Literature Reviews

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

• Improving Accessibility to Statistical Graphs: The iGraph-Lite System

  Leo Ferres, Petro Verkhogliad, Gitte Lindgaard, Louis Boucher, Antoine Chretien, Martin Lachance (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper from Carleton University and Statistics Canada presents iGraph-Lite, a system that makes statistical graphs accessible to blind and visually impaired people by generating natural language descriptions and providing an interactive navigatio…

  • data visualization accessibility
  • graph accessibility
  • natural language generation
  • screen readers
  • blindness
  • statistics
  • non-visual interaction
  • information accessibility

• PLUMB: An Interface for Users Who are Blind to Display, Create, and Modify Graphs

  Matt Calder, Robert F. Cohen, Jessica Lanzoni, Yun Xu (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This demonstration paper presents the latest version of PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), extending it beyond passive graph exploration to include the ability for blind and sighted users to create and modify graphs. The original PLUMB system displayed…

  • visual impairment
  • graph accessibility
  • sonification
  • audio interface
  • tablet PC
  • education
  • non-visual interaction
  • knowledge mapping

• Using an Audio Interface to Assist Users Who are Visually Impaired with Steering Tasks

  Robert F. Cohen, Valerie Haven, Jessica A. Lanzoni, Arthur Meacham, Joelle Skaff, Michael Wissell (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents results from an ongoing study of PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), a software system that uses audio feedback and a pen-based Tablet PC interface to make relational graphs and diagrams accessible to users who are blind. Graphs — co…

  • visual impairment
  • sonification
  • graph accessibility
  • audio interface
  • tablet PC
  • steering task
  • non-visual interaction
  • education

• PLUMB: Displaying Graphs to the Blind Using an Active Auditory Interface

  Robert F. Cohen, Rui Yu, Arthur Meacham, Joelle Skaff (2005) — Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This short paper presents PLUMB (exPLoring graphs at UMB), a system developed at UMass Boston that enables blind users to explore relational graphs through an active auditory interface on a tablet PC. The system addresses a fundamental barrier in com…

  • sonification
  • graph accessibility
  • blindness
  • auditory interface
  • computer science education
  • non-visual interaction
  • data visualization
  • STEM accessibility

• Evaluation of a Non-Visual Molecule Browser

  Andy Brown, Steve Pettifer, Robert Stevens (2003) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

  This paper evaluates Kekulé, software designed to allow visually impaired users to explore chemical molecular structures — diagrams that are typically presented as two-dimensional graph schematics showing atoms (nodes) connected by bonds (edges). Mol…

  • STEM accessibility
  • non-visual interaction
  • blindness and low vision
  • diagram accessibility
  • synthesized speech
  • data visualization
  • graph accessibility
  • science education
  • accessible graphics

• Evaluating a Tool for Improving Accessibility to Charts and Graphs

  Leo Ferres, Gitte Lindgaard, Livia Sumegi (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents two formative usability studies of iGraph-Lite, a natural language-based assistive technology that enables blind and visually impaired people to interact with statistical line graphs through keyboard commands and text-to-speech ou…

  • data visualization
  • blindness
  • natural language generation
  • information graphics
  • screen readers
  • text-to-speech
  • usability evaluation
  • graph accessibility

• Evaluating the Accessibility of Line Graphs through Textual Summaries for Visually Impaired Users

  Priscilla Moraes, Gabriel Sina, Kathleen McCoy, Sandra Carberry (2014) — Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents the SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually) system, which automatically generates natural language summaries of line graphs found in online popular media articles such as newspapers and magazines. The system addresses a…

  • data visualization
  • natural language generation
  • information graphics
  • blindness
  • screen readers
  • alternative text
  • reading level
  • graph accessibility

• A Syntactic Analysis of Accessibility to a Corpus of Statistical Graphs

  Leo Ferres, Petro Verkhogliad, Livia Sumegi, Louis Boucher, Martin Lachance, Gitte Lindgaard (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Carleton University and Statistics Canada tackles a persistent accessibility challenge: making statistical graphs accessible to blind and visually impaired users. The authors analysed a corpus of 120 real-world statistical graphs from…

  • data visualization
  • graph accessibility
  • blind and low vision
  • alt text
  • knowledge representation
  • automated accessibility
  • statistical graphics

• Interactive SIGHT into Information Graphics

  Seniz Demir, David Oliver, Edward Schwartz, Stephanie Elzer, Sandra Carberry, Kathleen F. McCoy (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually), a system that provides visually impaired users with access to the high-level knowledge conveyed by bar charts in electronic documents. Unlike approaches that simply r…

  • visual impairment
  • data visualization
  • natural language generation
  • graph accessibility
  • bar charts
  • image accessibility
  • alternative text
  • Bayesian network
  • information retrieval
  • interactive dialogue
  • screen readers

• μGraph: Haptic Exploration and Editing of 3D Chemical Diagrams

  Cristian Bernareggi, Dragan Ahmetovic, Sergio Mascetti (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper presents μGraph (Multimodal Graph), a system that combines haptic force feedback and speech to enable people who are blind or visually impaired (VIB) to explore and edit three-dimensional structural chemical formulae. Chemical diagrams rep…

  • haptic technology
  • STEM accessibility
  • blind
  • visual impairment
  • chemistry education
  • force feedback
  • 3D interaction
  • graph accessibility
  • multimodal interaction