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• Toward Integrating AI Chat and Search: A User-Centered Perspective across Age Groups

  Chen He, Michiel Spape, Khadijatul Kobra, Robin Welsch, Giulio Jacucci · 2026 · ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems

  This paper investigates how younger adults (25 participants, mean age 27) and older adults (22 participants, mean age 56) use AI chat (ChatGPT) and traditional search (Google Search) together to retrieve information. The research is framed around Visual Data Exploration,…

  information retrieval · aging · older adults · AI chat · large language models

• Understanding and Improving Drilled-Down Information Extraction from Online Data Visualizations for Screen-Reader Users

  Ather Sharif, Andrew M. Zhang, Katharina Reinecke, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2023 · Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This extended abstract presents enhancements to VoxLens, an open-source JavaScript plug-in that improves the accessibility of online data visualizations for screen-reader users (SRUs) through a multimodal approach. Over 7.6 million people in the United States use screen readers,…

  screen readers · data visualization accessibility · alternative text · sonification · blind and low vision

• Machine Learning for Accessible Web Navigation

  Tlamelo Makati · 2022 · Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract explores how machine learning techniques, particularly reinforcement learning, can be adapted to improve web navigation accessibility in alignment with WCAG Guideline 2.4 (Navigable). The author observes that ML techniques have already been applied to…

  machine learning · web accessibility · reinforcement learning · web navigation · query optimization

• Effect of Sign-recognition Performance on the Usability of Sign-language Dictionary Search

  Saad Hassan, Oliver Alonzo, Abraham Glasser, Matt Huenerfauth · 2021 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates how the performance of sign-language recognition technology affects user satisfaction with ASL dictionary search systems. Unlike written languages where users can type unfamiliar words to look them up, ASL learners who encounter an unfamiliar sign cannot…

  American Sign Language · ASL · sign language recognition · dictionary search · information retrieval

• Tradeoffs in the Efficient Detection of Sign Language Content in Video Sharing Sites

  Caio D. D. Monteiro, Frank M. Shipman, Satyakiran Duggina, Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna · 2019 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper addresses the problem of finding sign language (SL) content on video sharing sites like YouTube, where such videos serve as de-facto digital libraries of Deaf community knowledge, experiences, and culture. Metadata-based search is inadequate — prior work showed only…

  sign language · video analysis · content detection · deaf and hard of hearing · computer vision

• Effect of Automatic Sign Recognition Performance on the Usability of Video-Based Search Interfaces for Sign Language Dictionaries

  Oliver Alonzo, Abraham Glasser, Matt Huenerfauth · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper investigates how the performance of automatic sign recognition technology affects user satisfaction when searching for unfamiliar words in an ASL-to-English dictionary. Looking up an unknown sign in ASL is fundamentally harder than looking up an unknown written word:…

  sign language · ASL · sign language recognition · dictionary · Deaf and hard of hearing

• VERSE: Bridging Screen Readers and Voice Assistants for Enhanced Eyes-Free Web Search

  Alexandra Vtyurina, Adam Fourney, Meredith Ringel Morris, Leah Findlater, Ryen W. White · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper identifies the complementary strengths and weaknesses of screen readers and voice assistants (VAs) for blind web searchers, then presents VERSE (Voice Exploration, Retrieval, and SEarch), a prototype that merges the best of both technologies. An online survey of 53…

  screen readers · voice assistant · blind · web search · information retrieval

• Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs for Detecting Sign Language Content in Video Sharing Sites

  Frank M. Shipman, Satyakiran Duggina, Caio D.D. Monteiro, Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses the problem of automatically detecting sign language content in videos on sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. For many deaf and hard-of-hearing people, sign language is their primary communication medium, and they rely on online video content to stay…

  sign language · computer vision · video classification · information retrieval · deaf and hard of hearing

• 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

• An Analysis of Age, Technology Usage, and Cognitive Characteristics Within Information Retrieval Tasks

  Michael Crabb, Vicki L. Hanson · 2016 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper challenges the common practice of using chronological age as the primary metric for distinguishing user performance in HCI studies, arguing that Internet confidence and cognitive factors — particularly perceptual speed — are far better predictors of browsing…

  aging · cognitive accessibility · web search · information retrieval · fluid intelligence

