Literature Reviews

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

• Developing for Autism with User-Centred Design

  Rachel Menzies (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper describes the development of software designed to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) explore social situations, specifically the concept of sharing. The author identifies a gap in the use of User-Centred Design (UCD) …

  • autism
  • user-centred design
  • social skills
  • inclusive design
  • ethnography
  • participatory design
  • educational technology

• Towards a Framework to Situate Assistive Technology Design in the Context of Culture

  Fatima A. Boujarwah, Nazneen, Hwajung Hong, Gregory D. Abowd, Rosa I. Arriaga (2011) — Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper presents findings from a cross-cultural qualitative study examining societal expectations, perceptions, and support structures for individuals with autism and other intellectual disabilities (AOID) across four countries: Kuwait, Pakistan, …

  • assistive technology
  • autism
  • cross-cultural design
  • intellectual disability
  • cultural accessibility
  • qualitative research
  • inclusive design

• Supporting Spatial Awareness and Independent Wayfinding for Pedestrians with Visual Impairments

  Rayoung Yang, Sangmi Park, Sonali R. Mishra, Zhenan Hong, Clint Newsom, Hyeon Joo, Erik Hofer, Mark W. Newman (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents Talking Points 3 (TP3), a location- and orientation-aware smartphone system designed to increase the "legibility" of indoor environments for pedestrians with visual impairments, fostering spatial awareness rather than simply provi…

  • blindness and low vision
  • wayfinding
  • indoor navigation
  • spatial cognition
  • mobile accessibility
  • independent living
  • navigation
  • situation awareness

• We Need to Communicate! Helping Hearing Parents of Deaf Children Learn American Sign Language

  Kimberly A. Weaver, Thad Starner (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents interview research with hearing parents of deaf children to understand their motivations, challenges, and needs when learning American Sign Language, informing the design of SMARTSign, a mobile ASL learning application. In the Uni…

  • deaf accessibility
  • sign language
  • educational technology
  • mobile accessibility
  • Deaf Culture
  • language access
  • communication
  • child development

• Monitoring Accessibility: Large Scale Evaluations at a Geo Political Level

  Silvia Mirri, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Paola Salomoni (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents AMA (Accessibility Monitoring Application), a system designed to monitor web accessibility across large collections of URLs from a geo-political perspective. Developed as part of the VaMoLà project — a collaboration between the Em…

  • web accessibility
  • automated testing
  • accessibility evaluation
  • policy
  • compliance
  • governance
  • metrics
  • data visualization

• Developing Accessible TV Applications

  José Coelho, Carlos Duarte, Pradipta Biswas, Patrick Langdon (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper describes the GUIDE (Gentle User Interfaces for Elderly People) framework for developing accessible TV applications through multimodal interaction, user interface adaptation, and impairment simulation. The research combines a survey of 46 …

  • aging
  • multimedia accessibility
  • multimodal interaction
  • adaptive systems
  • personalization
  • user interface design
  • interactive television
  • motor accessibility
  • low vision
  • user research

• ZigADL: An ADL Training System Enabling Teachers to Assist Children with Intellectual Disabilities

  Zhi-Zhan Lu (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This poster paper presents ZigADL, a wireless sensor network system based on ZigBee technology designed to assist teachers in training children with severe intellectual disabilities to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) independently. The syst…

  • intellectual disability
  • independent living
  • assistive technology
  • special education
  • sensors
  • Internet of Things
  • pediatric
  • intervention

• Blind People and Mobile Touch-based Text-Entry: Acknowledging the Need for Different Flavors

  João Oliveira, Tiago Guerreiro, Hugo Nicolau, Joaquim Jorge, Daniel Gonçalves (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper investigates how individual differences among blind people affect their performance with different touchscreen text-entry methods. Thirteen blind participants (ages 24-62) were evaluated using four methods on a Samsung Galaxy S: QWERTY (st…

  • blindness and low vision
  • text entry
  • touchscreen accessibility
  • mobile accessibility
  • ability-based design
  • personalization
  • braille
  • input methods

• 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

• Understanding the Computer Skills of Adult Expert Users with Down Syndrome: An Exploratory Study

  Jonathan Lazar, Libby Kumin, Jinjuan Heidi Feng (2011) — The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an ethnographic study of ten adult expert computer users with Down syndrome, observed in their homes and workplaces for a minimum of two hours each. The research aimed to move beyond earlier survey-based studies (which relied on p…

  • Down syndrome
  • cognitive accessibility
  • intellectual disability
  • employment
  • workplace accessibility
  • human-computer interaction
  • digital inclusion
  • user research