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• Context-Aware Image Descriptions for Web Accessibility

  Ananya Gubbi Mohanbabu, Amy Pavel · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '24)

  This paper addresses a fundamental limitation of current AI-generated image descriptions: they describe images in isolation without considering the surrounding webpage context. When blind and low-vision (BLV) users encounter images on the web, what they need to know about an…

  alt text · image descriptions · blind and low vision · artificial intelligence · large language models

• Understanding and Reducing the Challenges Faced by Creators of Accessible Online Data Visualizations

  Ather Sharif, Joo Gyeong Kim, Jessie Zijia Xu, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '24)

  This paper investigates the challenges visualization creators face in making online data visualizations accessible to screen-reader users and develops interventions to address these challenges. Data visualizations (charts, graphs, maps, dashboards) are increasingly prevalent on…

  data visualization · screen readers · web accessibility · sonification · blind and low vision

• MAIDR Meets AI: Exploring Multimodal LLM-Based Data Visualization Interpretation by and with Blind and Low-Vision Users

  JooYoung Seo, Sanchita S. Kamath, Aziz Zeidieh, Saairam Venkatesh, Sean McCurry · 2024 · ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates how blind and low-vision (BLV) users interact with large language models to interpret data visualizations, building on the authors' previously developed MAIDR (Multimodal Access and Interactive Data Representation) framework. MAIDR already provides…

  blind and low vision · data visualization · large language models · generative AI · sonification

• Information Wayfinding of Screen Reader Users: Five Personas to Expand Conceptualizations of User Experiences

  J. Bern Jordan, Victoria Van Hyning, Mason A. Jones, Rachael Bradley Montgomery, Elizabeth Bottner, Evan Tansil · 2024 · ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents five user personas representing the diverse range of screen reader experiences, developed from observations across several studies with blind screen reader users. The authors challenge the common assumption in research and development that screen reader users…

  screen readers · blind users · personas · user experience · information wayfinding

• Uncovering the New Accessibility Crisis in Scholarly PDFs: Publishing Model and Platform Changes Contribute to Declining Scholarly Document Accessibility in the Last Decade

  Anukriti Kumar, Lucy Lu Wang · 2024 · ASSETS '24: Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper presents a large-scale analysis of 20,000 scholarly PDFs published between 2014 and 2023 to characterise the scope and trajectory of document accessibility in academic publishing. Most scholarly works are distributed as PDFs, a format that can present severe…

  PDF accessibility · scholarly publishing · document accessibility · screen readers · tagged PDF

• Breaking the News Barrier: Towards Understanding News Consumption Practices among BVI Individuals in India

  Peya Mowar, Meghna Gupta, Mohit Jain · 2024 · ASSETS 2024: 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study examines digital news consumption practices among blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals in India, a country home to approximately 4.95 million blind and 35 million visually impaired people. Through semi-structured interviews and contextual inquiry with 17…

  blindness · visual impairment · news consumption · screen readers · information access

• "I look at it as the king of knowledge": How Blind People Use and Understand Generative AI Tools

  Rudaiba Adnin, Maitraye Das · 2024 · ASSETS 2024: 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This study investigates how blind individuals use and make sense of mainstream generative AI tools, based on semi-structured interviews with 19 blind participants who regularly use tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and Be My AI (the GenAI-powered…

  generative AI · blindness · visual impairment · ChatGPT · mental models

• A Recipe for Success? Exploring Strategies for Improving Non-Visual Access to Cooking Instructions

  Franklin Mingzhe Li, Ashley Wang, Patrick Carrington, Shaun K. Kane · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper investigates how people with vision impairments access and follow cooking recipes, identifying practices, challenges, and design opportunities for more accessible kitchen technologies. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 blind cooks (ranging…

  blind · visual impairment · cooking accessibility · recipe access · assistive technology

• The Promise and Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Overlays for Blind and Low Vision Users

  Tlamelo Makati, Garreth W. Tigwell, Kristen Shinohara · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This study provides the first substantial empirical evidence from blind and low-vision users about their experiences with web accessibility overlays—third-party JavaScript tools that claim to enhance website usability for people with disabilities by adding an additional…

  web accessibility · accessibility overlays · screen readers · blind users · low vision

• Accessibility Guidelines and Standards: Analyzing Stack Overflow Posts

  Asmaa Mansour Alghamdi, Wajdi Aljedaani, Marcelo M. Eler, Stephanie Ludi · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A '24)

  This study analyses 5,092 Stack Overflow posts related to web accessibility (from an initial dataset of 8,538 posts tagged with "accessibility" or "WCAG" between 2008 and 2022) to understand the practical challenges developers face when implementing accessibility guidelines.…

  WCAG · web development · developer experience · accessibility testing · screen readers

• Beyond Sight: Empowering Visually Impaired Users with Audible Graphs

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Uday Kiran Chimpiri, Durgasantosh Gaddam, Vaseem Ahammed Shaik, Yaswitha Karasala, Marcelo M. Eler · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This technical note presents a tool designed to make data visualizations accessible to people with visual impairments by converting them into audible and textual representations. The tool addresses a significant gap: while data visualization is central to modern information…

  data visualization · visual impairments · sonification · screen readers · optical character recognition