• Accessibility barriers to online education for young adults with intellectual disabilities

  Erin Buehler, William Easley, Amy Poole, Amy Hurst · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents an emic ethnographic account of the accessibility barriers that young adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) encounter when using online education tools in a postsecondary environment. The authors—researchers and educators in an inclusive postsecondary…

  intellectual disability · cognitive accessibility · e-learning accessibility · higher education · file management

• Identifying Sign Language Videos in Video Sharing Sites

  Frank M. Shipman, Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna, Caio D. D. Monteiro · 2014 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper addresses the challenge of finding sign language videos within general video sharing platforms like YouTube. While these platforms contain growing libraries of sign language content created by deaf community members, locating this content is difficult because…

  sign language · ASL · video classification · machine learning · computer vision

• Age, Technology Usage, and Cognitive Characteristics in Relation to Perceived Disorientation and Reported Website Ease of Use

  Michael Crabb, Vicki L. Hanson · 2014 · ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This paper challenges the common practice in HCI research of using chronological age as the primary metric for understanding differences in web browsing experience between older and younger adults. Twenty participants (12 older adults aged 63-90, M=73.66; and 8 younger adults…

  older adults · aging · cognitive accessibility · web accessibility · fluid intelligence

• Accessible 3D Signing Avatars: The Tunisian Experience

  Kabil Jaballah · 2012 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper reports on the WebSign project from the University of Tunis, a system that translates written text into sign language performed by 3D avatars, and addresses the broader challenge of making signing avatars accessible, indexable, and discoverable on the web. The author…

  sign language · deaf accessibility · avatar technology · virtual signing · education accessibility

• Thematic Organization of Web Content for Distraction-Free Text-to-Speech Narration

  Muhammad Asiful Islam, Faisal Ahmed, Yevgen Borodin, I.V. Ramakrishnan · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper addresses a fundamental problem in how blind users experience web content through screen readers: the serial, linear narration of complex web pages that contain multiple thematic elements — news stories, ads, navigation taxonomies, and opinion pieces — all…

  screen readers · web segmentation · text-to-speech · blind users · cognitive load

• Interactive SIGHT into Information Graphics

  Seniz Demir, David Oliver, Edward Schwartz, Stephanie Elzer, Sandra Carberry, Kathleen F. McCoy · 2010 · Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually), a system that provides visually impaired users with access to the high-level knowledge conveyed by bar charts in electronic documents. Unlike approaches that simply reproduce the graphic in…

  visual impairment · data visualization · natural language generation · graph accessibility · bar charts

• Mining Web Interactions to Automatically Create Mash-Ups

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Ryan S. Kaminsky, Jeffrey Nichols · 2009 · Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2009)

  This paper introduces TX2, a Firefox browser extension that automatically creates meta-search mash-ups by mining the web interactions of multiple users to discover relationships between query forms on different websites. The deep web — information accessible only through web…

  web accessibility · web development · information retrieval · end-user programming · personalization

• 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

• Evaluating Interfaces for Intelligent Mobile Search

  Karen Church, Barry Smyth, Mark T. Keane · 2006 · Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper argues that simply transplanting desktop web search interfaces onto mobile devices creates a poor user experience, and proposes an alternative approach to presenting search results on small screens. The authors first evaluate seven mobile search engines of the era…

  mobile accessibility · mobile search · search interfaces · small screen devices · information retrieval

• Designing Search Engine User Interfaces for the Visually Impaired

  Barbara Leporini, Patrizia Andronico, Marina Buzzi · 2004 · Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper examines the fundamental differences between visual and aural perception of search engine interfaces and proposes specific design guidelines to improve usability for blind and visually impaired users interacting via screen readers. The authors from the Italian…

  visual impairment · screen readers · search engines · user interface design · web 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

• 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

• A Web Navigation Tool for the Blind

  Mary Zajicek, Chris Powell, Chris Reeves · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This short paper from Oxford Brookes University and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) presents BrookesTalk, a prototype speech-output web browser designed to help blind users make rapid decisions about whether a web page is useful to them. The authors identified…

  web accessibility · blindness · information retrieval · screen readers · text summarization

23 results.