Glossary

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Value Sensitive Design(also: VSD)

A design methodology that accounts for human values in a principled and systematic way throughout the technology design process. Value Sensitive Design integrates three types of investigation: conceptual (identifying stakeholders and their values), empirical (studying how people…

Virtual reality(also: VR, Immersive virtual environment)

A computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment that users can interact with using specialized hardware such as head-mounted displays and motion controllers. Virtual reality presents significant accessibility challenges because most VR applications rely…

Vision-based Page Segmentation(also: VIPS)

A web page segmentation algorithm that uses both the source code and the visual presentation of a web page to divide it into hierarchical visual blocks. VIPS produces a tree structure where the root node represents the entire page and leaf nodes represent the smallest meaningful…

Visual Attention Split(also: Split Attention, Divided Visual Attention)

The cognitive challenge of needing to divide visual focus between two or more sources of information simultaneously. For deaf and hard of hearing people, visual attention split is a pervasive accessibility barrier: they must look at captions or a sign language interpreter while…

Visual search

The perceptual task of scanning a visual scene to locate a specific target among distractors. Visual search is significantly affected by low vision, visual field loss, and other visual impairments, as reduced acuity or restricted fields make it harder and slower to locate…

Voice Assistant(also: Smart Speaker, Voice-Activated Assistant, Conversational Agent)

A software application that uses speech recognition and natural language processing to respond to voice commands and perform tasks. Common examples include Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri. Voice assistants offer accessibility benefits for users who have difficulty…

Voice Interaction(also: Voice User Interface, VUI, Voice-Based Interaction)

An interaction paradigm where users communicate with technology primarily through spoken commands and receive audio responses, rather than using visual displays, keyboards, or touch screens. Voice interaction combines speech-to-text for input, natural language processing for…

Voice-First Design(also: Voice-First Interface, Audio-First Design)

A design approach for applications and interfaces where voice is the primary input and output modality, with visual elements being secondary or absent. Voice-first design is particularly relevant for accessibility tools serving visually impaired users, where the entire user…

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