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• Trailblazer: Enabling Blind Users to Blaze Trails Through the Web

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Tessa Lau, Jeffrey Nichols · 2009 · IUI '09: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces

  This paper introduces TrailBlazer, a system designed to help blind web users complete tasks more efficiently by providing step-by-step guidance through web pages. The core problem it addresses is that blind users relying on screen readers must often perform time-consuming linear…

  screen readers · blind users · web accessibility · non-visual interfaces · programming by demonstration

• NavTap: A Long Term Study with Excluded Blind Users

  Tiago Guerreiro, Hugo Nicolau, Joaquim Jorge, Daniel Gonçalves · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a long-term evaluation of NavTap, a navigational text-entry method designed specifically for blind users who cannot effectively use standard mobile phone text input. Unlike traditional MultiTap — where users press a key multiple times to cycle through letters…

  mobile accessibility · blind users · text entry · assistive technology · longitudinal study

• Enriching Web Information Scent for Blind Users

  Markel Vigo, Barbara Leporini, Fabio Paternò · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper investigates whether annotating web links with accessibility scores of their target pages can improve navigation efficiency for blind screen reader users. The core idea draws on information foraging theory: just as sighted users follow visual cues ("information…

  web accessibility · blind users · screen readers · information scent · information foraging

• A Web Design Framework for Improved Accessibility for People with Disabilities (WDFAD)

  Rehema Baguma, Jude T. Lubega · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Makerere University in Uganda proposes WDFAD (Web Design Framework for Improved Accessibility for People with Disabilities), a developer-oriented framework that repackages web accessibility requirements according to the three components of web applications:…

  web accessibility · accessibility framework · blind users · screen readers · web design

• Is Wikipedia Usable for the Blind?

  Marina Buzzi, Barbara Leporini · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper evaluates the accessibility and usability of Wikipedia for blind screen reader users by analyzing three key interaction modes: browsing the home page, searching and viewing results, and editing content. The authors tested both the English and Italian Wikipedia using…

  screen readers · blind users · wiki accessibility · usability · Wikipedia

• WebAnywhere: A Screen Reader On-the-Go

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Craig M. Prince, Richard E. Ladner · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2008)

  This paper introduces WebAnywhere, a web-based, self-voicing screen reader that enables blind users to access the web from virtually any computer with an Internet connection and sound output, without installing any software. The system addresses a fundamental equity problem:…

  screen readers · blind users · assistive technology · web-based · text-to-speech

• Towards One World Web with HearSay3

  Yevgen Borodin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Amanda Stent, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This short paper presents HearSay 3, a self-voicing non-visual web browser developed at Stony Brook University and the University of Washington, designed to address accessibility challenges introduced by Web 2.0. Building on two previous versions — the original HearSay that…

  screen readers · non-visual web browser · blind users · collaborative accessibility · multilingual accessibility

• Grouping Hyperlinks for Improved Voice/Mobile Accessibility

  Alex Penev, Raymond K. Wong · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from UNSW Sydney proposes an automatic technique for clustering a web page's hyperlinks into topical groups to help blind screen reader users and mobile device users locate desired links more quickly. The core problem is that sighted users can visually scan a page in…

  web accessibility · screen readers · blind users · navigation · mobile accessibility

• Slide Rule: Making Mobile Touch Screens Accessible to Blind People Using Multi-Touch Interaction Techniques

  Shaun K. Kane, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2008 · Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces Slide Rule, a set of audio-based multi-touch interaction techniques that make touch screen devices accessible to blind users without requiring any additional hardware. Published in 2008 — just one year after the iPhone launched and before VoiceOver was…

  blind users · touch screens · mobile accessibility · multi-touch interaction · gestures

• What's New? Making Web Page Updates Accessible

  Yevgen Borodin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Rohit Raman, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2008 · Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper introduces Dynamo, a system that makes dynamic web page content accessible to blind screen reader users by automatically detecting changes across all types of web page updates and providing a unified interface for reviewing them. The paper addresses a critical problem…

  screen readers · web accessibility · dynamic content · AJAX · ARIA

• Hunting for Headings: Sighted Labeling vs. Automatic Classification of Headings

