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• Investigating Laboratory and Everyday Typing Performance of Blind Users

  Hugo Nicolau, Kyle Montague, Tiago Guerreiro, André Rodrigues, Vicki L. Hanson · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents the first longitudinal study comparing blind users' touchscreen typing performance in laboratory versus everyday real-world settings. Over 12 weeks, five novice blind smartphone users participated in eight weekly laboratory sessions while also having their…

  visual impairment · text entry · touchscreen · mobile accessibility · longitudinal study

• Mind Your Crossings: Mining GIS Imagery for Crosswalk Localization

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Roberto Manduchi, James M. Coughlan, Sergio Mascetti · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents a computer vision system for automatically detecting and localizing zebra crosswalks in urban environments by mining existing geospatial image databases, specifically Google satellite imagery and Google Street View. The motivation is that blind pedestrians…

  visual impairment · orientation and mobility · computer vision · navigation · crowdsourcing

• Design and Real-World Evaluation of Eyes-Free Yoga: An Exergame for Blind and Low-Vision Exercise

  Kyle Rector, Roger Vilardaga, Leo Lansky, Kellie Lu, Cynthia L. Bennett, Richard E. Ladner, Julie A. Kientz · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper presents Eyes-Free Yoga, an accessible exergame using the Microsoft Kinect that acts as a yoga instructor for people who are blind or have low vision, providing personalized auditory feedback based on real-time skeletal tracking. People with visual impairments face…

  visual impairment · exergame · exercise · Kinect · audio feedback

• Evaluation of Language Feedback Methods for Student Videos of American Sign Language

  Matt Huenerfauth, Elaine Gale, Brian Penly, Sree Pillutla, Mackenzie Willard, Dhananjai Hariharan · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper investigates how to best present video-based feedback to students learning American Sign Language (ASL), as part of a long-term project to build an automatic system that analyses student signing videos and provides immediate corrective feedback. The motivation is…

  sign language · deaf and hard of hearing · ASL education · video feedback · language learning

• On the Evaluation of Novel Sonification Techniques for Non-Visual Shape Exploration

  Sergio Mascetti, Andrea Gerino, Cristian Bernareggi, Lorenzo Picinali · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper proposes and evaluates six novel sonification techniques for enabling blind and visually impaired users to explore and recognize shapes on touchscreen devices, comparing them against two existing techniques from the literature. The motivation is that graphical…

  sonification · visual impairment · STEM accessibility · touchscreen · shape recognition

• Regression Analysis of Demographic and Technology-Experience Factors Influencing Acceptance of Sign Language Animation

  Hernisa Kacorri, Matt Huenerfauth, Sarah Ebling, Kasmira Patel, Kellie Menzies, Mackenzie Willard · 2017 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This paper investigates how deaf participants' demographic backgrounds and technology experience influence their evaluation scores when assessing sign language animation systems, revealing that participant characteristics — not just animation quality — significantly affect study…

  sign language avatar · deaf and hard of hearing · evaluation methodology · regression analysis · ASL animation

• Accessibility to Work from Home for the Disabled: The Need for a Shift in Management Style

  Rosemary Spark · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper argues that working from home (telecommuting) offers significant benefits for people with disabilities but requires a fundamental shift in management practices to succeed. The author synthesizes research and policy evidence from Australia, the UK, US, and…

  telecommuting · remote work · disability employment · workplace accessibility · disability inclusion

• Working Together: Technology as the Foundation for Better Employment Outcomes for People with Disability

  Alastair McEwin · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  Written by Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, this keynote paper draws on the findings of the 2016 "Willing to Work" national inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and Australians with…

  disability employment · disability rights · workplace accessibility · digital inclusion · disability discrimination

• Technology, Education and Access: A "Fair Go" for People with Disabilities

  Scott Hollier · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This keynote is a personal narrative by Dr. Scott Hollier, a digital access specialist diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at age five, tracing how technology and education have shaped his life and career in accessibility. Hollier frames the talk around the Australian concept of…

  lived experience · visual impairment · retinitis pigmentosa · assistive technology · consumer technology

• Active Learning for Web Accessibility Evaluation

  Mengni Zhang, Can Wang, Zhi Yu, Chao Shen, Jiajun Bu · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces "active-prediction," a semi-supervised machine learning method that addresses a fundamental bottleneck in web accessibility evaluation: the prohibitive cost of evaluating all pages in a large website. Current practice relies on sampling methods (ad hoc,…

  accessibility evaluation · machine learning · active learning · web accessibility · automated testing

• Towards the Prediction of Dyslexia by a Web-based Game with Musical Elements

  Maria Rauschenberger, Luz Rello, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Emilia Gomez, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents DysMusic, a web-based serious game prototype that aims to predict the risk of dyslexia in pre-reading children using musical elements rather than linguistic tasks. Current dyslexia screening tools rely on reading and writing abilities — linguistic elements…

  dyslexia · screening · serious games · gamification · music

• Math Melodies: Supporting Visually Impaired Primary School Students in Learning Math

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Valeria Alampi, Cristian Bernareggi, Andrea Gerino, Sergio Mascetti · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Math Melodies, a free iPad application designed to teach mathematics to primary school children who are blind or visually impaired, while simultaneously engaging sighted peers. Mathematics education poses particular challenges for visually…

  visual impairment · blindness · education accessibility · mathematics accessibility · children

