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• iTagPDF: Towards Finally Automating PDF Accessibility

  Peya Mowar, Aaron Steinfeld, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper from Mowar, Steinfeld, and Bigham (Carnegie Mellon) presents iTagPDF, an automated system for tagging academic research PDFs so they are accessible to screen reader users. The authors argue that PDF accessibility has remained a persistent problem for over a…

  PDF accessibility · tagged PDF · PDF remediation · automated accessibility · document layout analysis

• Measuring the Semantic Accessibility Gap in LLM-Generated Web UIs

  Tommaso Calo, Alexandra-Elena Gurita, Luigi De Russis · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Calo, Gurita, and De Russis investigate a blind spot of mainstream automated accessibility tools: while scanners like Axe-core reliably catch missing alt attributes or unlabelled form fields (syntactic violations), they cannot tell whether the values present are actually…

  web accessibility · large language models · LLM code generation · semantic accessibility · WCAG

• Access to Interpretation: How Formal Cues Ground Interpretive Alt Text for Paintings

  Vera L. Zhong, Lucy Jiang, Kathryn E. Ringland · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract examines a gap between mainstream alt text conventions and the interpretive work that paintings are designed to evoke. The authors argue that dominant guidance for alt text foregrounds brevity, objectivity, and functional equivalence — an approach…

  alt text · image description · blind and low vision · museum accessibility · cultural heritage

• Increasing Agency of Screen-Reader Users in Consuming Information From Online Data Visualizations

  Ather Sharif, Andrew Zhang, Jacob Wobbrock · 2025 · Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper addresses a fundamental equity problem in data visualization accessibility: screen-reader users are limited to consuming only the information that visualization creators choose to provide, with no agency to customize what they hear. Prior research shows screen-reader…

  data visualization accessibility · screen readers · user agency · sonification · alt text

• 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

• 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

• Evaluating the Effectiveness of STEM Images Captioning

  Maurizio Leotta, Marina Ribaudo · 2024 · Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A '24)

  This paper from the University of Genoa reports on an experiment comparing human-written and AI-generated alternative text descriptions for complex STEM images — graphs, diagrams, scientific illustrations, and mathematical figures. The researchers recruited 52 undergraduate…

  alt text · image accessibility · STEM accessibility · AI captioning · computer science education

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche · 2023 · Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool that makes chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) students. Chemical structural formulas — visual diagrams showing atoms, bonds, and molecular geometry — are fundamental to studying…

  STEM accessibility · blind and low vision · chemistry · machine learning · interactive labeling

• How the Alt Text Gets Made: What Roles and Processes of Alt Text Creation Can Teach Us About Inclusive Imagery

  Emory James Edwards, Kyle Lewis Polster, Isabel Tuason, Emily Blank, Michael Gilbert, Stacy Branham · 2023 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates how alternative text is created in industry settings through a collaboration between UC Irvine researchers and Google's Avatar Project, an initiative to create inclusive stickers depicting people with disabilities. The research combines two studies: focus…

  alt text · image accessibility · inclusive imagery · disability representation · organizational practices

• Authoring accessible media content on social networks

  Letícia Seixas Pereira, José Coelho, André Rodrigues, João Guerreiro, Tiago Guerreiro, Carlos Duarte · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper investigates why user-generated visual content on social media remains overwhelmingly inaccessible to blind and visually impaired users, despite platforms offering tools to add alternative descriptions. The researchers conducted a two-phase study: an online…

  social media accessibility · alt text · user-generated content · image descriptions · digital inclusion

• A Dataset of Alt Texts from HCI Publications: Analyses and Uses Towards Producing More Descriptive Alt Texts of Data Visualizations in Scientific Papers

  Sanjana Shivani Chintalapati, Jonathan Bragg, Lucy Lu Wang · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper examines the quality and availability of alt text for data visualizations in scientific publications, focusing on papers from the HCI and accessibility communities (CHI and ASSETS conferences, 2010-2020). The authors processed over 25,000 paper PDFs and found that…

  alt text · data visualization · scientific documents · blind and low vision · document accessibility

• AIDE: An Automatic Image Description Engine for Review Imagery

  Rachana Sreedhar, Nicole Tan, Jingyue Zhang, Kim Jin, Spencer Gregson, Eli Moreta-Feliz, Niveditha Samudrala, Shrenik Sadalgi · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from Wayfair presents AIDE, a multimodal machine learning system that automatically generates contextual alt-text for user-submitted review images in e-commerce — a category of imagery that is particularly inaccessible because it is user-generated, unpredictable in…

  alt text · computer vision · blindness · visual impairment · screen readers

• What's in an ALT Tag? Exploring Caption Content Priorities through Collaborative Captioning

  Annika Muehlbradt, Shaun K. Kane · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates what makes a good image caption through a novel collaborative captioning methodology. Six pairs of blind and sighted partners—including married couples, friends, and roommates—worked together to create and refine captions for 15 social media photographs…

  image descriptions · alt text · collaborative accessibility · cross-ability collaboration · screen readers

• Author Reflections on Creating Accessible Academic Papers

  Rachel Menzies, Garreth W. Tigwell, Michael Crabb · 2022 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This mixed-methods study investigates why academic papers remain inaccessible despite available guidance from SIGACCESS and others. The researchers analyzed 3,866 content elements (tables, charts, images) from 330 ASSETS conference papers spanning 2011-2020, then conducted…

  document accessibility · PDF accessibility · academic publishing · alt text · data visualization

