Literature Reviews

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

• 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 r…

  • visual impairment
  • data visualization
  • natural language generation
  • graph accessibility
  • bar charts
  • image accessibility
  • alternative text
  • Bayesian network
  • information retrieval
  • interactive dialogue
  • screen readers

• WebAnywhere: Experiences with a New Delivery Model for Access Technology

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Wendy Chisholm, Richard E. Ladner (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This follow-up paper describes the evolution of WebAnywhere two years after its initial release, documenting how it expanded from a web-based screen reader for blind users into a broader platform for delivering access technology. Released publicly in…

  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web-based assistive technology
  • text-to-speech
  • speech recognition
  • open source
  • digital equity
  • internationalization
  • cloud computing
  • AT delivery

• WebAnywhere: A Screen Reading Interface for the Web on Any Computer

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Craig M. Prince, Sangyun Hahn, Richard E. Ladner (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This short paper introduces WebAnywhere, a free web-based screen reader from the University of Washington that enables blind users to access the web from any computer with a standard browser and sound capability, without installing any software. The …

  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • web-based assistive technology
  • text-to-speech
  • digital equity
  • cloud computing
  • JavaScript
  • proxy server
  • portable accessibility

• 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 aut…

  • visual impairment
  • screen readers
  • search engines
  • user interface design
  • web navigation
  • blindness
  • usability
  • keyboard navigation
  • aural perception
  • information retrieval

• Evaluation of Assistive Technologies from the perspective of Usability, User Experience and Accessibility: a Systematic Mapping Study

  Tatiany Xavier de Godoi, Guilherme Corredato Guerino, Natasha Malveira C. Valentim (2021) — Proceedings of the XX Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC)

  This systematic mapping study (SMS) investigates how assistive technologies (ATs) are evaluated from the perspectives of usability, user experience (UX), and accessibility — three interrelated but distinct software quality factors. The authors search…

  • assistive technology
  • usability
  • user experience
  • accessibility evaluation
  • systematic review
  • research methodology
  • AT abandonment
  • evaluation instruments
  • quality assurance

• Audio Presentation of Auto-Suggest Lists

  Andy Brown, Caroline Jay, Simon Harper (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper investigates how to make auto-suggest lists (ASLs) — the dropdown suggestions that appear as users type in search boxes and form fields — accessible through audio for visually impaired users. Part of the SASWAT (Structured Accessibility St…

  • visual impairment
  • screen readers
  • dynamic content
  • Web 2.0
  • auto-suggest
  • autocomplete
  • eye tracking
  • AJAX
  • ARIA live regions
  • non-visual interaction
  • audio interface

• Web Accessibility Highlights and Trends

  Judy Brewer (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by Judy Brewer, Director of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, this paper provides an authoritative overview of the state of web accessibility standards and their implementation as of 2004. Brewer describes the three complementary WAI guid…

  • WCAG
  • WAI
  • W3C
  • standards harmonization
  • accessibility policy
  • accessibility evaluation
  • authoring tools
  • browser accessibility
  • accessibility guidelines

• Audio Access to Calendars

  Andy Brown, Caroline Jay, Simon Harper (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper addresses a specific but widespread accessibility problem: pop-up calendar date pickers on the web are effectively unusable by people with visual impairments. These JavaScript widgets dynamically insert tabular calendar content into the pa…

  • visual impairment
  • screen readers
  • dynamic content
  • Web 2.0
  • date picker
  • audio interface
  • eye tracking
  • AJAX
  • user study
  • widget accessibility
  • non-visual interaction

• Guideline Aggregation: Web Accessibility Evaluation for Older Users

  Giorgio Brajnik, Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper proposes using set theory to create an aggregated accessibility evaluation category for older users by combining barrier types identified for motor impaired and low vision users within the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method. Traditional valid…

  • older users
  • accessibility evaluation
  • barrier walkthrough
  • low vision
  • motor impairment
  • multiple disabilities
  • expert evaluation
  • aging
  • personalized accessibility

• 2005 Accessibility Diagnosis on the Government Web Sites in Taiwan, R.O.C.

  Yui-Liang Chen, Yen-Yu Chen, Monica Shao (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This study assessed the accessibility of 117 Taiwanese government websites in 2005 using the Freego Stand-Alone Validation Tool, developed by Taiwan's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) under the Executive Yuan. Taiwan had establi…

  • government accessibility
  • automated testing
  • accessibility evaluation
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility policy
  • East Asian accessibility
  • conformance levels