• Creating Accessible Local Government: The Process

  Vivienne Conway, Keith Fitzpatrick · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper documents the end-to-end process the City of Cockburn, a local government authority in Western Australia, followed to develop an accessible replacement website. The paper provides a practical 9-step roadmap: (1) embed accessibility in official planning…

  government accessibility · WCAG compliance · procurement · organizational accessibility · case study

• WAEM: A Web Accessibility Evaluation Metric Based on Partial User Experience Order

  Shuyi Song, Can Wang, Liangcheng Li, Zhi Yu, Xiao Lin, Jiajun Bu · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces WAEM (Web Accessibility Experience Metric), a novel accessibility metric that derives checkpoint weights from actual user experience data rather than from WCAG priority levels. The authors demonstrate that existing metrics like WAB and WAQM, which weight…

  accessibility metrics · user experience · accessibility evaluation · machine learning · SVM

• Producing Accessible Statistics Diagrams in R

  Donal Fitzpatrick, A. Jonathan R. Godfrey, Volker Sorge · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a system for making statistical diagrams accessible to blind users by generating semantically enriched SVG graphics from the R statistical computing environment. The core problem is that statistical graphics — bar charts, histograms, box plots, scatter plots,…

  data visualization accessibility · STEM accessibility · visual impairment · blindness · screen readers

• Microsoft's Journey Towards Inclusion

  David Masters · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This industry paper by Microsoft's Corporate Affairs Director for Australia outlines Microsoft's four-pillar accessibility strategy and its practical implementation across recruitment, onboarding, workplace culture, and innovation. The four pillars are: (1) providing accessible…

  disability employment · organizational accessibility · inclusive hiring · disability inclusion · corporate accessibility

• Achieving Practical and Accurate Indoor Navigation for People with Visual Impairments

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Masayuki Murata, Cole Gleason, Erin Brady, Hironobu Takagi, Kris Kitani, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents improvements to the NavCog indoor navigation system that achieve sub-meter localization accuracy for blind pedestrians while significantly reducing the infrastructure cost of deploying BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacon networks. GPS provides outdoor…

  indoor navigation · visual impairment · blindness · BLE beacons · Bluetooth Low Energy

• ChattyBooks and ChattyBook Service

  Masakazu Suzuki, Katsuhito Yamaguchi · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents ChattyBooks, a Windows application that converts STEM content in DAISY/accessible EPUB3 format into audio-embedded HTML5 with JavaScript, enabling playback in any web browser on any platform without requiring specialized DAISY/EPUB3 players. The…

  STEM accessibility · DAISY · EPUB · MathML · mathematics accessibility

• Closed ASL Interpreting for Online Videos

  Raja Kushalnagar, Matthew Seita, Abraham Glasser · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces "closed interpreting," a concept analogous to closed captioning but for sign language interpretation of online videos. While many deaf viewers prefer ASL interpreters over captions (as verbatim captioning speed often exceeds reading abilities, and deaf…

  American Sign Language · ASL · Deaf and hard of hearing · sign language interpreting · video accessibility

• Do Web Users with Autism Experience Barriers When Searching for Information Within Web Pages?

  Sukru Eraslan, Victoria Yaneva, Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper provides empirical evidence that adults with high-functioning autism experience real barriers when searching for information on web pages, using eye tracking to reveal the underlying differences in visual attention patterns. The study employed a between-group…

  autism · eye tracking · web accessibility · cognitive accessibility · scanpath analysis

• Subjective Evaluation of Website Accessibility and Usability: A Survey for People with Sensory Disabilities

  Tahani Alahmadi, Steve Drew · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a novel subjective evaluation model for assessing web accessibility and usability from the perspective of students with sensory disabilities, applied to Australian university websites. The model integrates accessibility criteria from WCAG 2.0 and Section 508…

  accessibility evaluation · usability · university websites · education accessibility · sensory disabilities

• Cross-Cultural Web Design Guidelines

  Rukshan Alexander, David Murray, Nik Thompson · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper develops evidence-based cross-cultural web design guidelines that go beyond simple language translation to address culturally specific design preferences in layout, navigation, links, multimedia, visual representation, colour, and text. The authors argue that cultural…

  cross-cultural design · web design guidelines · cultural factors · internationalization · localization

• Sensory Glasses for the Visually Impaired

  Michael Barney, Jonathan Kilner, Gilmar Brito, Aida Araújo, Meuse Nogueira · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents the design and development of a low-cost wearable assistive device — sensory glasses — intended to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings. The device addresses a well-known limitation of the traditional white cane: it cannot…

  assistive technology · blindness · wearable technology · sonification · navigation

• Making Real-World Interfaces Accessible Through Crowdsourcing, Computer Vision, and Fabrication

  Anhong Guo, Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents two complementary systems designed to make inaccessible physical interfaces usable by blind people: VizLens and Facade. The research addresses a fundamental and long-standing accessibility problem — the vast majority of physical interfaces in…

  physical accessibility · computer vision · crowdsourcing · 3D printing · assistive technology

• Assessment of Semantic Taxonomies for Blind Indoor Navigation Based on a Shopping Center Use Case

  J. Eduardo Pérez, Myriam Arrue, Masatomo Kobayashi, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates what environmental information is needed to support effective indoor navigation for visually impaired people, and whether existing geographic data specifications provide adequate semantic vocabularies for this purpose. The researchers surveyed three…

  indoor navigation · blindness · wayfinding · location-based services · semantic taxonomy