{"id":29877,"date":"2026-03-13T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/?p=29877"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:38:27","slug":"pioneering-accessibility-early-computing-screen-readers-and-new-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/13\/pioneering-accessibility-early-computing-screen-readers-and-new-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering Accessibility: Early Computing, Screen Readers, and New Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The
The IBM 1800 Computer enters the Logic of Computers Group computer room from the first floor in 1968. Image courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Back in the 1950s, when computers were anything but personal, filling up entire rooms and operated by trained professionals using paper punch cards, U-M was a leader in computer science and technology. Yet, there was no \u201ccomputer science\u201d degree as we know it now. Instead, researchers and scholars interested in computing collaborated under the umbrella discipline of the \u201ccommunication sciences,\u201d situated inside the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Within LSA, researchers came together to form Michigan\u2019s Logic of Computers Group, founded in 1956 by Arthur Burks, a philosopher-turned-computer scientist. Like many research collaborations of the time, there was an expectation that scholars in the group essentially replace their own salaries through grants and government contracts, which were plentiful during the Cold War era when a hallmark of our strength as a nation was measured in research output. While government contract work was often a focus for members of the group, Burks\u2019s larger intellectual interests stemmed from the belief that computing was not merely machine-building but instead the study of logical systems, natural and artificial, and that an interdisciplinary approach was vital.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Professor
Professor Arthur Burks, founder of U-M’s Logic of Computers Group, which was established in 1956. Image courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Michigan alumnus Sam Franz (A.B. \u201920), a historian of early computing and a current doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, describes Burks\u2019s approach as a common one. \u201cEarly computing across the United States was a soup of different disciplines,\u201d he says. \u201cAt Michigan, the thesis was that computers could solve problems in other fields, so it was best to collaborate with scholars in other fields, including medicine, biology, and psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Franz, this philosophy of deep collaboration was likely influential in creating the foundation for fruitful teamwork between two Rackham alumni and former Logic of Computers Group members: Jim Thatcher (Ph.D. 1963) and his professor-turned-colleague Jesse Wright (MA 1945, Ph.D. \u201951). Departing from U-M in 1963, both Thatcher and Wright went on to pursue careers at IBM, where they are credited with the creation of the company\u2019s first screen readers, technology to assist blind and low-vision people with computing. Wright, who was blind, brought critical perspectives, skills, and experience to that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left: Jesse Wright (M.A. 1945, Ph.D. \u201951). Image courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library. Right: Jim Thatcher (Ph.D. 1963). Reprint Courtesy of IBM Corporation \u00a92025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cComputing in the 1950s, when Thatcher and Wright were at U-M, was very much about understanding human-computer interaction,\u201d Franz says. \u201cThere was no mouse, no keyboard, and no computer monitor as we understand them today. So, working with a mathematician who was blind would mean that the problem of man-machine communication would take different forms as these technologies developed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the whole article on Discover Rackham.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brought together at U-M in the early 1960s, Rackham alumni Jim Thatcher and Jesse Wright went on to create IBM\u2019s first screen readers for blind and low-vision computer users. Over six decades later, a Rackham alum and his faculty mentors are preparing the next leap in accessible computing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":29879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_umich_oidc_access":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,854,852,816],"class_list":["post-29877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-accessibility","tag-computer-science","tag-engineering","tag-rackham"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1.jpeg",1356,644,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-400x266.jpeg",400,266,true],"medium":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-300x142.jpeg",300,142,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-768x365.jpeg",665,316,true],"large":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-600x285.jpeg",600,285,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1.jpeg",1356,644,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1.jpeg",1356,644,false],"excerpt-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-200x140.jpeg",200,140,true],"themonic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-60x42.jpeg",60,42,true],"ioslider-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-658x300.jpeg",658,300,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-665x316.jpeg",665,316,true],"400x250-crop":["https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Codex-1356x644-1-400x250.jpeg",400,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Truly Render, Communications Specialist, Rackham Communications","author_link":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/author\/trender\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Brought together at U-M in the early 1960s, Rackham alumni Jim Thatcher and Jesse Wright went on to create IBM\u2019s first screen readers for blind and low-vision computer users. Over six decades later, a Rackham alum and his faculty mentors are preparing the next leap in accessible computing.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29877"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29888,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29877\/revisions\/29888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigan.it.umich.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}