Literature Reviews

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

• Case Study: In-the-Field Accessibility Information Collection Using Gamification

  Akihiro Miyata, Kazuki Okugawa, Yusaku Murayama, Akihiro Furuta, Keihiro Ochiai, Yuko Murayama (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study introduces and evaluates a crowdsourcing platform designed to collect real-world accessibility information for constructing accessibility maps that support people with mobility disabilities. Accessibility maps are critical for safe navigat…

  • crowdsourcing
  • gamification
  • accessible maps
  • physical accessibility
  • pedestrian infrastructure
  • deep learning
  • urban accessibility
  • mobile application
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • computer vision

• Understanding How Deaf and Hard of Hearing Viewers Visually Explore Captioned Live TV News

  Akhter Al Amin, Saad Hassan, Sooyeon Lee, Matt Huenerfauth (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A '23)

  This study investigates how Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) viewers distribute their visual attention across different information regions on screen while watching captioned live television news. More than 360 million people worldwide are DHH, and man…

  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • captioning
  • eye tracking
  • television accessibility
  • caption placement
  • gaze behavior
  • live captioning
  • news consumption
  • attention
  • caption quality metrics

• The State of Accessibility in Blackboard: Survey and User Reviews Case Study

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Mohammed Alkahtani, Stephanie Ludi, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Marcelo M. Eler, Marouane Kessentini, Ali Ouni (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accessibility of the Blackboard mobile app, one of the most widely used Learning Management Systems (LMS) in higher education, through a two-pronged methodology. First, the authors conducted a large-scale survey with 1,308…

  • mobile accessibility
  • learning management systems
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • education accessibility
  • user reviews
  • app accessibility

• Authoring Web-accessible Mathematical Diagrams (Short Paper)

  David Austin, Volker Sorge (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper presents a novel XML-based language for authoring accessible mathematical diagrams, targeting both visually impaired (VI) and sighted authors. Mathematical diagrams are essential for STEM subjects yet remain overwhelmingly inaccessib…

  • STEM accessibility
  • mathematical diagrams
  • SVG accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • sonification
  • screen readers
  • tactile graphics
  • authoring tools

• UnlockedMaps: A Web-Based Map for Visualizing the Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Stations

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Qianqian Yu, Trung-Anh H. Nguyen, Xuhai Xu (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-data web-based map that visualizes the real-time accessibility status of urban rail transit stations across six North American cities. The system addresses a critical gap: commuters who depend on functioning …

  • transit accessibility
  • mobility disabilities
  • open data
  • web-based maps
  • urban accessibility
  • elevator outages
  • participatory design

• AutoChemplete - Making Chemical Structural Formulas Accessible (Extended Abstract)

  Merlin Knaeble, Gabriel Sailer, Zihan Chen, Thorsten Schwarz, Kailun Yang, Mario Nadj, Rainer Stiefelhagen, Alexander Maedche (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents AutoChemplete, an interactive labeling tool designed to make chemical structural formulas accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) students. The paper highlights a stark gap in STEM education: while 69% of US BLV stude…

  • STEM accessibility
  • chemistry accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • interactive labeling
  • machine learning
  • document accessibility
  • tactile graphics

• Modeling Word Importance in Conversational Transcripts: Toward improved live captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers

  Akhter Al Amin, Saad Hassan, Matt Huenerfauth, Cecilia O. Alm (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates how to model word importance in conversational transcripts to improve live captioning quality for Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) viewers. Live captions generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems inevitably contain…

  • live captioning
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • automatic speech recognition
  • word importance
  • natural language processing
  • caption quality metrics

• Authoring Web-accessible Mathematical Diagrams

  David Austin, Volker Sorge (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents an XML-based authoring language for creating web-accessible mathematical diagrams, designed to integrate with PreTeXt, a tool for producing accessible scholarly documents. While text and mathematical formulas in LaTeX …

  • STEM accessibility
  • mathematical diagrams
  • SVG accessibility
  • screen readers
  • sonification
  • tactile graphics
  • document accessibility
  • authoring tools

• Translating Color: Sonification as a Method of Sensory Substitution within the Museum

  Silvia Dini, Luca Andrea Ludovico, Sergio Mascetti, Maria Joaquina Valero Gisbert (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract proposes using sonification — the technique of translating data into sound — to make the chromatic elements of contemporary artworks accessible to people with visual impairments or blindness (VIB). The research addresses a fund…

  • sonification
  • museum accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • sensory substitution
  • art accessibility
  • multimodal
  • audio description
  • cultural accessibility

• Amaze3D: Making 3D Worlds Accessible to Blind Gamers

  Greg Gay, Matthew Ralston (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents Amaze3D (The Accessibility Maze 3D), a proof-of-concept demonstrating that Unity-based 3D game worlds can be made independently navigable by blind players. Built as a WebGL-based 3D adaptation of an earlier 2D JavaScri…

  • game accessibility
  • blind users
  • Unity
  • 3D worlds
  • educational games
  • serious games
  • spatial navigation
  • screen reader