Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Building Keyboard Accessible Drag and Drop

  Rucha Somani, Jiahang Xin, Bijay Bhaskar Deo, Yun Huang (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demo paper presents an API that enables web developers to create keyboard-accessible drag and drop (DnD) components for web applications, particularly e-learning systems. Drag and drop interactions are widely used in educational websites for cla…

  • keyboard accessibility
  • drag and drop
  • web accessibility
  • e-learning
  • screen readers
  • web development
  • ARIA

• Accessible Web Chat Interface

  Valentyn Melnyk (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper addresses the accessibility of web chat widgets — ubiquitous real-time communication tools embedded in web applications for customer support, social interaction, and service delivery. Screen readers like JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA do not re…

  • web accessibility
  • screen readers
  • dynamic content
  • ARIA
  • web widgets
  • chat accessibility
  • blindness

• Web Accessibility Evaluation with the Crowd: Using Glance to Rapidly Code User Testing Video

  Mitchell Gordon (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper proposes using Glance, a crowd-powered video coding tool, to accelerate the analysis of user accessibility testing videos. User testing with people with disabilities is a recommended component of web accessibility evaluation (as outlined i…

  • crowdsourcing
  • accessibility evaluation
  • usability testing
  • video coding
  • web accessibility
  • WCAG
  • user testing

• Capti-Speak: A Speech-Enabled Accessible Web Interface

  Vikas Ashok (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents Capti-Speak, a speech-augmented screen reader interface for the web that allows blind users to issue voice commands alongside traditional keyboard shortcuts. Built on top of the Capti web browsing application (which provides a JAW…

  • screen readers
  • speech recognition
  • voice interface
  • web accessibility
  • blindness
  • web browsing
  • multimodal interaction

• Evaluating the Accessibility of Crowdsourcing Tasks on Amazon's Mechanical Turk

  Rocío Calvo, Shaun K. Kane, Amy Hurst (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a heuristic accessibility evaluation of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing platform where workers complete short tasks (Human Intelligence Tasks, or HITs) for small payments. The authors argue that crowd work platform…

  • crowdsourcing
  • web accessibility
  • accessibility evaluation
  • employment
  • WCAG
  • heuristic evaluation
  • disability employment

• Introducing Web Accessibility to Localization Students: Implications for a Universal Web

  Silvia Rodríguez Vázquez (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper explores the intersection of web accessibility and web localization, arguing that localization professionals — the people who adapt digital content for different languages and cultural contexts — should be trained in web accessibility as p…

  • web accessibility
  • localization
  • internationalization
  • multilingual web
  • accessibility education
  • translation studies
  • training

• 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=7…

  • older adults
  • aging
  • cognitive accessibility
  • web accessibility
  • fluid intelligence
  • usability
  • information retrieval
  • digital inclusion

• Strategies: An Inclusive Authentication Framework

  Natã M. Barbosa (2014) — ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility

  This short paper proposes an interaction workflow for accessible web authentication designed to reduce the difficulties people with disabilities face when logging into websites. The framework aims to be secure, scalable, deployable, privacy-preservin…

  • authentication
  • web accessibility
  • privacy
  • security
  • inclusive design
  • biometrics
  • mobile devices

• Access and Empowerment: Commentary on "Computers and People with Disabilities"

  Richard E. Ladner (2008) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  Richard Ladner offers an optimistic assessment of progress since Glinert and York's 1992 call-to-arms, emphasizing how market forces—not just legal mandates—have driven accessibility improvements. With 16% of the U.S. population disabled and 10% of t…

  • universal design
  • ubiquitous computing
  • web accessibility
  • user empowerment
  • accessibility history
  • user-centered design

• Keeping Up with Technology: Commentary on "Computers and People with Disabilities"

  Alistair D. N. Edwards (2008) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

  This reflective commentary by Alistair Edwards examines what has—and crucially, what has not—changed in accessible computing since Glinert and York's influential 1992 paper. Edwards frames his analysis through a fashion-versus-style metaphor: while t…

  • accessibility history
  • screen readers
  • GUI accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • web accessibility
  • catch-up problem