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• A Camera Phone Based Currency Reader for the Visually Impaired

  Xu Liu · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents a camera phone-based system for identifying U.S. paper currency denominations for people who are blind or visually impaired. The work addresses a specific accessibility gap: unlike currencies in many other countries, U.S. paper bills are identical in size and…

  visual impairment · computer vision · assistive technology · mobile accessibility · object recognition

• Advanced Auditory Menus: Design and Evaluation of Auditory Scroll Bars

  Pavani Yalla, Bruce N. Walker · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from the Sonification Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology investigates how to design auditory scrollbars — non-speech sound cues that convey contextual information (menu size, current position) while navigating auditory menus. Visual menus use scrollbars, icons,…

  auditory interface · auditory menu · sonification · non-speech sounds · universal design

• Text Entry for Mobile Devices and Users with Severe Motor Impairments: HandiGlyph, a Primitive Shapes Based Onscreen Keyboard

  Mohammed Belatar, Franck Poirier · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents HandiGlyph, a text input method for mobile devices designed for users with severe motor disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Locked-In Syndrome, and quadriplegia. The system is built on the UniGlyph principle: each letter of the…

  text entry · motor disability · on-screen keyboard · AAC · scanning input

• A Demonstration of PhotoTacs: A Simple Image-Based Phone Dialing Interface for People with Cognitive or Visual Impairments

  Michael J. Astrauskas, John A. Black Jr, Sethuraman Panchanathan · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from Arizona State University's Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing demonstrates PhotoTacs, an image-based phone book application for smart phones designed for people with cognitive disabilities, visual impairments, or illiteracy. The motivation is that modern…

  cognitive accessibility · visual impairment · mobile accessibility · simplified interface · assistive technology

• Increasing the Accessibility of Pen-Based Technology: An Investigation of Age-Related Target Acquisition Difficulties

  Karyn Moffatt · 2007 · SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing

  This paper describes dissertation research on improving the accessibility of pen-based devices (PDAs, Tablet PCs) for older adults by identifying and addressing the root causes of target acquisition difficulty. The author argues that previous research on target acquisition…

  aging · motor accessibility · input device · interaction design · target acquisition

• Profiling Learners with Special Needs for Custom E-Learning Experiences, a Closed Case?

  Paola Salomoni, Silvia Mirri, Stefano Ferretti, Marco Roccetti · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from the University of Bologna tackles the problem of creating comprehensive learner profiles that capture both user accessibility needs and device capabilities — two dimensions that existing standards addressed separately but not together. The authors argue that no…

  e-learning · user profiling · content adaptation · assistive technology · device capabilities

• Leveraging Rich Accessible Documents on the Web

  Rui Lopes, Luís Carriço · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper by Lopes and Carriço from the University of Lisbon presents a framework for producing rich accessible documents on the web that goes beyond the common approach of providing simplified alternate versions for disabled users. The authors argue that accessibility in 2007…

  document accessibility · content adaptation · user modeling · profile modeling · multimodal interaction

• Humming Control Interface for Hand-held Devices

  Sook Young Won, Dong-In Lee, Julius Smith · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper from Stanford University presents a control-by-humming interface that allows hands-free operation of portable devices such as cell phones and music players through subvocal humming detected by a Bluetooth-connected insertion earphone/microphone. The system converts…

  alternative input · hands-free control · subvocal input · pitch detection · motor impairment

• Using participatory activities with seniors to critique, build, and evaluate mobile phones

  Michael Massimi, Ronald M. Baecker, Michael Wu · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This Assets '07 paper from University of Toronto engages older adults not as subjects of a usability study but as co-designers of a mobile phone system. Massimi, Baecker, and Wu argue that the two dominant trends in 'senior-friendly' phone design — oversimplified handsets like…

  mobile accessibility · older adults · aging · participatory design · co-design

• Understanding mobile phone requirements for young adults with cognitive disabilities

  Melissa Dawe · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Melissa Dawe's Assets '07 paper is a small, qualitative, ethnographically-informed study of how five Colorado families use mobile phones to support remote communication between parents and their young-adult children (ages 19-25) with cognitive disabilities. The paper is grounded…

  cognitive accessibility · mobile accessibility · ethnography · semi-structured interviews · caregivers

• Semantic & syntactic context-aware text entry methods

  Jun Gong · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Jun Gong's Assets '07 demonstration paper proposes a context-aware extension to the dictionary-based predictive disambiguation (DBPD) text-entry methods — the family that included the once-ubiquitous T9 on mobile phone keypads. DBPD methods let users press each multi-letter key…

  text entry · motor impairment · visual impairment · predictive text · T9

• WADER: a novel wayfinding system with deviation recovery for individuals with cognitive impairments

  Shih-Kai Tsai · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster paper from Shih-Kai Tsai at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan presents WADER (Wayfinding system with DEviation Recovery), a prototype indoor wayfinding system aimed at individuals with cognitive impairments — explicitly named populations…

  wayfinding · indoor navigation · QR code · cognitive accessibility · cognitive disabilities

