Literature Reviews

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

• Evaluation of a Non-Visual Molecule Browser

  Andy Brown, Steve Pettifer, Robert Stevens (2003) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper evaluates Kekulé, software designed to allow visually impaired users to explore chemical molecular structures — diagrams that are typically presented as two-dimensional graph schematics showing atoms (nodes) connected by bonds (edges). Mol…

  • STEM accessibility
  • non-visual interaction
  • blindness and low vision
  • diagram accessibility
  • synthesized speech
  • data visualization
  • graph accessibility
  • science education
  • accessible graphics

• A Java Programming Tool for Students with Visual Disabilities

  Ann C. Smith, Joan M. Francioni, Sam D. Matzek (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents JavaSpeak, a specialized programming environment designed to make learning Java accessible to students with visual disabilities. The authors, computer science educators at Saint Mary's University and Winona State University, ident…

  • programming education
  • visual impairment
  • screen reader
  • code accessibility
  • auditory interface
  • assistive technology
  • STEM accessibility

• Constructing Sonified Haptic Line Graphs for the Blind Student: First Steps

  Rameshsharma Ramloll, Wai Yu, Stephen Brewster, Beate Riedel, Mike Burton, Gisela Dimigen (2000) — Proceedings of the Fourth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '00)

  This paper presents early research from the University of Glasgow's MultiVis project, a three-year initiative investigating how different sensory modalities can make statistical information representations accessible to blind people. The focus is on …

  • data visualization
  • sonification
  • haptic technology
  • blindness and low vision
  • tactile graphics
  • force feedback
  • education
  • spatial audio
  • multimodal
  • STEM accessibility

• Reading and Writing Mathematics: The MAVIS Project

  A. I. Karshmer, G. Gupta, S. Geiiger, C. Weaver (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from New Mexico State University presents the MAVIS (Mathematics Accessible to Visually Impaired Students) project, an NSF-funded effort to develop comprehensive tools for bidirectional communication of mathematics between blind students a…

  • mathematical accessibility
  • STEM accessibility
  • Nemeth code
  • LaTeX
  • blindness
  • braille
  • sonification
  • language translation
  • assistive technology
  • education

• An Approach to the Evaluation of Assistive Technology

  Robert D. Stevens, Alistair D. N. Edwards (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This University of York paper addresses a fundamental challenge in assistive technology research: the difficulty of conducting rigorous evaluations using conventional controlled testing paradigms. The authors identify several obstacles specific to as…

  • assistive technology evaluation
  • mathematical accessibility
  • blind users
  • earcon
  • auditory interface
  • usability testing
  • research methodology
  • STEM accessibility

• Refreshable tactile graphics applied to schoolbook illustrations for students with visual impairment

  Grégory Petit, Aude Dufresne, Vincent Levesque, Vincent Hayward, Nicole Trudeau (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents research on making schoolbook illustrations accessible to students with visual impairments using a refreshable tactile display system. The system combines the STReSS2 (Stimulator of Tactile Receptors by Skin Stretch), a device tha…

  • tactile graphics
  • visual impairment
  • education
  • haptic technology
  • refreshable displays
  • children
  • multimodal interaction
  • STEM accessibility
  • inclusive education

• Haptic User Interface Design for Students with Visual Impairments

  Hyung Nam Kim (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This short paper explores the design of haptic user interfaces to help students with visual impairments understand science concepts related to heat and temperature — topics where common misconceptions are prevalent even among sighted students and whe…

  • haptic technology
  • visual impairment
  • STEM accessibility
  • science education
  • multimodal interaction
  • participatory design
  • assistive technology

• Note-Taker 2.0: The Next Step Toward Enabling Students who are Legally Blind to Take Notes in Class

  David S. Hayden, Liqing Zhou, Michael J. Astrauskas, John A. Black (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper describes the iterative design and usability testing of the Note-Taker, a portable assistive device that enables students who are legally blind to take notes during classroom lectures. The core problem is that note-taking requires rapidly …

  • low vision
  • legal blindness
  • note-taking
  • STEM accessibility
  • education
  • assistive technology
  • magnification
  • camera
  • tablet PC

• Note-Taker 3.0: An Assistive Technology Enabling Students Who Are Legally Blind to Take Notes in Class

  David S. Hayden, Michael Astrauskas, Qian Yan, Liqing Zhou, John A. Black (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents the results of a three-year iterative development of Note-Taker, a portable hardware/software assistive device that enables students with low vision to independently take handwritten or typed notes during classroom l…

  • low vision
  • blindness and low vision
  • educational technology
  • assistive technology
  • STEM accessibility
  • inclusive education
  • screen magnification

• ASL-STEM Forum: Enabling Sign Language to Grow Through Online Collaboration

  Anna C. Cavender, Daniel S. Otero, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Richard E. Ladner (2010) — CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

  This paper presents the ASL-STEM Forum, the first online video-based collaboration tool designed to help expand American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The paper addresses a signifi…

  • American Sign Language
  • deaf education
  • STEM accessibility
  • online collaboration
  • video forums
  • language development
  • crowdsourcing