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• Effects of sampling methods on web accessibility evaluations

  Giorgio Brajnik, Andrea Mulas, Claudia Pitton · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Brajnik, Mulas, and Pitton's Assets '07 paper is a large, careful empirical investigation of the sampling step in web-accessibility evaluation — the step at which an evaluator picks which pages of a site to actually test. For any site above a trivial size, full coverage is…

  web accessibility · accessibility evaluation · sampling methods · accessibility metrics · conformance testing

• SADIe: exposing implicit information to improve accessibility

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

  Darren Lunn's Assets '07 demonstration paper introduces SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence), a transcoding system from the University of Manchester that uses Semantic Web ontologies to expose the implicit visual structure of web pages to screen…

  web accessibility · transcoding · semantic web · ontology · CSS

• Improving the outcomes of students with cognitive and learning disabilities: phase I development for a web accessibility tool

  Aaron Andersen, Cyndi Rowland · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This poster paper from ASSETS 2007 reports on Phase I of a project to extend the WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator) open-source tool with a new suite of evaluators specifically targeting the cognitive load of web pages. The work, led by WebAIM and the National Center…

  cognitive accessibility · cognitive disabilities · learning disabilities · cognitive load · evaluation tools

• Information overload in non-visual web transaction: context analysis spells relief

  Jalal Mahmud · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster paper from Jalal Mahmud at Stony Brook University describes ongoing PhD research into reducing the information overload that blind users experience when completing multi-step web transactions — shopping, registrations, bill payments — using a screen…

  screen readers · non-visual web access · web page segmentation · context analysis · web transactions

• Developing usable CAPTCHAs for blind users

  Jonathan Holman, Jonathan Lazar, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, John D'Arcy · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster from a Towson University team led by Jonathan Lazar — joined by Jonathan Holman, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, and John D'Arcy of Notre Dame — addresses the long-standing accessibility problem that text-based CAPTCHAs (the distorted-letter image puzzles used…

  CAPTCHA · audio CAPTCHA · blindness and low vision · screen readers · web accessibility

• SAMBA: a semi-automatic method for measuring barriers of accessibility

  Giorgio Brajnik, Raffaella Lomuscio · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Brajnik and Lomuscio argue that web accessibility cannot be managed without being measured, yet existing accessibility metrics are underdeveloped and almost universally tied to conformance with WCAG checkpoints rather than to the real-world barriers end users encounter. The…

  web accessibility · accessibility metrics · accessibility evaluation · accessibility testing · conformance testing

• Analysis of Navigability of Web Applications for Improving Blind Usability

  Hironobu Takagi, Shin Saito, Kentarou Fukuda, Chieko Asakawa · 2007 · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), Vol. 14, No. 3, Article 13

  This TOCHI article is a two-study investigation into why modern web applications — especially visually dense online shopping sites — remain slow and frustrating for blind users even when they pass automated accessibility checks. The authors argue that current usability theory,…

  web accessibility · screen readers · voice browser · navigation · usability testing

• 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

• A Semantic-Web Based Framework for Developing Applications to Improve Accessibility in the WWW

  Christos Kouroupetroglou, Michail Salampasis, Athanasios Manitsaris · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents a Semantic Web application framework designed to improve web accessibility by adding a metadata annotation layer on top of existing web pages. The framework addresses a core problem for blind users: screen readers serialize web pages linearly, stripping away…

  semantic web · ontology · web annotation · blind users · voice browser

• 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

• WebInSight: Making Web Images Accessible

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Ryan S. Kaminsky, Richard E. Ladner, Oscar M. Danielsson, Gordon L. Hempton · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper introduces WebInSight, a system that automatically generates and inserts alternative text for web images that lack it. The authors first establish the scale of the problem through a series of web studies examining five groups of important websites: the 500 most…

  web accessibility · alternative text · image accessibility · OCR · optical character recognition

• Measuring Website Usability for Visually Impaired People - A Modified GOMS Analysis

  Henrik Tonn-Eichstädt · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper adapts the GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules) model — a well-established HCI method for estimating task execution times — to measure website usability specifically for blind screen reader users. The author argues that accessibility is fundamentally a…

  screen readers · usability · web accessibility · GOMS · braille

• Accessibility Now! Teaching Accessible Computing at the Introductory Level

  Brian J. Rosmaita · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper advocates for teaching accessibility as a core element of introductory computer science courses rather than relegating it to advanced electives. The author describes a web design course at Hamilton College built around an "Accessibility First!" philosophy, where…

  accessibility education · pedagogy · web accessibility · service learning · disability studies

