Literature Reviews

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

• Bridging the Gap: Towards Advancing Privacy and Accessibility

  Rahaf Alharbi, Robin N. Brewer, Gesu India, Lotus Zhang, Leah Findlater, Yixin Zou, Abigale Stangl (2023) — Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '23)

  This workshop proposal addresses a critical but understudied gap between the accessibility and privacy research communities. The authors argue that while all technology has privacy implications, accessibility tools carry particularly overlooked priva…

  • privacy
  • accessibility
  • intersectionality
  • AI ethics
  • blind and low vision
  • workshop
  • inclusive design
  • surveillance

• "I stepped into a puddle": Non-Visual Texting in Nomadic Contexts

  Pegah Karimi, Erin Brady, Aqueasha Martin-Hammond, Davide Bolchini (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study investigates the under-explored practice of texting by people who are blind and visually impaired (BVI) while navigating outdoors — what the authors term "nomadic contexts." While previous research has examined accessible text entry method…

  • blind and low vision
  • text entry
  • mobile accessibility
  • navigation
  • assistive technology
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • VoiceOver
  • speech recognition
  • situational awareness
  • public transportation
  • independent living

• On the independent and sustainable mobility of people with visual impairments

  Gabriele Galimberti (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This doctoral consortium extended abstract outlines a research project investigating the factors that enable or hinder independent mobility for people with blindness or visual impairments (BVI), with a particular focus on the link between mobility au…

  • visual impairment
  • blind and low vision
  • independent living
  • public transportation
  • navigation
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • orientation and mobility
  • urban accessibility
  • navigation assistance

• 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 Unit…

  • screen readers
  • data visualization accessibility
  • alternative text
  • sonification
  • blind and low vision
  • web accessibility
  • non-visual interaction
  • information retrieval
  • accessible maps

• Authoring Web-accessible Mathematical Diagrams (Short Paper)

  David Austin, Volker Sorge (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper presents a novel XML-based language for authoring accessible mathematical diagrams, targeting both visually impaired (VI) and sighted authors. Mathematical diagrams are essential for STEM subjects yet remain overwhelmingly inaccessib…

  • STEM accessibility
  • mathematical diagrams
  • SVG accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • sonification
  • screen readers
  • tactile graphics
  • authoring tools

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible (Extended Abstract)

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool designed to make chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) students. The paper highlights a stark gap in STEM education: while 69% of US BLV stude…

  • STEM accessibility
  • chemistry accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • interactive labeling
  • machine learning
  • document accessibility
  • tactile graphics

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool that makes chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) students. Chemical structural formulas — visual diagrams showing atoms, bonds, and molecular geometry — a…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • chemistry
  • machine learning
  • interactive labeling
  • document accessibility
  • alt text
  • tactile graphics

• Making Accessible Movies Easily: An Intelligent Tool for Authoring and Integrating Audio Descriptions to Movies

  Ming Shen, Gang Huang, Yuxuan Wu, Shuyi Song, Sheng Zhou, Liangcheng Li, Zhi Yu, Wei Wang, Jiajun Bu (2024) — Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces EasyAD, an intelligent tool that automates the process of authoring and integrating audio descriptions (AD) into movies for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. The traditional AD production workflow is highly labor-intensiv…

  • audio description
  • blind and low vision
  • media accessibility
  • multimodal AI
  • speech synthesis
  • video accessibility
  • content creation

• ChartA11y: Designing Accessible Touch Experiences of Visualizations with Blind Smartphone Users

  Zhuohao Zhang, John R. Thompson, Aditi Shah, Manish Agrawal, Alper Sarikaya, Jacob O. Wobbrock, Edward Cutrell, Bongshin Lee (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper presents ChartA11y, an iOS mobile application that makes 2-D data visualizations accessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) smartphone users through multimodal touch interactions. Developed through an iterative participatory design process i…

  • data visualization
  • blind and low vision
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • sonification
  • multimodal interaction
  • participatory design
  • smartphone accessibility

• Audio Description Customization

  Rosiana Natalie, Ruei-Che Chang, Smitha Sheshadri, Anhong Guo, Kotaro Hara (2024) — Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2024)

  This paper investigates how audio descriptions (AD) for video content can be customized to meet the diverse preferences of blind and low-vision (BLV) users. Traditional ADs are fixed narratives created by sighted describers, offering no ability for u…

  • audio description
  • blind and low vision
  • customization
  • video accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • large language models