Literature Reviews

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

• Understanding the Usages, Lifecycle, and Opportunities of Screen Readers' Plugins

  Farhani Momotaz, Md Ehtesham-Ul-Haque, Syed Masum Billah (2023) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates why blind users rely on screen reader plugins and how these plugins are developed, distributed, and maintained. The researchers combined two methodological approaches: semi-structured interviews with 14 blind participants (age…

  • screen readers
  • NVDA
  • JAWS
  • plugins
  • extensions
  • assistive technology
  • blind users
  • online communities
  • qualitative research

• A Platform Agnostic Remote Desktop System for Screen Reading

  Syed Masum Billah, Vikas Ashok, Donald E. Porter, IV Ramakrishnan (2016) — ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

  Sinter addresses a fundamental barrier to remote desktop accessibility: traditional remote desktop technology scrapes pixels from the remote screen and redraws them as bitmaps on the client, losing all semantic information that screen readers require…

  • screen reader
  • remote desktop
  • cross-platform accessibility
  • UI virtualization
  • blind accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • NVDA
  • JAWS
  • VoiceOver

• A Proposal to Adapt the Semiotic Inspection Method to Analyze Screen Reader Mediated Interaction

  Lucas Pedroso Carvalho, Raquel Oliveira Prates, André Pimenta Freire (2019) — Proceedings of the 18th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC 2019)

  This paper proposes SIM-SR (Semiotic Inspection Method for Screen Reader mediated interaction), an adaptation of the Semiotic Inspection Method (SIM) from Semiotic Engineering theory to evaluate how screen readers mediate the communication between de…

  • semiotic engineering
  • screen readers
  • communicability
  • blind users
  • low vision
  • accessibility evaluation
  • metamessage
  • JAWS
  • Moodle

• Is Wikipedia Usable for the Blind?

  Marina Buzzi, Barbara Leporini (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper evaluates the accessibility and usability of Wikipedia for blind screen reader users by analyzing three key interaction modes: browsing the home page, searching and viewing results, and editing content. The authors tested both the English …

  • screen readers
  • blind users
  • wiki accessibility
  • usability
  • Wikipedia
  • JAWS
  • collaborative environments
  • keyboard accessibility
  • WAI-ARIA
  • e-learning

• Blind Web Development Training at Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Uganda

  Claire Ferrari, Amy Hurst, Scott Fitzgerald (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the development and delivery of a 7-day web development course for 13 blind and low-vision students (ages 18-35, average 24) at the Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Gulu, northern Uganda. None of the students had prior exper…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web development
  • coding education
  • developing nations
  • Africa
  • screen reader
  • JAWS
  • tactile learning
  • digital inclusion
  • accessible programming

• Personalization in the Interactive EPUB 3 Reading Experience: Accessibility Issues for Screen Reader Users

  Barbara Leporini, Clara Meattini (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accessibility of interactive EPUB 3 digital books when accessed via screen readers. The authors designed and developed a multimedia, interactive EPUB 3 prototype — a digital guide to Sienese cuisine featuring 8 recipe chap…

  • EPUB
  • accessible publishing
  • screen reader
  • digital books
  • personalization
  • WAI-ARIA
  • visual impairment
  • assistive technology
  • VoiceOver
  • JAWS

• Understanding Screen Readers' Plugins

  Farhani Momotaz, Md Touhidul Islam, Md Ehtesham-Ul-Haque, Syed Masum Billah (2021) — Proceedings of the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the first empirical study focused specifically on understanding the ecosystem of screen reader plugins — small pieces of code that extend screen reader functionality. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 bl…

  • screen readers
  • plugins
  • blind users
  • assistive technology
  • NVDA
  • JAWS
  • extensibility
  • user study
  • accessibility tools