Literature Reviews

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

• Maritime Buoyage on 3D-Printed Tactile Maps

  Mathieu Simonnet, Serge Morvan, Dominique Marques, Olivier Ducruix, Arnaud Grancher, Sylvie Kerouedan (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '18)

  This demonstration paper presents work from the Brest Bay Touch project to create 3D-printed maritime maps accessible to people with visual impairments, with a particular focus on representing sea marks (buoys, lighthouses, and other navigational aid…

  • 3D printing
  • tactile maps
  • visual impairment
  • spatial cognition
  • maritime accessibility
  • co-design
  • blindness

• TeleWeb: accessible service for web browsing via phone

  Yevgen Borodin, Glenn Dausch, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper presents TeleWeb, a telephony service that enables web browsing via any standard telephone using speech and keypad input. Built on top of the HearSay non-visual web browser engine from Stony Brook University, TeleWeb allows users to call a…

  • screen readers
  • voice interface
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • telephony
  • speech recognition
  • aging
  • web navigation
  • assistive technology

• Getting mobile with mobile devices: using the web to improve transit accessibility

  Darren Minifie, Yvonne Coady (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper proposes a mobile web-based architecture for making public transit accessible to blind and visually impaired travelers. Drawing on direct feedback from the blind community (including one of the authors, who is visually impaired), the paper…

  • mobile accessibility
  • public transportation
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • GPS
  • wayfinding
  • context-aware computing
  • location awareness
  • accessible transportation

• TextSL: a screen reader accessible interface for second life

  Bugra Oktay, Eelke Folmer (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents TextSL, a text-based command interface for Second Life that enables visually impaired users to explore and interact with the virtual world using a screen reader (JAWS). Inspired by multi-user dungeon (MUD) text adventure games lik…

  • virtual worlds
  • screen readers
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • text-based interface
  • command-line interface
  • Second Life
  • game accessibility

• Enabling the blind in virtual worlds

  William S. Carter (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Center describes experimental techniques for enabling blind users to participate in virtual world environments. Unlike conventional web content where text and images can be given alternative descr…

  • virtual reality
  • blindness
  • virtual worlds
  • multimodal interaction
  • cognitive overload
  • avatar
  • spatial navigation
  • assistive technology

• 3D HapticWebBrowser: towards universal web navigation for the visually impaired

  Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Konstantinos Moustakas, Dimitrios Tzovaras (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the 3D HapticWebBrowser, a free open-source web browser that uses haptic (touch feedback) technology to enable visually impaired users to navigate web pages and explore 2D maps. The system transforms HTML elements into "hapgets" —…

  • haptic technology
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • multimodal interaction
  • accessible maps
  • web navigation
  • assistive technology
  • 3D interaction
  • open source

• Predictive, Accessible Web Automation: A Longitudinal Study

  Yury Puzis, Yevgen Borodin, I.V. Ramakrishnan (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a six-week longitudinal pilot study of Automation Assistant, a predictive web automation system designed to improve non-visual web browsing for blind users. The core problem is that screen readers force users to navigate web pages…

  • screen readers
  • web automation
  • blindness
  • non-visual web access
  • adaptive interfaces
  • machine learning
  • usability
  • assistive technology

• Can a Blind Person Understand Your World?

  Chieko Asakawa (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This keynote paper by Chieko Asakawa of IBM Research presents a vision for the next frontier of accessibility for blind people: moving from digital information access to real-world understanding through cognitive computing. Asakawa charts the exponen…

  • blindness
  • cognitive assistance
  • image recognition
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • crowdsourcing
  • assistive technology
  • navigation
  • augmented reality

• Experimental Evaluation of Usability and Accessibility of Heading Elements

  Takayuki Watanabe (2007) — Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This study by Takayuki Watanabe of Tokyo Woman's Christian University provides empirical evidence for something the accessibility community has long advocated: that proper semantic markup of heading elements (h1-h6) significantly improves both usabil…

  • semantic HTML
  • heading elements
  • screen readers
  • usability testing
  • blindness
  • content structure
  • web standards
  • user study

• More than Meets the Eye: A Survey of Screen-Reader Browsing Strategies

  Yevgen Borodin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Glenn Dausch, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This comprehensive survey catalogues the browsing strategies that experienced screen reader users develop to overcome the accessibility and usability barriers they encounter on the web. Drawing from multiple user studies, the authors document how bli…

  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • browsing strategies
  • web navigation
  • usability
  • keyboard navigation
  • dynamic content
  • ARIA live regions
  • user research
  • assistive technology