Reviews

Search results

• Pushing the Raman principle

  Clayton Lewis · 2013 · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper explores the implications of what the author calls the "Raman Principle," attributed to T.V. Raman: "The way to think about the visual system is as a way to answer queries against a spatial database. If you have an alternate way to ask the queries and get the answers,…

  visual programming · blindness · non-visual interaction · screen readers · programming accessibility

• The False Dichotomy between Accessibility and Usability

  Ed H. Chi · 2013 · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This keynote paper by Ed H. Chi of Google argues that the traditional separation between accessibility research and usability/HCI research is a false dichotomy built on two myths. The first myth is the "average user" — HCI research inherited this concept from psychology,…

  usability · accessibility theory · universal design · inclusive design · human-computer interaction

• VBGhost: A Braille-Based Educational Smartphone Game for Children

  Lauren R. Milne, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper presents VBGhost, an accessible educational smartphone game for blind and low vision children that reinforces Braille literacy through gameplay. The game is based on Ghost, a word-building game where players take turns adding letters to a growing word fragment…

  braille · mobile accessibility · game accessibility · blind children · education

• The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII)

  Gregg C. Vanderheiden, Jutta Treviranus, Amrish Chourasia · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper describes the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII), an ambitious international initiative to build a cloud-based infrastructure that can automatically personalize any device or technology to match an individual user's accessibility needs and preferences. The…

  GPII · cloud accessibility · auto-personalization · assistive technology · digital divide

• Web accessibility and people with dyslexia: a survey on techniques and guidelines

  Vagner Figueredo de Santana, Rosimeire de Oliveira, Leonelo Dell Anhol Almeida, Maria Cecília Calani Baranauskas · 2012 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the state of the art on dyslexia and web accessibility, synthesising findings from academic research, dyslexia organisations (particularly the British Dyslexia Association), and practitioner guidance into a consolidated set of 41…

  dyslexia · cognitive accessibility · web accessibility guidelines · readability · inclusive design

• A Challenge to Web Accessibility Metrics and Guidelines: Putting People and Processes First

  Martyn Cooper, David Sloan, Brian Kelly, Sarah Lewthwaite · 2012 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This influential paper argues that web accessibility is not an intrinsic property of a digital resource but a relational quality determined by the interaction between users, resources, and contexts — shaped by political, social, cultural, and technical factors. The authors…

  accessibility theory · accessibility policy · WCAG compliance · user experience · disability studies

• Understanding Age and Technology Experience Differences in Use of Prior Knowledge for Everyday Technology Interactions

  Marita A. O'Brien, Wendy A. Rogers, Arthur D. Fisk · 2012 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates how people of different ages and technology experience levels draw upon prior knowledge when using everyday technologies. The researchers conducted a 10-day diary study with 30 participants divided into three groups: younger adults (ages 18-28),…

  older adults · prior knowledge · technology experience · aging · human factors

• How Do Professionals Who Create Computing Technologies Consider Accessibility?

  Cynthia Putnam, Kathryn Wozniak, Mary Jo Zefeldt, Jinghui Cheng, Morgan Caputo, Carl Duffield · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper presents survey findings about how UX and HCI professionals consider accessibility in their work, based on responses from 199 participants representing a wide range of job titles and nationalities (recruited via IxDA, SIGCHI, and UPA channels). The survey combined a…

  inclusive design · accessibility education · UX professionals · HCI · organizational accessibility

• Ability-Based Design: Concept, Principles and Examples

  Jacob O. Wobbrock, Shaun K. Kane, Krzysztof Z. Gajos, Susumu Harada, Jon Froehlich · 2011 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This foundational paper introduces ability-based design as a paradigm shift in accessible computing—moving focus from what users cannot do (disability) to what they can do (ability). The authors argue that traditional approaches like assistive technology place the burden of…

  ability-based design · universal design · inclusive design · adaptive interfaces · motor impairment

• Brazilian Sign Language Multimedia Hangman Game: A Prototype of an Educational and Inclusive Application

  Renata Cristina Barros Madeo · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents a prototype educational game — a hangman game that uses Brazilian Sign Language (BSL/Libras) as its input method. Instead of typing letters on a keyboard, players perform fingerspelling signs from the Libras manual alphabet in front of a…

  sign language · sign language recognition · deaf accessibility · educational technology · game accessibility

• Towards a Framework to Situate Assistive Technology Design in the Context of Culture

  Fatima A. Boujarwah, Nazneen, Hwajung Hong, Gregory D. Abowd, Rosa I. Arriaga · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents findings from a cross-cultural qualitative study examining societal expectations, perceptions, and support structures for individuals with autism and other intellectual disabilities (AOID) across four countries: Kuwait, Pakistan, South Korea, and the United…

  assistive technology · autism · cross-cultural design · intellectual disability · cultural accessibility

• Developing for Autism with User-Centred Design

  Rachel Menzies · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper describes the development of software designed to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) explore social situations, specifically the concept of sharing. The author identifies a gap in the use of User-Centred Design (UCD) methods with children with…

  autism · user-centred design · social skills · inclusive design · ethnography

• Leveraging Large Data Sets for User Requirements Analysis

  Maria K. Wolters, Vicki L. Hanson, Johanna D. Moore · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper demonstrates a novel methodology for using large-scale demographic surveys to inform the design of accessible technology. Rather than conducting specialized usability studies with small samples, the authors repurpose the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) — a…

  inclusive design · aging · spoken dialogue systems · telecare · user requirements