• Variable frame rate for low power mobile sign language communication

  Neva Cherniavsky, Anna C. Cavender, Richard E. Ladner, Eve A. Riskin · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This paper from the University of Washington MobileASL team — Neva Cherniavsky, Anna Cavender, Richard Ladner, and Eve Riskin — addresses a then-emerging problem: enabling Deaf people in the United States to hold real-time American Sign Language conversations over the cellular…

  American Sign Language · sign language · fingerspelling · Deaf community · video phone

• Barrier pointing: using physical edges to assist target acquisition on mobile device touch screens

  Jon Froehlich, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Shaun K. Kane · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Froehlich, Wobbrock and Kane propose barrier pointing: a set of stylus-based target acquisition techniques that exploit the raised physical edge of a mobile touch screen to stabilise input for users with motor impairments. Standard touch-screen tapping requires a user to fly the…

  mobile accessibility · touchscreen accessibility · motor impairment · target acquisition · input techniques

• Self-Adapting User Interfaces as Assistive Technology for Handheld Mobile Devices

  Robert Dodd · 2006 · Assets '06: Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in mobile device accessibility: the limitations of bolt-on assistive technology solutions for handheld devices. Published at Assets '06, the premier ACM conference on accessible computing, it proposes a paradigm shift from…

  mobile accessibility · self-adapting interfaces · assistive technology · user modeling · design space

• Evaluating Interfaces for Intelligent Mobile Search

  Karen Church, Barry Smyth, Mark T. Keane · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper argues that simply transplanting desktop web search interfaces onto mobile devices creates a poor user experience, and proposes an alternative approach to presenting search results on small screens. The authors first evaluate seven mobile search engines of the era…

  mobile accessibility · mobile search · search interfaces · small screen devices · information retrieval

• Physical Usability and the Mobile Web

  Shari Trewin · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper systematically compares the physical usability challenges faced by desktop web users with motor impairments and mobile web users, identifying where their needs overlap and diverge. Trewin first catalogs the interaction landscape for users with physical disabilities on…

  motor accessibility · mobile accessibility · physical disability · device independence · input methods

• Designing Beneath the Surface of the Web

  Sarah Horton · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper reframes web accessibility as fundamentally a source code design problem, arguing that designers focus almost exclusively on the visual "surface" of web pages — colors, typography, layouts — while neglecting the underlying code layer that determines how well pages are…

  semantic HTML · web design · universal usability · nonvisual access · screen readers

• The Meaning of 'Life': Capturing Intent from Web Authors

  Rhys Lewis · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A): Building the Mobile Web: Rediscovering Accessibility?

  This paper explores the fundamental problem that web pages lack explicit semantic information, relying instead on visual cues — layout, color, juxtaposition — to convey meaning. Lewis argues that this semantic deficit creates parallel challenges for two distinct user groups:…

  mobile accessibility · web semantics · content adaptation · device independence · transcoding

• Personalizable Edge Services for Web Accessibility

  Gennaro Iaccarino, Delfina Malandrino, Vittorio Scarano · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A): Building the Mobile Web: Rediscovering Accessibility?

  This paper presents PAN (Personalizable Accessible Navigation), a suite of proxy-based edge services that transform web pages on-the-fly to improve accessibility for users with disabilities. Built on top of the Scalable Intermediary Software Infrastructure (SISI) — a…

  proxy-based accessibility · web accessibility · content adaptation · personalization · edge services

• Use of RSS feeds for content adaptation in mobile web browsing

  Alexander Blekas, John Garofalakis, Vasilios Stefanis · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from the University of Patras presents a proxy-based system that uses RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to adapt web content for mobile phone browsing. The authors address the fundamental challenge that desktop web pages are largely inaccessible on mobile devices…

  mobile accessibility · content adaptation · proxy server · RSS · mobile browsing

• Web accessibility: is it just a "merry-go-round"?

  Donna Smillie · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This position paper by Donna Smillie of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) examines the relationship between traditional web accessibility for people with disabilities and the emerging field of mobile web accessibility. Writing at a time when mobile web usage…

  mobile accessibility · web accessibility · universal design · usability · cross-device compatibility

• A web browsing system based on adaptive presentation of web contents for cellular phones

  Yuki Arase, Takuya Maekawa, Takahiro Hara, Toshiaki Uemukai, Shojiro Nishio · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Osaka University and KDDI R&D Laboratories presents a web browsing system that adaptively presents web page components on cellular phones based on their content characteristics. The authors identify that browsing desktop-designed web pages on mobile devices…

  mobile accessibility · content adaptation · adaptive presentation · small screen devices · auto-scrolling

• Mobile phones may be the right devices for supporting developing world accessibility, but is the WWW the right service delivery model?

  Tapan S. Parikh · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This position paper from the University of Washington argues that while mobile phones are well-suited devices for delivering information services to rural developing world users, the World Wide Web as a service delivery model is fundamentally mismatched to this context. Drawing…

  mobile accessibility · digital divide · ICT4D · rural accessibility · novice users