Literature Reviews

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

• An Interactive Method for Accessing Tables in HTML

  Toshiya Oogane, Chieko Asakawa (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper from IBM Japan proposes a method for converting HTML tables into non-visual, navigable representations for screen reader users. At the time, Screen Reader/2 (the Japanese version of OS/2's screen reader) could read displayed text informati…

  • web accessibility
  • screen reader
  • HTML tables
  • table accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • non-visual interaction
  • web development

• TGuide: A Guidance System for Tactile Image Exploration

  Martin Kurze (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents TGuide, a system that actively guides blind users' hands during exploration of tactile graphics using a novel vibrotactile directional output device. The author identifies three key problems with unaided tactile image exploration:…

  • tactile graphics
  • blind and low vision
  • vibrotactile display
  • haptic technology
  • directional guidance
  • image accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • tactile image exploration

• Haptic Virtual Reality for Blind Computer Users

  Chetz Colwell, Helen Petrie, Diana Kornbrot, Andrew Hardwick, Stephen Furner (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper presents three experiments investigating how blind and sighted people perceive virtual textures and 3D objects through the Impulse Engine 3000, a force-feedback haptic device with a probe that users manipulate in three degrees of freedom. …

  • haptic technology
  • virtual reality
  • blind and low vision
  • tactile accessibility
  • virtual texture
  • haptic perception
  • psychophysics
  • assistive technology

• Comparing Effects of Navigational Interface Modalities on Speaker Prosodics

  Julie Baca (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper investigates whether speech-only (displayless) interfaces impose a measurable cognitive burden on users compared to multimodal interfaces that include visual or tactile components. The research uses an innovative methodology: rather than r…

  • speech technology
  • cognitive load
  • non-visual interaction
  • navigation
  • prosody
  • displayless interface
  • multimodal interaction
  • blind and low vision
  • spatial data

• Digital Talking Books on a PC: A Usability Evaluation of the Prototype DAISY Playback Software

  Sarah Morley (1998) — Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98)

  This paper describes the design and usability evaluation of the first PC-based DAISY (Digital Audio-Based Information System) playback software, developed at the request of the Swedish Braille and Talking Book Library. The DAISY system represented a …

  • DAISY
  • digital talking book
  • usability testing
  • blind and low vision
  • auditory navigation
  • accessible publishing
  • structured audio
  • screen reader

• Are Synthesized Video Descriptions Acceptable?

  Masatomo Kobayashi, Trisha O'Connell, Bryan Gould, Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper from IBM Research Tokyo and WGBH National Center for Accessible Media investigates whether text-to-speech (TTS) synthesised narrations are an acceptable alternative to human-narrated audio descriptions for online videos. While accessibilit…

  • audio description
  • video accessibility
  • text-to-speech
  • speech synthesis
  • web accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • online video
  • extended description

• EasySnap: Real-time Audio Feedback for Blind Photography

  Samuel White, Hanjie Ji, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2010) — Adjunct Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2010)

  This demonstration paper presents EasySnap, an iPhone application that enables blind and low-vision users to take high-quality photographs by providing real-time audio feedback as they point their camera phones. The system addresses a key barrier: bl…

  • blind and low vision
  • computer vision
  • mobile accessibility
  • assistive technology
  • photography
  • auditory interface
  • non-visual interfaces

• Accessibility by Demonstration: Enabling End Users to Guide Developers to Web Accessibility Solutions

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Jeremy T. Brudvik, Bernie Zhang (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper introduces Accessibility by Demonstration (ABD), a novel approach to accessibility evaluation that lets assistive technology users record the accessibility problems they encounter as shareable, replayable demonstrations and send them direc…

  • web accessibility
  • accessibility testing
  • screen readers
  • blind and low vision
  • accessibility evaluation
  • developer tools
  • user research

• Evaluating Existing Audio CAPTCHAs and an Interface Optimized for Non-Visual Use

  Jeffrey P. Bigham, Anna C. Cavender (2009) — Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2009)

  This paper presents the first large-scale evaluation of audio CAPTCHAs — the purportedly accessible alternative to visual CAPTCHAs — revealing that they are dramatically more difficult for both blind and sighted users. The study gathered 10 types of …

  • blind and low vision
  • web accessibility
  • screen readers
  • CAPTCHA
  • authentication
  • non-visual interfaces
  • usability testing
  • accessibility barriers

• Answering Visual Questions with Conversational Crowd Assistants

  Walter S. Lasecki, Phyo Thiha, Yu Zhong, Erin Brady, Jeffrey P. Bigham (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2013)

  This paper introduces Chorus:View, a system that enables blind users to get visual questions answered through continuous conversational interaction with multiple crowd workers viewing a live video stream from the user's mobile device. The system addr…

  • blind and low vision
  • crowdsourcing
  • human computation
  • assistive technology
  • visual assistance
  • VizWiz
  • conversational interface
  • mobile accessibility