• The potential of adaptive interfaces as an accessibility aid for older web users

  David Sloan, Matthew Tylee Atkinson, Colin Machin, Yunqiu Li · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper examines the challenge of supporting web accessibility for older people whose capabilities fluctuate gradually over time due to age-related decline in vision, hearing, dexterity, and cognition. The authors argue that current accessibility solutions — accessible…

  aging · adaptive interfaces · assistive technology · older users · personalization

• Towards Accessible Touch Interfaces

  Tiago Guerreiro, Hugo Nicolau, Joaquim Jorge, Daniel Gonçalves · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents an empirical evaluation of touch screen interaction techniques with 15 tetraplegic users, aiming to provide evidence-based guidance for designing accessible mobile touch interfaces. The authors recognized that while touch screen devices eliminate the need for…

  touch screen accessibility · motor impairment · tetraplegia · mobile devices · interaction techniques

• Disability Studies as a Source of Critical Inquiry for the Field of Assistive Technology

  Jennifer Mankoff, Gillian R. Hayes, Devva Kasnitz · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This keynote-style paper argues that the assistive technology (AT) research community should draw more deeply from disability studies scholarship to improve both the problems it chooses to address and its research methods. The authors — two of whom identify as disabled — review…

  disability studies · assistive technology · social model of disability · medical model · critical theory

• About the relevance of accessibility barriers in the everyday interactions of older people with the web

  Sergio Sayago, Josep Blat · 2009 · Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper reports findings from a remarkable 3-year ethnographic study (2005-2008) of 388 older people (aged 65-80) using web and computer technologies in their daily lives at the Àgora adult centre in Barcelona. Unlike most accessibility research that relies on lab-based…

  aging · ethnography · web accessibility · cognitive accessibility · mouse interaction

• Rock Vibe: Rock Band® Computer Games for People with No or Limited Vision

  Troy Allman, Rupinder K. Dhillon, Molly A.E. Landau, Sri H. Kurniawan · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents Rock Vibe, a modification of the commercial Rock Band® video game that replaces visual cues with haptic vibrations and audio feedback to enable people with no or limited vision to play the drumming component. The system uses an Arduino microcontroller to…

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

• Including Accessibility Within and Beyond Undergraduate Computing Courses

  Annalu Waller, Vicki L. Hanson, David Sloan · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper describes the University of Dundee's approach to integrating accessibility and inclusive design throughout its entire four-year undergraduate computing curriculum, rather than treating accessibility as a standalone topic or elective module. The School of Computing at…

  accessibility education · inclusive design · higher education · curriculum design · web accessibility

• One World, One Web ... But Great Diversity

  Brian Kelly, Liddy Nevile, EA Draffan, Sotiris Fanou · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This provocative paper challenges the dominant WAI/WCAG-centric model of web accessibility, arguing that its narrow focus on guideline conformance of individual digital resources fails to account for the diversity of user needs, contexts of use, and the realities of Web 2.0…

  WCAG · accessibility policy · social model of disability · learning disabilities · Web 2.0

• Towards Bridging the Accessibility Needs of People with Disabilities and the Ageing Community

  Shadi Abou-Zahra, Judy Brewer, Andrew Arch · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This keynote paper introduces the WAI-AGE (Web Accessibility Initiative: Ageing Education and Harmonisation) project, a 36-month W3C/WAI initiative funded by the European Commission under its 6th Framework Programme. The project aimed to bridge the gap between the disability and…

  web accessibility · aging · accessibility policy · WCAG · standards harmonization

• Computers and People with Disabilities

  Ephraim P. Glinert, Bryant W. York · 2008 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This is a 2008 reprint of a landmark 1992 Communications of the ACM article that issued a "call-to-arms" for research on computers and people with disabilities. Glinert and York argued that human-computer interfaces systematically failed to account for disabled users, treating…

  accessibility history · assistive technology · accessibility policy · HCI · universal access

• Accessible Computing -- Past Trends and Future Suggestions: Commentary on "Computers and People with Disabilities"

  Alan F. Newell · 2008 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This influential commentary by Alan Newell reflects on 15 years of progress since Glinert and York's seminal 1992 paper on computers and disability. While acknowledging advances—specialized journals, accessibility features in mainstream software, AAC devices with prediction, and…

  inclusive design · older adults · cognitive accessibility · design methodology · user-centered design

• Inspiring Blind High School Students to Pursue Computer Science with Instant Messaging Chatbots

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Maxwell B. Aller, Jeremy T. Brudvik, Jessica O. Leung, Lindsay A. Yazzolino, Richard E. Ladner · 2008 · Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '08)

  This paper describes the design and delivery of a four-day computer science workshop for fifteen blind high school students at the National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam, where two hundred blind and low vision students explored disciplines often perceived as inaccessible to…

  accessible education · blind students · screen readers · computer science education · inclusive design

• PowerUp: An Accessible Virtual World

  Shari Trewin, Vicki L. Hanson, Mark R. Laff, Anna Cavender · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper describes the design and validation of accessibility features for PowerUp, an IBM-developed multiplayer 3D virtual world educational game aimed at middle school students. The researchers were tasked with making the game usable by players with visual, hearing,…

  game accessibility · virtual reality · visual impairment · blindness · cognitive accessibility