Reviews

Search results

• Touchable Online Braille Generator

  Wooseob Jeong · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This short paper from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee presents a prototype online Braille generator that uses consumer force feedback mouse technology to make web text tactilely accessible to blind and visually impaired users. The system takes any plain text entered or…

  braille · force feedback · haptic technology · visual impairment · web accessibility

• Gist Summaries for Visually Impaired Surfers

  Simon Harper, Neha Patel · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper from the University of Manchester addresses a fundamental problem in web accessibility for visually impaired users: the inability to quickly assess a web page's relevance before committing to having the entire page read aloud by a screen reader. The authors draw…

  visual impairment · web accessibility · text summarization · screen readers · cognitive overload

• 3D Sound Interactive Environments for Problem Solving

  Jaime Sánchez, Mauricio Sáenz · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper from the University of Chile presents AudioChile, a 3D sound virtual environment designed to help children with visual disabilities develop problem-solving skills through interactive exploration of Chilean geography and culture. AudioChile is a role-playing game…

  spatial audio · visual impairment · blindness · audio game · cognitive development

• An Exploratory Investigation of Handheld Computer Interaction for Older Adults with Visual Impairments

  V. Kathlene Leonard, Julie A. Jacko, Joseph J. Pizzimenti · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This study investigates factors affecting handheld computer interaction for older adults with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), extending prior desktop-focused HCI research to small-screen mobile devices. Thirteen participants with AMD and visually-healthy controls used a…

  macular degeneration · older adults · handheld computers · mobile computing · visual impairment

• Research-Derived Web Design Guidelines for Older People

  Sri Kurniawan, Panayiotis Zaphiris · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper develops and validates a set of research-derived, ageing-centred web design guidelines through a rigorous multi-stage process. The authors began with an extensive literature review of HCI and ageing research, producing an initial set of 52 guidelines backed by…

  older adults · web design guidelines · aging · usability · accessibility evaluation

• A Wearable Face Recognition System for Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Sreekar Krishna, Greg Little, John Black, Sethuraman Panchanathan · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the iCare Interaction Assistant, a wearable face recognition system developed at Arizona State University's Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) to help people who are visually impaired identify individuals during social interactions. The system…

  face recognition · wearable computing · blindness · computer vision · social interaction

• Designing Search Engine User Interfaces for the Visually Impaired

  Barbara Leporini, Patrizia Andronico, Marina Buzzi · 2004 · Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper examines the fundamental differences between visual and aural perception of search engine interfaces and proposes specific design guidelines to improve usability for blind and visually impaired users interacting via screen readers. The authors from the Italian…

  visual impairment · screen readers · search engines · user interface design · web navigation

• Middleware to Expand Context and Preview in Hypertext

  Simon Harper, Carole Goble, Robert Stevens, Yeliz Yesilada · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents a middleware tool that automatically annotates web pages with expanded context and preview information for hypertext links, addressing a core navigation problem for visually impaired web users. The authors draw an analogy between physical mobility and web…

  web accessibility · visual impairment · web navigation · web transcoding · link context

• UMA: A System for Universal Mathematics Accessibility

  A. I. Karshmer, G. Gupta, E. Pontelli, K. Miesenberger, N. Ammalai, D. Gopal, M. Batusic, B. Stöger, B. Palmer, H-F. Guo · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents the Universal Mathematics Accessibility (UMA) system, a multi-institution collaboration to make mathematical content interoperable between the notation systems used by blind and sighted individuals. The fundamental problem is that blind mathematicians use…

  mathematical accessibility · braille · visual impairment · STEM accessibility · MathML

• Nonvisual Tool for Navigating Hierarchical Structures

  Ann C. Smith, Justin S. Cook, Joan M. Francioni, Asif Hossain, Mohd Anwar, M. Fayezur Rahman · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents the Aural Tree Navigator, an Eclipse IDE plug-in that enables blind programmers to navigate hierarchical program structures (such as package explorers, class hierarchies, and file systems) using keyboard commands and speech/sound output. The research emerged…

  IDE accessibility · visual impairment · programming · screen reader · tree navigation

• Semantic Bookmarking for Non-Visual Web Access

  Saikat Mukherjee, I. V. Ramakrishnan, Michael Kifer · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper introduces semantic bookmarking, a technique for non-visual web access that allows blind users to bookmark meaningful content segments on web pages using domain ontologies rather than structural HTML positions. The research is built on HearSay, a speech-driven…

  web accessibility · visual impairment · screen reader · semantic web · web navigation

• Rendering Tables in Audio: The Interaction of Structure and Reading Styles

  Yeliz Yesilada, Robert Stevens, Carole Goble, Shazad Hussein · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of why HTML tables are problematic for screen reader users and proposes two complementary approaches for non-visual table access. The authors from the University of Manchester first characterize what makes tables useful in print —…

  table accessibility · visual impairment · screen reader · web accessibility · table linearization

