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• Interviews and Observation of Blind Software Developers at Work to Understand Code Navigation Challenges

  Khaled Albusays, Stephanie Ludi, Matt Huenerfauth · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This exploratory study investigates code navigation challenges faced by 28 blind software developers using their preferred coding tools and assistive technologies. The researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology and University of North Texas conducted remote interview and…

  blindness · programming education · software engineering · screen readers · workplace accessibility

• "Is Someone There? Do They Have a Gun": How Visual Information about Others Can Improve Personal Safety Management for Blind Individuals

  Stacy M. Branham, Ali Abdolrahmani, William Easley, Morgan Scheuerman, Erick Ronquillo, Amy Hurst · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates an underexplored dimension of accessibility for people who are blind: the need for visual information about other people to manage personal physical safety. While decades of assistive technology research have focused on helping blind individuals navigate…

  blindness · personal safety · facial recognition · assistive technology · navigation

• Designing Interactions for 3D Printed Models with Blind People

  Lei Shi, Yuhang Zhao, Shiri Azenkot · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates how blind people explore 3D printed models and what interaction techniques they prefer for interactive 3D printed models (I3Ms) — physical models augmented with sensors that provide audio descriptions when touched. While 3D printing has become…

  3D printing · blindness · tactile perception · interaction design · participatory design

• Prime III: Voting for a More Accessible Future

  Simone A. Smarr, Imani N. Sherman, Brianna Posadas, Juan E. Gilbert · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper presents Prime III, an open-source, multimodal electronic ballot marking system designed to allow all voters — regardless of ability or disability — to vote independently and privately on the same machine. Developed at the University of Florida beginning…

  accessible voting · universal design · multimodal interaction · blindness · civic participation

• Crowdsourcing the Installation and Maintenance of Indoor Navigation Infrastructure

  Cole Gleason · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This student research competition paper presents LuzDeploy, a system designed to solve a major barrier to the adoption of indoor navigation systems for people with visual impairments: the high cost and expertise required to install and maintain the necessary infrastructure.…

  indoor navigation · crowdsourcing · Bluetooth beacons · blindness · wayfinding

• DroneNavigator: Using Leashed and Free-Floating Quadcopters to Navigate Visually Impaired Travelers

  Mauro Avila Soto, Markus Funk, Matthias Hoppe, Robin Boldt, Katrin Wolf, Niels Henze · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores an unconventional approach to navigation assistance for visually impaired travelers: using small, lightweight quadcopters as mobile sound and haptic sources to guide users through indoor environments. While existing navigation systems deliver directional…

  navigation · blindness · drones · assistive technology · haptic technology

• In-context Q&A to Support Blind People Using Smartphones

  André Rodrigues, Kyle Montague, Hugo Nicolau, João Guerreiro, Tiago Guerreiro · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a pervasive but understudied problem: the daily challenges blind people face when using smartphone applications go far beyond the touchscreen gesture difficulties that most accessibility research focuses on. The researchers conducted workshops with 42 blind…

  blindness · smartphone accessibility · screen readers · crowdsourcing · human computation

• Virtual Navigation for Blind People: Building Sequential Representations of the Real-World

  João Guerreiro, Dragan Ahmetovic, Kris M. Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates whether blind people can build accurate mental representations of real-world routes by virtually navigating them on a smartphone before physically visiting the location. Sighted people routinely study maps before visiting new places, building a sequential…

  blindness · navigation · cognitive mapping · virtual navigation · orientation and mobility

• Improving Smartphone Accessibility with Personalizable Static Overlays

  André Rodrigues, André Santos, Kyle Montague, Tiago Guerreiro · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper addresses a fundamental usability problem for blind smartphone users: the loss of interface consistency that occurred when physical keypad phones gave way to touchscreen smartphones. Feature phones had tactually recognizable keys, simpler interfaces, and consistent…

  blindness · smartphone accessibility · screen readers · mobile accessibility · personalization

• The Effects of "Not Knowing What You Don't Know" on Web Accessibility for Blind Web Users

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Irene Lin, Saiph Savage · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper introduces and empirically investigates the concept of "Not Knowing What You Don't Know" (NKWYDK) in the context of blind web users. When a blind person encounters difficulty finding information on a web page, they face a fundamental uncertainty that sighted users…

  web accessibility · screen readers · blindness · usability · information foraging

• Speed-Dial: A Surrogate Mouse for Non-Visual Web Browsing

  Syed Masum Billah, Vikas Ashok, Donald E. Porter, IV Ramakrishnan · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents Speed-Dial, a system that uses an off-the-shelf Microsoft Surface Dial as a surrogate mouse for non-visual web browsing. The core problem it addresses is the fundamental mismatch between how sighted and blind users interact with the web: sighted users can…

  screen readers · web accessibility · blindness · haptic technology · input devices

• FluxMarker: Enhancing Tactile Graphics with Dynamic Tactile Markers

  Ryo Suzuki, Abigale Stangl, Mark D. Gross, Tom Yeh · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents FluxMarker, an inexpensive and scalable system that adds dynamic, movable tactile markers on top of static raised-line tactile graphics. Traditional embossed tactile graphics are static and cannot represent changing data, while existing refreshable braille…

  tactile graphics · visual impairment · blindness · data physicalization · haptic technology

• Tangibles + Programming + Audio Stories = Fun

  Varsha Koushik, Shaun K. Kane · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This poster introduces Story Blocks, a tangible programming toolkit designed to make block-based programming accessible to blind and visually impaired users. Block-based programming languages like Scratch and Blockly are popular tools for teaching children to code, but they…

  programming education · blindness · visual impairment · tangible interaction · children