• Functional Web Accessibility Techniques and Tools from the University of Illinois

  Jon Gunderson, Hadi Bargi Rangin, Nicholas Hoyt · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents two complementary tools developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for helping web developers create functionally accessible websites: the CITES/DRES Functional Web Accessibility Best Practices and associated evaluation tools. The authors…

  web accessibility · automated testing · accessibility evaluation · WCAG · Section 508

• "Beyond Perceivability": Critical Requirements for Universal Design of Information

  Takashi Kato, Masahiro Hori · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper argues that accessibility discussions focus too narrowly on perceivability — making information visually, audibly, or tactilely available — while neglecting the equally critical requirement of cognitive understandability. The authors contend that information should…

  cognitive accessibility · cognitive usability · universal design · cognitive walkthrough · evaluation methods

• Determining the Impact of Computer Frustration on the Mood of Blind Users Browsing the Web

  Jonathan Lazar, Jinjuan Feng, Aaron Allen · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper from Towson University's Universal Usability Laboratory examines how computer frustration affects the mood of 100 blind web users — the first study to investigate the emotional impact of frustrating computing experiences specifically for users with visual impairments.…

  screen readers · visual impairment · user frustration · web accessibility · affective computing

• A Flexible VXML Interpreter for Non-Visual Web Access

  Yevgen Borodin · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This doctoral consortium paper from Stony Brook University presents VXMLSurf, an open-source VoiceXML interpreter being developed as part of the HearSay project for non-visual web browsing. VoiceXML is the W3C standard for specifying interactive voice dialogs, widely used in…

  VoiceXML · non-visual browsing · voice browser · blind users · screen readers

• SADIe: Transcoding Based on CSS

  Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer, Darren Lunn · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper introduces SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence), a system that improves web accessibility for visually impaired users by leveraging semantic information already encoded in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The authors argue that blindness…

  visual impairment · web accessibility · transcoding · CSS · screen readers

• Interdependent Components of Web Accessibility

  Wendy A. Chisholm, Shawn Lawton Henry · 2005 · Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by two key members of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), this paper provides the definitive explanation of how web accessibility depends on multiple interdependent components working together — a systems view that was often overlooked in the field's heavy focus…

  web accessibility · WAI · WCAG · ATAG · UAAG

• Forcing Standardization or Accommodating Diversity? A Framework for Applying the WCAG in the Real World

  Brian Kelly, David Sloan, Lawrie Phipps, Helen Petrie, Fraser Hamilton · 2005 · Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper critically examines how the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) were being applied in practice six years after their publication, arguing that rigid, context-free application of WCAG was creating serious problems for web developers and policymakers…

  web accessibility · WCAG · accessibility policy · accessibility guidelines · holistic accessibility

• A conceptual framework for accessibility tools to benefit users with cognitive disabilities

  Paul Ryan Bohman, Shane Anderson · 2005 · Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from WebAIM researchers at Utah State University proposes a conceptual framework to guide the development of accessibility tools that address the needs of users with cognitive disabilities. The authors argue that existing accessibility evaluation tools overwhelmingly…

  cognitive accessibility · accessibility tools · evaluation and repair tools · cognitive disabilities · scenario-based evaluation

• Extracting content from accessible web pages

  Suhit Gupta, Gail Kaiser · 2005 · Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Columbia University presents Crunch, a web proxy tool that applies heuristic-based filters to extract core content from web pages by removing clutter such as advertisements, navigation menus, spacer elements, and extraneous links. Crunch works by parsing HTML…

  content extraction · screen readers · web clutter · DOM · web proxy

• BlackBoardNV: A System for Enabling Non-Visual Access to the Blackboard Course Management System

  Vineet Enagandula, Niraj Juthani, I. V. Ramakrishnan, Devashish Rawal, Ritwick Vidyasagar · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper introduces BlackBoardNV, a system designed to make the Blackboard Learning Management System accessible to users with visual disabilities through non-visual (audio and keyboard) interaction. The core problem addressed is that screen readers cannot adequately convey…

  screen readers · web accessibility · education · non-visual access · content analysis

• DHTML Accessibility – Solving the JavaScript Accessibility Problem

  Becky Gibson, Richard Schwerdtfeger · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This landmark paper from IBM researchers Becky Gibson and Richard Schwerdtfeger describes the foundational work that would become WAI-ARIA. At the time of writing, JavaScript was used on over 50% of websites, yet no accessibility solution existed for the dynamic web components…

  web accessibility · JavaScript · ARIA · screen readers · keyboard accessibility

• 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