boxes requires forms mode (JAWS) or object mode (NVDA).

The first time you open the RIM application, you’ll be asked for your email address. Enter the address associated with your account. RIM will send a verification code and will ask you to enter it into the application window. You should be taken to either the “Receive Help” screen, or the “Provide Help” screen—RIM takes you to whichever you most recently visited.

Receiving Help

When the “Receive Remote Help” screen loads, focus moves to the Keyword edit box. You can immediately type a keyword provided to you by the control computer. Pressing Enter activates the Connect button, and you are ready to go. The computers will be connected once the controller enters the same keyword on their end. The other buttons on the “Receive Remote Help” screen are “Provide help instead”, “Add to RIM Account”, and “About”.

“Provide help instead” switches the interface to the controller screen. “Add to RIM Account” is for larger environments with multiple employees’ computers running the RIM client under a master account.

Providing Help

The interface for the person operating the controller computer has some additional options, but the interface is still simple. Below the heading indicating that you are providing remote help, you will find the Keyword edit box, a checkbox to toggle use of voice assistance, and a “Start” button. Once you enter the Keyword you provided to your target computer operator, press Enter (or click Start). The two machines are connected.

The checkbox to provide voice assistance allows both the controller and target user to communicate verbally while their computers are connected, using a microphone headset at each end.

The Provide Help screen also includes “Choose a machine”, “RIM Dashboard”, “Receive help instead”, “About”, “Logout”, and “Cancel” options. “Choose a machine” provides a list of computers you’ve configured for unattended connections that you can select from. “RIM Dashboard” takes you to the dashboard, discussed below. “About” provides your client’s version information, “Logout” logs you out of the account you last signed into, and “Cancel” closes the application.

RIM Dashboard

The RIM Dashboard looks different depending on your account subscription tier. The dashboard allows you to manage unattended target computers, create custom RIM installers, and view session histories. Pro and Enterprise accounts have additional features.

Pricing

There are three subscription tiers available—Personal, Pro, and Enterprise. Here’s the basic breakdown of the different tiers:

Additionally, RIM allows free access for thirty minutes at a time per twenty-four-hour day and also sells day passes which you can purchase. These day passes allow for twenty-four hours of use, according to the time connected, not the calendar day, which is nice. Definitely visit the Pneuma Solutions website for full details.

The Screen Reader Difference

Remote Incident Manager is a streamlined, low-latency remote access tool. I think its biggest strength is its ambivalence to and full compatibility with different screen readers. JAWS and NVDA both have tandem tools for connecting with other computers running the same program, but RIM doesn’t differentiate between them. RIM works whether or not a screen reader is running.

So, how does this work? Let’s first consider a blind technician wishing to control a remote computer without a screen reader installed. The controller machine must be running NVDA. RIM installs an add-on (developed for NVDA) which allows the local version of NVDA to act as the screen reader for the target computer. The target computer’s user has no overt sign that the controller was using access technology. They would not hear speech.

Let’s consider a sighted controller connecting to a target computer running a screen reader. RIM provides both the video and audio outputs of the target computer, and it transmits both mouse and keyboard inputs. The person operating the controller would hear the screen reader on the target computer, but their work isn’t inhibited.

What if both computers are running screen readers? Once the connection is established, the person on the controller computer operates the target computer using its local screen reader.

Conclusion

RIM is a true breakthrough in remote desktop access, especially for blind Information Technology professionals. It’s a fast, simple, secure means of connecting to your home and office computers. Both remote and local users can operate the target computer simultaneously, making it a unique tool for providing one-on-one training. Pro and Enterprise subscription tiers offer a variety of advanced tools and functionality, even making remote access to Windows servers possible, without the need to install screen reading software directly on the server. We’ve only scratched the surface of RIM’s capabilities but are seeing valuable benefits from its use at our Baltimore office.

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