• NavCog3: An Evaluation of a Smartphone-Based Blind Indoor Navigation Assistant with Semantic Features in a Large-Scale Environment

  Daisuke Sato, Uran Oh, Kakuya Naito, Hironobu Takagi, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents NavCog3, a smartphone-based indoor navigation assistant for people with visual impairments, evaluated at scale in a 21,000 m² shopping mall in Japan. Unlike many prior indoor navigation prototypes that were tested only in constrained lab environments, NavCog3…

  indoor navigation · blindness · visual impairment · wayfinding · Bluetooth beacons

• Opinions and Preferences of Blind and Low Vision Consumers Regarding Self-Driving Vehicles: Results of Focus Group Discussions

  Julian Brinkley, Brianna Posadas, Julia Woodward, Juan E. Gilbert · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores the opinions, concerns, and preferences of 38 blind and low vision participants regarding self-driving vehicle technology through eight focus group sessions conducted over two days in north central Florida. Participants had a mean age of 51.5 (range 18-90),…

  blindness · low vision · autonomous vehicles · accessible transportation · mobility

• Imagining Artificial Intelligence Applications with People with Visual Disabilities using Tactile Ideation

  Cecily Morrison, Edward Cutrell, Anupama Dhareshwar, Kevin Doherty, Anja Thieme, Alex Taylor · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper presents a novel tactile ideation methodology for working with people with visual disabilities to imagine future AI applications, and reports on cross-cultural workshops conducted in the UK (6 participants) and India (8 participants). Rather than asking users about…

  artificial intelligence · blindness · visual impairment · participatory design · design methodology

• The Tangible Desktop: A Multimodal Approach to Nonvisual Computing

  Mark S. Baldwin, Gillian R. Hayes, Oliver L. Haimson, Jennifer Mankoff, Scott E. Hudson · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper identifies fundamental limitations of audio-only computer interfaces for blind and low-vision users and proposes a multimodal tangible alternative. The researchers conducted a 4-month field study at EmpowerTech, a computer training school for adults who are blind or…

  screen readers · tangible interfaces · haptic feedback · blindness · multimodal interaction

• Consistency of a Tactile Pattern Set

  Denise Prescher, Jens Bornschein, Gerhard Weber · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in tactile graphics production: how to create fill patterns that remain recognizable and distinguishable across different production media with varying resolutions. The three media studied were microcapsule (swell) paper (>20 dpi),…

  tactile graphics · blindness · non-visual access · fill patterns · cross-media consistency

• Personalized Assistive Web for Improving Mobile Web Browsing and Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users

  Dongsong Zhang, Lina Zhou, Judith O. Uchidiuno, Isil Y. Kilic · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a critical gap in mobile web accessibility: while screen readers enable blind users to access web content, they do not effectively support skimming—the ability to quickly scan content to find relevant information. The authors propose PAW (Personalized…

  mobile accessibility · screen readers · web adaptation · personalization · blindness

• Principles for Designing Large-Format Refreshable Haptic Graphics Using Touchscreen Devices: An Evaluation of Nonvisual Panning Methods

  Hari Prasath Palani, Nicholas A. Giudice · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a fundamental challenge in touchscreen-based accessibility: how to provide non-visual access to large-format graphical materials like maps that exceed the device's screen size. While touchscreens represent the fastest-growing computing platform among people…

  tactile graphics · blindness · touchscreen accessibility · haptic feedback · spatial cognition

• Improving the Accessibility of Mobile OCR Apps Via Interactive Modalities

  Michael Cutter, Roberto Manduchi · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses a critical usability challenge in mobile OCR for blind users: while OCR technology itself works well, it requires properly framed images at adequate resolution—something difficult to achieve without visual feedback. Blind users commonly hold the camera too…

  OCR · mobile accessibility · blindness · camera guidance · computer vision

• Multimodal Perception of Histological Images for Persons Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

  Ting Zhang, Bradley S. Duerstock, Juan P. Wachs · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This research addresses a critical barrier preventing blind or visually impaired (BVI) students and scientists from participating in STEM laboratory work: the inability to perceive real-time visual scientific data from instruments like light microscopes. While tactile graphics…

  blindness · STEM accessibility · sensory substitution · haptic feedback · multimodal interface

• People with Visual Impairment Training Personal Object Recognizers: Feasibility and Challenges

  Hernisa Kacorri, Kris M. Kitani, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper explores whether people with visual impairments can train their own personalized object recognition systems using a smartphone camera and a small number of example photos. The authors address a fundamental limitation of existing object recognition tools for blind…

  object recognition · computer vision · blindness · transfer learning · personalization

• NavCog: Turn-by-Turn Smartphone Navigation Assistant for People with Visual Impairments or Blindness

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cole Gleason, Kris M. Kitani, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents NavCog, an open-source iOS smartphone navigation system designed to assist people with visual impairments or blindness in navigating complex indoor and outdoor environments. While many blind people can independently traverse familiar routes by…

  indoor navigation · visual impairment · blindness · assistive technology · Bluetooth beacons

• AudioDraw: User Preferences in Non-Visual Diagram Drawing for Touchscreens

  William Grussenmeyer, Eelke Folmer · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates how people who are blind can independently create visual diagrams on touchscreen tablets, addressing a significant gap in accessibility. Diagram-building features in productivity tools like MS Word, PowerPoint, and UML editors are largely inaccessible…

  blindness · touchscreen accessibility · diagram creation · non-visual interaction · STEM accessibility