• "That's in the eye of the beholder": Layers of Interpretation in Image Descriptions for Fictional Representations of People with Disabilities

  Emory James Edwards, Kyle Lewis Polster, Isabel Tuason, Emily Blank, Michael Gilbert, Stacy Branham · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '21)

  This paper investigates how to create accurate and sensitive image descriptions for fictional representations of people with disabilities — a challenge that arises when real subjects cannot be consulted about their preferred identity terminology. The study emerged from Google's…

  image accessibility · alt text · image descriptions · disability representation · design systems

• Designing Tools for High-Quality Alt Text Authoring

  Kelly Mack, Edward Cutrell, Bongshin Lee, Meredith Ringel Morris · 2021 · Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '21)

  This paper investigates how to improve the quality of alternative text through better authoring interfaces and feedback mechanisms for automatic alt text, focusing on Microsoft PowerPoint as the application context. The researchers built and tested four prototype interfaces: two…

  alt text · image accessibility · screen readers · authoring tools · automatic alt text

• "It's Complicated": Negotiating Accessibility and (Mis)Representation in Image Descriptions of Race, Gender, and Disability

  Cynthia L. Bennett, Cole Gleason, Morgan Klaus Scheuerman, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Anhong Guo, Alexandra To · 2021 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This qualitative study investigates how screen reader users who are also Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), non-binary, and/or transgender navigate the complex landscape of image descriptions, particularly regarding how appearance characteristics like race, gender, and…

  image descriptions · alt text · screen readers · visual impairments · race

• BrowseWithMe: An Online Clothes Shopping Assistant for People with Visual Impairments

  Abigale J. Stangl, Esha Kothari, Suyog D. Jain, Tom Yeh, Kristen Grauman, Danna Gurari · 2018 · Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This paper from the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Texas at Austin addresses the inaccessibility of online clothes shopping for people with visual impairments through both empirical investigation and a prototype AI-powered assistant called BrowseWithMe. The…

  blindness · low vision · web accessibility · online shopping · computer vision

• Semiotics Contributions to Accessible Interface Design

  María Inés Laitano · 2015 · Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract argues that semiotic theory — the study of signs and meaning-making — can complement WCAG-based approaches to produce more meaningfully accessible interfaces. Laitano contrasts the WAI model, which centres on content (information plus markup) accessed…

  semiotics · interface design · WCAG · alt text · communication strategy

• Acrolinx: A Controlled-Language Checker Turned into an Accessibility Evaluation Tool for Image Text Alternatives

  Silvia Rodríguez Vázquez, Sabine Lehmann · 2015 · Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a novel application of controlled-language checking technology to a persistent accessibility problem: evaluating the quality of image text alternatives, not just their presence. The authors observe that while most web accessibility evaluation tools can detect…

  alt text · image accessibility · automated testing · controlled language · natural language processing

• Unlocking the Potential of Web Localizers as Contributors to Image Accessibility: What Do Evaluation Tools Have to Offer?

  Silvia Rodríguez Vázquez · 2015 · Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the role of web localization professionals (translators) in maintaining image accessibility when websites are adapted for different language audiences. The author identifies a significant gap: when websites are localized from one language to another, text…

  image accessibility · text alternatives · web localization · accessibility evaluation tools · quality assurance

• Guiding Novice Web Workers in Making Image Descriptions Using Templates

  Valerie S. Morash, Yue-Ting Siu, Joshua A. Miele, Lucia Hasty, Steven Landau · 2015 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This study compares two approaches for using non-expert crowdworkers to create accessible descriptions of STEM images (charts, graphs, diagrams) for people who are blind or have print-reading disabilities. The researchers tested Free-Response Image Description (FRID), where…

  image description · alt text · crowdsourcing · human computation · STEM accessibility

• Providing Access to the High-Level Content of Line Graphs from Online Popular Media

  Priscilla S. Moraes, Sandra Carberry, Kathleen McCoy · 2013 · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper extends the Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information Graphics Textually) system to generate natural language summaries of line graphs found in online popular media articles, making their high-level content accessible to visually impaired users via screen readers.…

  data visualization · visual impairment · natural language generation · assistive technology · screen readers

• A Syntactic Analysis of Accessibility to a Corpus of Statistical Graphs

  Leo Ferres, Petro Verkhogliad, Livia Sumegi, Louis Boucher, Martin Lachance, Gitte Lindgaard · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Carleton University and Statistics Canada tackles a persistent accessibility challenge: making statistical graphs accessible to blind and visually impaired users. The authors analysed a corpus of 120 real-world statistical graphs from Statistics Canada's daily…

  data visualization · graph accessibility · blind and low vision · alt text · knowledge representation

• Accessmonkey: Enabling and Sharing End User Accessibility Improvements

  Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2007 · SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing

  This paper proposes the Accessmonkey Framework, a collaborative platform for creating, sharing, and applying user-generated web accessibility improvements. The system addresses the reality that blind users frequently encounter inaccessible web content — information encoded…

  web accessibility · screen reader · browser extension · crowdsourcing · user scripting