  Jeremy T. Brudvik, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Anna C. Cavender, Richard E. Ladner · 2008 · Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This paper investigates the problem of missing heading markup in web pages — a significant accessibility barrier for blind screen reader users who rely on heading navigation (h1-h6 tags) to quickly skip through page content rather than reading linearly. While headings are one of…

  web accessibility · headings · screen readers · machine learning · semantic HTML

• 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

• Blind Hero: Enabling Guitar Hero for the Visually Impaired

  Bei Yuan, Eelke Folmer · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from the University of Nevada, Reno presents Blind Hero, a modification of the popular video game Guitar Hero that replaces visual stimuli with haptic feedback to enable visually impaired players to participate. The system uses a custom haptic glove with small pager…

  game accessibility · haptic feedback · visual impairment · sensory substitution · rhythm game

• Constructing Relational Diagrams in Audio: The Multiple Perspective Hierarchical Approach

  Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper from Queen Mary, University of London presents a novel approach for constructing and manipulating relational diagrams — such as Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams — through an audio-only interface. While previous research addressed non-visual access to existing…

  auditory display · non-visual representation · diagram accessibility · blind users · accessible graphics

• Accessmonkey: A Collaborative Scripting Framework for Web Users and Developers

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Richard E. Ladner · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper introduces Accessmonkey, a JavaScript-based scripting framework that enables web users, developers, and researchers to collaboratively improve web accessibility through client-side page modifications. Built as an extension of the Greasemonkey Firefox extension…

  web accessibility · web transcoding · browser extensions · JavaScript · collaborative accessibility

• Mathematics on the Web: Emerging Opportunities for Visually Impaired People

  Cristian Bernareggi, Dominique Archambault · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from the @Science European thematic network surveys the state of the art in making mathematical content on the web accessible to visually impaired people, arguing that MathML adoption is the key to unlocking accessibility. The authors explain a fundamental challenge:…

  mathematical accessibility · visual impairment · blind users · MathML · braille

• Accessible Image File Formats: The Need and the Way (Position Paper)

  Sandeep R. Patil · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This position paper from IBM India argues that existing WCAG guidelines for image accessibility (alt text, longdesc, image maps) are insufficient because they rely on voluntary compliance by content authors and cannot address scenarios where images are the primary content — such…

  image accessibility · alternative text · screen readers · blind users · visual impairment

• Making Multimedia Content Accessible for Screen Reader Users

  Hisashi Miyashita, Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IBM Research Tokyo describes an accessible multimedia browser designed to address three critical barriers blind users face with web multimedia content. The first problem is audio conflict: when media plays on a page, its sound masks the screen reader's speech…

  multimedia accessibility · screen readers · blind users · audio description · video accessibility

• The Status of Using "Big Eye" Chinese Screen Reader on "Wretch" Blog in Taiwan

  Yui-Liang Chen, Yung-Yu Ho · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This short paper examines the accessibility of Wretch Blog (wretch.cc), one of the most popular blogging platforms in Taiwan, when used with "Big Eye," a Chinese-language screen reader. The authors find that most core functionality of the blog works for visually impaired users —…

  web accessibility · screen readers · blind users · blogging · multilingual accessibility

• The HearSay Non-Visual Web Browser

  Yevgen Borodin, Jalal Mahmud, I. V. Ramakrishnan, Amanda Stent · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the original HearSay non-visual web browser (version 1/2), developed at Stony Brook University in collaboration with the Helen Keller Services for the Blind. HearSay is a free, open-source, cross-platform browser written in Java that uses Mozilla for web…

  non-visual web browser · screen readers · blind users · web accessibility · natural language processing

• (Natural Language) Interaction with Graphical Representations of Statistical Data

  Leo Ferres, Petro Verkhogliad, Louis Boucher · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Carleton University and Statistics Canada presents iGraph-Lite, a system that makes statistical graphs published in "The Daily" (Statistics Canada's main dissemination publication) accessible to blind and visually impaired users through natural language…

  data visualization · blind users · visual impairment · natural language processing · web accessibility

• WebAnywhere: A Screen Reader On-the-Go

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Craig M. Prince · 2007 · Assets '07: Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  This demonstration paper introduces WebAnywhere, a web-based, self-voicing screen reader that enables blind users to access the web from any computer with a standard browser and sound output, without needing to install specialized software. The paper addresses a fundamental…

  screen readers · web accessibility · blind users · assistive technology · text-to-speech

• WebinSitu: A Comparative Analysis of Blind and Sighted Browsing Behavior

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Anna C. Cavender, Jeremy T. Brudvik, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Richard E. Ladner · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper presents WebinSitu, a remote in situ study comparing the web browsing behavior of 10 blind and 10 sighted users over a one-week period. The study used an advanced web proxy built on UsaProxy that injected JavaScript into viewed pages to record not just HTTP requests…

  web accessibility · blind users · screen readers · browsing behavior · user research

• 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

• 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