Literature Reviews

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

• SAMBA: a semi-automatic method for measuring barriers of accessibility

  Giorgio Brajnik, Raffaella Lomuscio (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Brajnik and Lomuscio argue that web accessibility cannot be managed without being measured, yet existing accessibility metrics are underdeveloped and almost universally tied to conformance with WCAG checkpoints rather than to the real-world barriers …

  • web accessibility
  • accessibility metrics
  • accessibility evaluation
  • accessibility testing
  • conformance testing
  • barrier walkthrough
  • expert review
  • automated testing
  • quality assurance

• A comparative test of web accessibility evaluation methods

  Giorgio Brajnik (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents a controlled laboratory experiment comparing two web accessibility evaluation methods: conformance review (CR) and barrier walkthrough (BW). Conformance review is the traditional approach where evaluators check whether a page sati…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • conformance testing
  • barrier walkthrough
  • web accessibility
  • WCAG
  • evaluation methods
  • accessibility testing
  • quality assessment

• How Much Does Expertise Matter? A Barrier Walkthrough Study with Experts and Non-Experts

  Yeliz Yesilada, Giorgio Brajnik, Simon Harper (2009) — Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper investigates whether expertise matters in manual web accessibility evaluation by comparing results from 19 expert and 51 non-expert judges using the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method. The BW method is an analytical technique based on heurist…

  • web accessibility
  • accessibility evaluation
  • barrier walkthrough
  • WCAG
  • evaluator effect
  • expertise
  • accessibility testing
  • research methodology

• Analysis and integration of web accessibility metrics

  Maia Naftali (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This Google Student Award paper presents OceanAcc, a semi-automatic accessibility evaluation and analysis tool developed as a thesis project at the University of Buenos Aires. OceanAcc addresses a practical gap: while several accessibility metrics ha…

  • accessibility metrics
  • accessibility evaluation
  • automated testing
  • barrier walkthrough
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility tools

• An educational tool to support the accessibility evaluation process

  Christopher Bailey, Elaine Pearson (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper describes the Accessibility Evaluation Assistant (AEA), a web-based knowledge management tool designed to help novice auditors — primarily computing students — conduct meaningful accessibility evaluations without expert knowledge or access…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • accessibility education
  • WCAG compliance
  • barrier walkthrough
  • accessibility tools
  • user-centered evaluation

• WaaT: Personalised Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

  Theofanis Oikonomou, Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, Grammati-Eirini Kastori, Nikolaos Partarakis, Dimitrios Tzovaras (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents WaaT (Web Accessibility Assessment Tool), a personalized accessibility evaluation tool that allows developers to assess web content against specific disability profiles, assistive technologies, and personas rather than running a g…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • automated testing
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility tools
  • personas
  • barrier walkthrough
  • ontology

• Guideline Aggregation: Web Accessibility Evaluation for Older Users

  Giorgio Brajnik, Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper proposes using set theory to create an aggregated accessibility evaluation category for older users by combining barrier types identified for motor impaired and low vision users within the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method. Traditional valid…

  • older users
  • accessibility evaluation
  • barrier walkthrough
  • low vision
  • motor impairment
  • multiple disabilities
  • expert evaluation
  • aging
  • personalized accessibility

• Quantitative Evaluation for Web Accessibility with Respect to Disabled Groups

  Pornpat Sirithumgul, Atiwong Suchato, Proadpran Punyabukkana (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper proposes a methodology for evaluating web accessibility that goes beyond standard WCAG conformance levels to assess suitability for specific disability groups, particularly vision-impaired and hearing-impaired users. The authors argue that…

  • accessibility metrics
  • web accessibility
  • barrier walkthrough
  • quantitative evaluation
  • visual impairment
  • hearing impairment
  • disability-specific evaluation