Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
19 results found in computer science.
- Automatic speech recognition (ASR, Speech-to-text, Voice recognition)
- Technology that converts spoken language into text using machine learning and signal processing. ASR powers live captioning, voice assistants, and dictation software, making it a key accessibility tec…
- Blendshape (Morph Target, Shape Key)
- A 3D animation technique that defines specific facial configurations (such as a smile, raised eyebrow, or open mouth) as target shapes, which can be blended together at varying intensities to create c…
- Block-Based Programming (Visual Block Programming, Block Coding, Blocks-Based Programming)
- A programming paradigm where users create code by selecting and connecting visual blocks that snap together like puzzle pieces, rather than typing text-based syntax. Each block represents a programmin…
- Bridge
- In the Shlaer-Mellor software analysis method, a bridge describes the relationships between two independently modelled problem domains. For example, the abstract concept of a menu of selectable option…
- Directed graph (Digraph)
- A mathematical structure consisting of nodes connected by edges that have a defined direction — the connection from A to B is distinct from the connection from B to A. Web navigation is modelled as a …
- Game theory
- A branch of applied mathematics that models strategic decision making in competitive or cooperative environments. In accessibility research, game theory has been applied to model the allocation of sca…
- Graph theory
- A branch of mathematics that studies the relationships and connections between objects in an abstract sense. Graphs consist of nodes connected by edges, and can model a wide range of structures: roads…
- Hybrid automaton (Hybrid state machine)
- A computational model that combines discrete state transitions with continuous dynamics, used in interactive systems to govern object behaviours based on multiple users's simultaneous inputs. In colla…
- Intelligent agent (Software agent, Autonomous agent)
- An autonomous computer program or algorithm that acts on behalf of another entity, typically a user. Intelligent agents work to a set of rules that may evolve over time based on experience. In accessi…
- Inverse Kinematics (IK)
- A mathematical technique used in computer animation and robotics to calculate the joint positions needed to place an end effector (such as a hand or foot) at a desired position in space. In signing av…
- Late binding
- A software engineering concept where decisions about how components connect are deferred until runtime rather than being fixed at design time or compile time. In user interface design, late binding re…
- Mark
- An elementary entity capable of perception within a spatial substrate. In the visual design space, marks include points, lines, circles, and areas — the basic building blocks from which all visual rep…
- Model-View-Controller (MVC)
- A software architectural pattern that separates an application into three interconnected components: the Model (data and business logic), the View (presentation and user interface), and the Controller…
- Object-oriented analysis and design (OOA, OOD, OOAD)
- A software engineering methodology that describes complex systems in terms of related, cooperating entities (objects) rather than as sequences of procedures. For example, a user interface can be model…
- Perceptualisation (Perceptualization)
- A multi-sensory display of abstract information, inferred by Nesbitt to be a fundamentally human quality. Where visualisation presents abstract data through the visual design space (charts, graphs, ma…
- Reification
- The process of making concrete that which is abstract. A photograph is a reification of a moment in time and place, with all the selectivity and distortion that the lens and framing impose. A web page…
- Semantic decomposition
- An analysis method that models a system as a hierarchy of ontological dependencies based on meaning and conceptual relationships, rather than breaking it down by functional tasks. In user interface de…
- Spatial substrate
- A framework describing the orientation and positioning of information within a design space, using axes and a coordinate system appropriate to how a user perceives content in that space. In the visual…
- Temporal encoding
- The representation of information through change over time within a spatial substrate. In the visual design space, temporal encoding corresponds to animation — a point or shape moving, appearing, or c…