• A Universal Web Accessibility Feedback Form: A Participatory Design Study

  Adrian Wegener, Kathrin Fausel, Saskia Haug, Alexander Maedche · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper addresses a gap in web accessibility practice: while automated testing tools can catch structural violations, they cannot reliably assess the quality of alternative text, the usability of dynamic content, or many other issues that only human users can identify. The EU…

  web accessibility · participatory design · visual impairments · feedback mechanisms · user-centered design

• Direct or Immersive? Comparing Smartphone-based Museum Guide Systems for Blind Visitors

  Xiyue Wang, Seita Kayukawa, Hironobu Takagi, Giorgia Masoero, Chieko Asakawa · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the first direct comparison of two smartphone-based museum guide paradigms for blind visitors: a "direct" system using turn-by-turn navigation with VoiceOver-controlled audio descriptions, and an "immersive" system using spatialized sound navigation with…

  museum accessibility · blindness · indoor navigation · spatialized audio · screen readers

• Toward Effective Communication of AI-Based Decisions in Assistive Tools: Conveying Confidence and Doubt to People with Visual Impairments at Accelerated Speech

  Taslima Akter, Manohar Swaminathan, Apu Kapadia · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates how people with visual impairments (PVIs) perceive confidence and doubt in speakers' voices when audio is played at accelerated speeds — a critical question because AI-based assistive tools (scene descriptors, facial recognition, image captioners) can…

  visual impairments · artificial intelligence · speech processing · screen readers · assistive technology

• Touchpad Mapper: Exploring Non-Visual Touchpad Interactions for Screen-Reader Users

  Ather Sharif, Venkatesh Potluri, Jazz R. X. Ang, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Jennifer Mankoff · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This technical note introduces Touchpad Mapper, a system that repurposes the laptop touchpad — a widely available but underutilized input device for screen-reader users — as a spatial interface for exploring 2D digital content non-visually. The authors argue that while touchpads…

  screen readers · blindness · touchpad · interaction design · input devices

• ImageExplorer Deployment: Understanding Text-Based and Touch-Based Image Exploration in the Wild

  Ruolin Xu, Yuxuan Cai, Shuying Hou, Yu-Jung Chang, Anhong Guo · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the real-world deployment and evaluation of ImageExplorer, an iOS application that enables blind and low-vision users to explore images through two complementary modalities: text-based sequential exploration and touch-based spatial exploration. The app was…

  image accessibility · screen readers · touch exploration · blind users · image description

• Exploring Blind and Low-Vision Youth's Digital Access Needs in School: Toward Accessible Instructional Technologies

  Natalie L. Shaheen · 2024 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This mixed methods study investigates how blind and low-vision (BLV) youth ages 13-22 experience technology-mediated learning in US K-12 schools. The author, herself congenitally blind and a former teacher of blind students, conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 BLV youth…

  blind and low vision · K-12 education · instructional technology · access technology · screen readers

• In-Page Navigation Aids for Screen-Reader Users with Automatic Topicalisation and Labelling

  Jorge Sassaki Resende Silva, Paula Christina Figueira Cardoso, Raphael Winckler De Bettio, Daniela Cardoso Tavares, Carlos Alberto Silva, Willian Massami Watanabe, Andre Pimenta Freire · 2024 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge for screen reader users: navigating lengthy web documents that lack proper heading structure. When web pages do not include semantic headings or internal navigation links, users must read content linearly, which increases cognitive…

  screen readers · navigation · natural language processing · topic segmentation · large language models

• Invisible, Unreadable, and Inaudible Cookie Notices: An Evaluation of Cookie Notices for Users with Visual Impairments

  Janice M. Clarke, Maryam Mehrnezhad, Ehsan Toreini · 2024 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates the accessibility of cookie notices for users with visual impairments (VI), combining automated testing of 46 top UK websites with a user study of 100 participants who use assistive technology. The researchers employed multiple testing approaches: WAVE…

  screen readers · visual impairments · privacy · web accessibility · cookie consent

• System-class Accessibility: The Architectural Support for Making a Whole System Usable by People with Disabilities

  Chris Fleizach, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2024 · ACM Queue

  This article introduces the concept of "system-class accessibility" — the architectural support built into an operating system to make the entire platform usable by people with disabilities. Written by Chris Fleizach (who led the development of VoiceOver on iOS at Apple) and…

  accessibility API · screen readers · VoiceOver · iOS accessibility · operating systems

• Towards Automated Accessibility Report Generation for Mobile Apps

  Amanda Swearngin, Jason Wu, Xiaoyi Zhang, Esteban Gomez, Jen Coughenour, Rachel Stukenborg, Bhavya Garg, Greg Hughes, Adriana Hilliard, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Jeffrey Nichols · 2024 · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

  This paper presents a system for automatically generating whole-app accessibility reports for mobile apps, addressing key limitations of existing accessibility scanning tools. The work begins with formative interviews with eight accessibility QA professionals at a large…

  automated testing · accessibility testing · mobile accessibility · app crawling · machine learning

21 results.