• Audio Enriched Links: Web Page Previews for Blind Users

  Peter Parente · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper presents Audio Enriched Links (AEL), a JAWS screen reader extension for Internet Explorer that provides spoken previews of linked web pages before blind users follow a hyperlink. The system addresses a fundamental asymmetry in web browsing: sighted users can quickly…

  web accessibility · visual impairment · screen reader · web navigation · link preview

• Strategic Design for Users with Diabetic Retinopathy: Factors Influencing Performance in a Menu-Selection Task

  Paula J. Edwards, Leon Barnard, V. Kathlene Emery, Ji Soo Yi, Kevin P. Moloney, Thitima Kongnakorn, Julie A. Jacko, François Sainfort, Pamela R. Oliver, Joseph Pizzimenti, Annette Bade, Greg Fecho, Josephine Shallo-Hoffmann · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

  This paper examines how interface design features affect menu selection performance for users with Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a progressive eye condition affecting 40-45% of the approximately 18 million Americans with diabetes. The study involved 25 volunteers from Nova…

  diabetic retinopathy · low vision · visual impairment · multimodal feedback · menu design

• Image Pre-Compensation to Facilitate Computer Access for Users with Refractive Errors

  Miguel Alonso, Armando Barreto, J. Gualberto Cremades · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper presents a novel approach to improving computer access for people with refractive visual errors by pre-compensating displayed images using knowledge of the user's specific optical aberration. The core insight is that the human eye can be modelled as a Linear Time…

  low vision · visual impairment · refractive error · image processing · visual acuity

• Multimodal Feedback: Establishing a Performance Baseline for Improved Access by Individuals with Visual Impairments

  Holly S. Vitense, Julie A. Jacko, V. Kathlene Emery · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This study investigates how different combinations of auditory, haptic, and visual feedback affect the performance of fully sighted users during a complex direct manipulation task. The researchers designed the study as a baseline from which to later compare the performance of…

  multimodal interaction · haptic feedback · auditory feedback · visual impairment · workload measurement

• Older Adults' Evaluations of Speech Output

  Lorna Lines, Kate S. Hone · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper investigates older adults' subjective evaluations of different speech output voices in the context of an Intelligent Home System (IHS) designed to help older people live independently. Given that 66% of people with visual impairments in the UK are over 75, and that…

  speech output · older adults · aging · smart home · visual impairment

• Designing for Dynamic Diversity: Interfaces for Older People

  Peter Gregor, Alan F. Newell, Mary Zajicek · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper argues that mainstream interface design fails older people by assuming a static, "typical" user who is young, fit, and male. The authors identify three broad groups of older computer users: fit older people who do not consider themselves disabled; frail older people…

  aging · inclusive design · user-centered design · universal design · older adults

• A Java Programming Tool for Students with Visual Disabilities

  Ann C. Smith, Joan M. Francioni, Sam D. Matzek · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents JavaSpeak, a specialized programming environment designed to make learning Java accessible to students with visual disabilities. The authors, computer science educators at Saint Mary's University and Winona State University, identified three key barriers…

  programming education · visual impairment · screen reader · code accessibility · auditory interface

• Fast Web by Using Updated Content Extraction and a Bookmark Facility

  Tsuyoshi Ebina, Seiji Igi, Teruhisa Miyake · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper from Japan's Communications Research Laboratory presents two techniques for improving speech-based web navigation for visually impaired users. The core problem is that accessing web pages through speech output is significantly slower than visual browsing — users must…

  web accessibility · visual impairment · web navigation · screen reader · speech-based navigation

• Designing Interfaces for an Overlooked User Group: Considering the Visual Profiles of Partially Sighted Users

  Julie A. Jacko, Andrew Sears · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This position paper argues that partially sighted computer users represent a critically underserved population in interface design research. The authors identify a gap between two groups that have received significant attention — fully sighted users and totally blind users —…

  low vision · visual impairment · partial vision · visual profile · graphical user interface accessibility

• "Composability": Widening Participation in Music Making for People with Disabilities via Music Software and Controller Solutions

  Tim Anderson, Clare Smith · 1996 · Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper from the Drake Music Project and University of York discusses enabling visually impaired and physically disabled people to compose and perform music through adapted software and controller solutions. The Drake Music Project (DMP), a UK charity founded in 1988,…

  music accessibility · creative arts · MIDI · adaptive technology · physical disability

• Interface modeling issues in providing access to GUIs for the visually impaired (panel session)

  A. D. N. Edwards, E. D. Mynatt, J. Thatcher · 1994 · Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This Assets '94 panel session brought together three leading researchers to discuss the fundamental challenge of making graphical user interfaces accessible to blind and visually impaired users. By 1994, the computing world was rapidly transitioning from text-based command-line…

  GUI accessibility · screen reader · blind users · off-screen model · interface modeling

• LVRS: the low vision research system

  M. Krell · 1994 · Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This 1994 paper introduces the Low Vision Research System (LVRS), a computer-based research tool designed for vision researchers developing vision enhancement systems for people with low vision. The system comprises three integrated components: warping software that can…

  low vision · vision enhancement · image processing · image warping · digital video