Literature Reviews

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

• Blind Photographers and VizSnap: A Long-Term Study

  Dustin Adams, Sri Kurniawan, Cynthia Herrera, Veronica Kang, Natalie Friedman (2016) — Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This paper reports on a two-month longitudinal study with 13 blind participants (ages 18-65, nine totally blind and two with some light perception, seven adventitiously and six congenitally blind) using VizSnap, a free iPhone app designed to help bli…

  • blindness
  • photography
  • mobile accessibility
  • social media
  • iPhone
  • VoiceOver
  • user research
  • image accessibility

• How People with Low Vision Access Computing Devices: Understanding Challenges and Opportunities

  Sarit Felicia Anais Szpiro, Shafeka Hashash, Yuhang Zhao, Shiri Azenkot (2016) — Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '16)

  This paper presents a contextual inquiry study examining how 11 people with low vision use mainstream computing devices (smartphones, tablets, and computers) to perform common tasks like reading email and browsing news. Low vision affects at least 3.…

  • low vision
  • screen magnification
  • visual impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • usability
  • contextual inquiry
  • assistive technology
  • user research

• Opinions and Preferences of Blind and Low Vision Consumers Regarding Self-Driving Vehicles: Results of Focus Group Discussions

  Julian Brinkley, Brianna Posadas, Julia Woodward, Juan E. Gilbert (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores the opinions, concerns, and preferences of 38 blind and low vision participants regarding self-driving vehicle technology through eight focus group sessions conducted over two days in north central Florida. Participants had a mean…

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • autonomous vehicles
  • accessible transportation
  • mobility
  • independence
  • user research
  • focus groups

• Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Perspectives on Imperfect Automatic Speech Recognition for Captioning One-on-One Meetings

  Larwan Berke, Christopher Caulfield, Matt Huenerfauth (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper investigates whether and how to display word-level confidence information from Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems in real-time captions for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) users during one-on-one meetings with hearing people. ASR en…

  • deaf accessibility
  • automatic speech recognition
  • captioning
  • communication
  • user research
  • deaf and hard of hearing
  • confidence display

• The Effects of "Not Knowing What You Don't Know" on Web Accessibility for Blind Web Users

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Irene Lin, Saiph Savage (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper introduces and empirically investigates the concept of "Not Knowing What You Don't Know" (NKWYDK) in the context of blind web users. When a blind person encounters difficulty finding information on a web page, they face a fundamental uncer…

  • web accessibility
  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • usability
  • information foraging
  • user research

• An Integrative Accessibility Engineering Approach Using Multidimensional Classifications of Barriers in the Web

  Diana Ruth-Janneck (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents multidimensional classifications of web accessibility barriers derived from the large-scale German study "Web2.0/Accessible," commissioned by Aktion Mensch, which surveyed 671 disabled internet users via an accessible online quest…

  • accessibility barriers
  • accessibility evaluation
  • user research
  • web accessibility
  • software engineering
  • organizational accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • deaf accessibility

• Crosschecking the Mobile Web for People with Visual Impairments

  Luís Carriço, Rui Lopes, Rogério Bandeira (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper proposes a framework for evaluating mobile web accessibility for specific disability profiles by coherently merging three sets of guidelines: WCAG (web accessibility), W3C Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP), and disability classifications fr…

  • mobile accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility evaluation
  • web standards
  • user research

• 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

• How People Use Presentation to Search for a Link: Expanding the Understanding of Accessibility on the Web

  Caroline Jay, Robert Stevens, Mashhuda Glencross, Alan Chalmers (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper uses eye-tracking to investigate a fundamental question about web accessibility: what exactly does visual presentation provide to sighted users that is lost when content is accessed nonvisually (via screen readers) or on small screens? The…

  • eye tracking
  • visual presentation
  • screen readers
  • nonvisual access
  • web navigation
  • text-only pages
  • information scent
  • cognitive processing
  • user research

• Using galvanic skin response measures to identify areas of frustration for older web 2.0 users

  Darren Lunn, Simon Harper (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper investigates how older web users experience stress and frustration when interacting with Web 2.0 dynamic content, using galvanic skin response (GSR) measurements combined with eye-tracking data. GSR is a physiological indicator that measur…

  • older adults
  • physiological measurement
  • galvanic skin response
  • eye tracking
  • Web 2.0
  • dynamic content
  • cognitive load
  • user research
  • stress measurement