Reviews

Search results

• Assistive Web Browsing with Touch Interfaces

  Faisal Ahmed, Muhammad Asiful Islam, Yevgen Borodin, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This demo paper from Stony Brook University proposes a touch-based directional navigation technique to improve web browsing for blind users on touch devices (iPhone, MacBook trackpad). The authors identify two key problems with Apple's VoiceOver touch interface: the "fat finger"…

  web accessibility · touch interface · screen reader · VoiceOver · visual impairment

• A Tactile Windowing System for Blind Users

  Denise Prescher, Gerhard Weber, Martin Spindler · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper from Technische Universität Dresden presents the Braille Window System (BWS), a windowing interface designed for a large planar tactile display — the BrailleDis9000, a touch-sensitive pin-matrix of 120 columns and 60 rows (7,200 pins). Standard screen readers…

  braille · tactile display · tactile graphics · gesture interaction · blindness

• Social Accessibility: Achieving Accessibility through Collaborative Metadata Authoring

  Hironobu Takagi, Shinya Kawanaka, Masatomo Kobayashi, Takashi Itoh, Chieko Asakawa · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This IBM Research Tokyo paper proposes Social Accessibility, a system that applies social computing principles to web accessibility by enabling a worldwide community of volunteers to collaboratively create external accessibility metadata for inaccessible websites. The core…

  web accessibility · social computing · collaborative authoring · metadata · web transcoding

• Automation of Repetitive Web Browsing Tasks with Voice-Enabled Macros

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

  This paper proposes an approach for automating repetitive web browsing tasks through personalized macros with a speech-enabled interface, implemented within the HearSay non-visual web browser at Stony Brook University. The core problem is that non-visual aural web browsing…

  screen reader · web accessibility · non-visual browsing · web macro · voice interface

• 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

• Wireless Headset Communications for Vision Impaired Persons in Multi-User Environments

  Iain Murray, Andrew Pasquale · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper addresses a practical workplace accessibility problem: vision impaired persons (VIPs) who work in call centres rely on screen reading software that outputs speech through headsets, but in multi-user environments with many wireless headsets, radio-based wireless…

  visual impairment · wireless headset · screen reader · call centre · workplace accessibility

• Lambda: A Multimodal Approach to Making Mathematics Accessible to Blind Students

  Alistair D N Edwards, Heather McCartney, Flavio Fogarolo · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents the Lambda System, a European Union-funded project designed to make mathematics accessible to blind students through a multimodal mathematical editor. Mathematics relies heavily on visual two-dimensional notation — fractions are stacked vertically, square…

  visual impairment · mathematics · braille · education · MathML

• Linux Screen Reader: Extensible Assistive Technology

  Peter Parente, Brett Clippingdale · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents the Linux Screen Reader (LSR), an open source project from IBM that aimed to create a reusable, extensible development platform for building alternative and supplemental user interfaces on the GNOME desktop environment. Unlike conventional screen readers that…

  screen reader · Linux · open source · assistive technology · accessibility API

• A Cisco Education Tool Accessible to the Vision Impaired

  J. Hope, B. R. von Konsky, I. Murray, L. C. Chew, B. Farrugia · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper describes iNetSim, a universally accessible network simulator developed at Curtin University of Technology to allow vision-impaired and sighted students to complete Cisco Certified Network Associate level 2 (CCNA 2) laboratory sessions. The standard Cisco learning…

  visual impairment · education · screen reader · VoiceOver · network simulation

• Sparsha: A Comprehensive Indian Language Toolset for the Blind

  Anirban Lahiri, Satya Jyoti Chattopadhyay, Anupam Basu · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents Sparsha ("feeling of touch" in Hindi), the first comprehensive toolset enabling over 13 million visually impaired people in the Indian subcontinent to read and write in their native languages using a computer. Existing Braille translation systems and screen…

  braille · visual impairment · Indian languages · multilingual accessibility · screen reader

• 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

• 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

• Accessibility Designer: Visualizing Usability for the Blind

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Kentarou Fukuda, Junji Maeda · 2003 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper from IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory presents Accessibility Designer (aDesigner), a tool that goes beyond conventional accessibility checkers by visualising the usability of web pages for blind screen reader users rather than merely checking HTML compliance. The…

  web accessibility · accessibility testing · screen reader · blindness and low vision · accessibility tools

• Site-Wide Annotation: Reconstructing Existing Pages to Be Accessible

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Kentarou Fukuda, Junji Maeda · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

  This paper from IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory presents a system for making inaccessible web pages accessible through external annotations, without modifying the original pages. The core problem is "page fragmentation" — on visually designed web pages, different types of content…

  web accessibility · web transcoding · web annotation · screen reader · blindness and low vision

• Auditory and Tactile Interfaces for Representing the Visual Effects on the Web

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shuichi Ino, Tohru Ifukube · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM Japan and Hokkaido University explores how blind users can perceive the visual structure and emphasis effects of web pages through auditory and tactile interfaces. The researchers identified a critical gap: modern web pages increasingly use visual effects…

  sonification · tactile interface · blindness · web accessibility · nonvisual interaction

• Improving the Accessibility of Aurally Rendered HTML Tables

  Robert Filepp, James Challenger, Daniela Rosu · 2002 · Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

  This paper from IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center proposes TTPML (Table To Prose Markup Language), an XML-compliant markup language designed to transform HTML tables into intelligible prose descriptions for blind and visually impaired users. The authors identify a fundamental…

  web accessibility · tables · aural rendering · screen reader · XML

• Transcoding Proxy for Nonvisual Web Access

  Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents a transcoding proxy system developed at IBM Japan that transforms existing web pages to be more accessible for blind users. The authors address the growing problem of web pages being designed with increasingly complex layouts that cram multiple functions and…

  web accessibility · screen reader · transcoding · proxy · blind and low vision

• Annotation-Based Transcoding for Nonvisual Web Access

  Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi · 2000 · Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This companion paper to the same authors' transcoding proxy paper (also at Assets '00) provides a detailed technical description of the annotation-based component of their IBM Japan transcoding system. The core problem addressed is that modern web pages are designed with visual…

  web accessibility · screen reader · transcoding · non-visual access · blindness and low vision

• 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

• Digital Talking Books on a PC: A Usability Evaluation of the Prototype DAISY Playback Software

  Sarah Morley · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper describes the design and usability evaluation of the first PC-based DAISY (Digital Audio-Based Information System) playback software, developed at the request of the Swedish Braille and Talking Book Library. The DAISY system represented a major advance over…

  DAISY · digital talking book · usability testing · blind and low vision · auditory navigation

• An Interactive Method for Accessing Tables in HTML

  Toshiya Oogane, Chieko Asakawa · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from IBM Japan proposes a method for converting HTML tables into non-visual, navigable representations for screen reader users. At the time, Screen Reader/2 (the Japanese version of OS/2's screen reader) could read displayed text information line by line and word by…

  web accessibility · screen reader · HTML tables · table accessibility · blind and low vision