Literature Reviews

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

• Dytective: Towards Detecting Dyslexia Across Languages Using an Online Game

  Luz Rello, Kristin Williams, Abdullah Ali, Nancy Cushen White, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Dytective, a browser-based game designed to screen for risk of dyslexia across English and Spanish languages. At least 10% of the global population has dyslexia, and in Spain over 40% of school dropout is attributed to it. Current…

  • dyslexia
  • screening
  • learning disabilities
  • game-based assessment
  • multilingual
  • reading accessibility
  • early detection
  • phonological awareness

• NavCog: Turn-by-Turn Smartphone Navigation Assistant for People with Visual Impairments or Blindness

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cole Gleason, Kris M. Kitani, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents NavCog, an open-source iOS smartphone navigation system designed to assist people with visual impairments or blindness in navigating complex indoor and outdoor environments. While many blind people can independently tr…

  • indoor navigation
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • assistive technology
  • Bluetooth beacons
  • wayfinding
  • mobile accessibility
  • orientation and mobility

• Measuring the Impact of Automated Evaluation Tools on Alternative Text Quality: A Web Translation Study

  Silvia Rodríguez Vázquez (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the first empirical study on web accessibility conducted around a translation task, investigating how automated evaluation tools affect the quality of image text alternatives produced by web translators. Twenty-eight professional …

  • alternative text
  • image accessibility
  • web translation
  • localization
  • automated testing
  • controlled language
  • screen readers
  • multilingual accessibility

• Online Nemeth Braille Input/Output Using Content MathML

  Samuel S. Dooley, Susan Osterhaus, Dan Brown, Edgar Lozano, Su H. Park (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents a software system that enables automatic two-way conversion between printed mathematical notation and Nemeth Braille, using Content MathML as an intermediary representation. Access to mathematical content remains one o…

  • braille
  • mathematics accessibility
  • STEM accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • MathML
  • equation editors
  • Nemeth Braille

• Scopist: Building a Skill Ladder into Crowd Transcription

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Kristin Williams, Nila Banerjee, John Zimmerman (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces Scopist, a JavaScript application designed to teach crowd workers stenotype — a chording-based text entry method used by professional real-time captioners — while they perform audio transcription microtasks. The research address…

  • crowdsourcing
  • captioning
  • stenography
  • deaf accessibility
  • transcription
  • skill development
  • text entry
  • real-time captioning

• Teaching Accessibility to the Masses

  Greg Gay, Naza Djafarova, Leonora Zefi (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper documents the development and delivery of "Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy," a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) created by Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and funded by the Government of Ont…

  • accessibility education
  • MOOC
  • web development
  • accessibility auditing
  • curriculum
  • training
  • pedagogical culture

• Able to Read My Mail: An Accessible e-Mail Client with Assistive Technology

  Horacio Saggion, Daniel Ferrés, Leen Sevens, Ineke Schuurman, Marta Ripollés, Olga Rodríguez (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Kolumba, an accessible web-based email client developed as part of the EU-funded Able to Include project, specifically designed for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). The tool addresses a critical gap in…

  • intellectual disability
  • cognitive accessibility
  • text simplification
  • pictograph communication
  • workplace accessibility
  • natural language processing
  • assistive technology
  • user-centred design

• Considerations for Implementing a Holistic Organisational Approach to Accessibility

  Chris Bailey, Voula Gkatzidou (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper proposes a human-centred model of accessibility that moves beyond treating accessibility as a purely technical standards-compliance exercise. The authors argue that accessibility, usability, and user experience are interdependent quality a…

  • organizational accessibility
  • accessibility maturity
  • accessibility policy
  • user experience
  • human-centred design
  • digital accessibility

• A multi-method evaluation of university website accessibility: Foregrounding user-centred design, mining source code and using a quantitative metric

  Tahani Alahmadi (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents a multi-method model for evaluating the accessibility of university websites, with particular attention to the needs of students with sensory disabilities including deaf, visually impaired, and deafblind users. The res…

  • web accessibility evaluation
  • higher education
  • user-centred design
  • web mining
  • assistive technologies
  • sensory disabilities
  • quantitative metrics

• Extraction of Tabular Data from Document Images

  Manolis Vasileiadis, Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Dimitrios Tzovaras (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents an open-source tool for automatically detecting and extracting tabular data from document images — both scanned and digitally created — and converting them into accessible HTML format. The work addresses a significan…

  • document accessibility
  • OCR
  • table recognition
  • visual impairment
  • document conversion
  • image processing