Literature Reviews

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

• DroneNavigator: Using Leashed and Free-Floating Quadcopters to Navigate Visually Impaired Travelers

  Mauro Avila Soto, Markus Funk, Matthias Hoppe, Robin Boldt, Katrin Wolf, Niels Henze (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This paper explores an unconventional approach to navigation assistance for visually impaired travelers: using small, lightweight quadcopters as mobile sound and haptic sources to guide users through indoor environments. While existing navigation sys…

  • navigation
  • blindness
  • drones
  • assistive technology
  • haptic technology
  • spatial audio
  • multimodal interaction
  • wayfinding

• Prime III: Voting for a More Accessible Future

  Simone A. Smarr, Imani N. Sherman, Brianna Posadas, Juan E. Gilbert (2017) — Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17)

  This demonstration paper presents Prime III, an open-source, multimodal electronic ballot marking system designed to allow all voters — regardless of ability or disability — to vote independently and privately on the same machine. Developed at the Un…

  • accessible voting
  • universal design
  • multimodal interaction
  • blindness
  • civic participation
  • text-to-speech
  • switch access
  • voice input
  • open source

• A Demo of Talkit++: Interacting with 3D Printed Models Using an iOS Device

  Lei Shi, Zhuohao Zhang, Shiri Azenkot (2018) — Proceedings of the 20th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2018)

  This Cornell Tech demo presents Talkit++, an iOS application that adds interactive multimedia labels to 3D printed tactile models for visually impaired students. Teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs) increasingly use 3D printers to create tactile …

  • blindness
  • low vision
  • 3D printing
  • tactile accessibility
  • computer vision
  • education
  • STEM accessibility
  • tactile graphics
  • multimodal interaction

• Augmenting social media accessibility

  Roberto Borrino, Marco Furini, Marco Roccetti (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper presents SOMFA (SOcial Media For All), an architecture that transforms web-based social media content into multimodal audio/video presentations suitable for television sets. The system addresses the growing social divide created by social …

  • social media
  • digital divide
  • aging
  • content adaptation
  • text-to-speech
  • multimodal interaction
  • television accessibility
  • web syndication

• Enabling the blind in virtual worlds

  William S. Carter (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Center describes experimental techniques for enabling blind users to participate in virtual world environments. Unlike conventional web content where text and images can be given alternative descr…

  • virtual reality
  • blindness
  • virtual worlds
  • multimodal interaction
  • cognitive overload
  • avatar
  • spatial navigation
  • assistive technology

• 3D HapticWebBrowser: towards universal web navigation for the visually impaired

  Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Konstantinos Moustakas, Dimitrios Tzovaras (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the 3D HapticWebBrowser, a free open-source web browser that uses haptic (touch feedback) technology to enable visually impaired users to navigate web pages and explore 2D maps. The system transforms HTML elements into "hapgets" —…

  • haptic technology
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • multimodal interaction
  • accessible maps
  • web navigation
  • assistive technology
  • 3D interaction
  • open source

• Towards collaborative annotation for video accessibility

  Pierre-Antoine Champin, Benoît Encelle, Nicholas W. D. Evans, Magali O.-Beldame, Yannick Prié, Raphaël Troncy (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the ACAV (Collaborative Annotation for Video Accessibility) project, a French research initiative involving Dailymotion, the University of Lyon (LIRIS), and EURECOM, aimed at making web video accessible to blind and deaf users thr…

  • video accessibility
  • audio description
  • captioning
  • crowdsourcing
  • speech recognition
  • Braille
  • multimodal interaction
  • semantic web
  • collaborative annotation

• HapticRiaMaps: Towards Interactive Exploration of Web World Maps for the Visually Impaired

  Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Panagiotis Moschonas, Dimitrios Tzovaras (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents HapticRiaMaps, a free open-source web application from the Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH) in Greece that makes online 2D maps accessible to visually impaired users through haptic force feedback and audio sonific…

  • blind and low vision
  • haptic technology
  • accessible maps
  • sonification
  • multimodal interaction
  • navigation
  • assistive technology
  • spatial cognition

• Leveraging Rich Accessible Documents on the Web

  Rui Lopes, Luís Carriço (2007) — Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper by Lopes and Carriço from the University of Lisbon presents a framework for producing rich accessible documents on the web that goes beyond the common approach of providing simplified alternate versions for disabled users. The authors argu…

  • document accessibility
  • content adaptation
  • user modeling
  • profile modeling
  • multimodal interaction
  • mobile accessibility
  • document production

• Personalization of User Interfaces for Browsing XML Content Using Transformations Built on End-User Requirements

  Benoît Encelle, Nadine Baptiste-Jessel (2007) — Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from IRIT at the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse presents a model for generating personalized multimodal user interfaces for browsing XML content, driven by end-user requirements rather than developer-imposed defaults. The authors ide…

  • personalization
  • multimodal interaction
  • user profiles
  • content adaptation
  • XML
  • model-based user interfaces
  • braille
  • text-to-speech