Literature Reviews

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

• A survey of open accessibility data

  Chaohai Ding, Mike Wald, Gary Wills (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper surveys the landscape of open accessibility data in the UK, focusing on geographic and location-based datasets that could help people with disabilities navigate physical spaces and plan travel. The authors examine five data sources: Wheelm…

  • open data
  • linked data
  • accessible travel
  • crowdsourcing
  • semantic web
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • transportation accessibility

• Linked Data-Driven Decision Support for Accessible Travelling

  Chaohai Ding, Mike Wald, Gary Wills (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper proposes using Linked Data principles to build a decision support system (DSS) for accessible travel planning, primarily targeting people with mobility difficulties. The core problem is that accessibility information ab…

  • linked data
  • semantic web
  • accessible travel
  • mobility impairment
  • decision support system
  • open data
  • wayfinding
  • route planning
  • data integration

• Empowering Accessible Gesture Input Design with Gesture-A11Y

  Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania) introduces Gesture-A11Y, the first open-access web-based tool and database for accessible gesture input design, containing over 22,000 gesture records collected from 122 users with visua…

  • gesture interaction
  • motor accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • mobile accessibility
  • wearable technology
  • open data
  • input methods
  • wheelchair accessibility

• Do Web Users with Autism Experience Barriers When Searching for Information Within Web Pages?

  Sukru Eraslan, Victoria Yaneva, Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper provides empirical evidence that adults with high-functioning autism experience real barriers when searching for information on web pages, using eye tracking to reveal the underlying differences in visual attention patterns. The study empl…

  • autism
  • eye tracking
  • web accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • scanpath analysis
  • visual attention
  • neurodivergence
  • user study
  • information search
  • web searching
  • WCAG
  • open data
  • weak central coherence
  • stimulus overselectivity

• Detecting Autism Based on Eye-Tracking Data from Web Searching Tasks

  Victoria Yaneva, Le An Ha, Sukru Eraslan, Yeliz Yesilada, Ruslan Mitkov (2018) — Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates whether eye-tracking data collected during everyday web tasks can be used to distinguish between people with and without autism, potentially enabling a low-cost, accessible screening approach. The study collected gaze data fro…

  • autism
  • eye tracking
  • machine learning
  • web accessibility
  • cognitive accessibility
  • screening
  • diagnostic classification
  • visual attention
  • user study
  • gaze data
  • web searching
  • open data
  • neurodivergence

• AccessMap Website Demonstration: Individualized, Accessible Pedestrian Trip Planning at Scale

  Nicholas Bolten, Anat Caspi (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This demonstration paper presents AccessMap, an open-source, city-scale interactive web map that provides individualized pedestrian infrastructure information and automatic trip planning for people with diverse mobility needs. The core problem is tha…

  • accessible mapping
  • pedestrian accessibility
  • mobility impairment
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • wayfinding
  • open data
  • personalization
  • trip planning
  • built environment accessibility
  • open source

• UnlockedMaps: Visualizing Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Using a Web-Based Map

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Trung-Anh Nguyen, Luna Chen, Kent Richard Zeng, Lanqing Hou, Xuhai Xu (2022) — Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-source web-based map that visualizes the real-time accessibility status of urban rail transit stations across six North American cities: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, a…

  • transit accessibility
  • elevator outages
  • web-based maps
  • open data
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • mobility disabilities
  • urban accessibility
  • civic technology

• UnlockedMaps: A Web-Based Map for Visualizing the Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Stations

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Qianqian Yu, Trung-Anh H. Nguyen, Xuhai Xu (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-data web-based map that visualizes the real-time elevator status of urban rail transit stations in six North American cities: Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Toronto. The work addresse…

  • transit accessibility
  • urban accessibility
  • open data
  • web-based maps
  • elevator outages
  • wheelchair accessibility
  • mobility disability
  • civic hacking
  • participatory design

• UnlockedMaps: A Web-Based Map for Visualizing the Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Stations

  Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Qianqian Yu, Trung-Anh H. Nguyen, Xuhai Xu (2023) — Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-data web-based map that visualizes the real-time accessibility status of urban rail transit stations across six North American cities. The system addresses a critical gap: commuters who depend on functioning …

  • transit accessibility
  • mobility disabilities
  • open data
  • web-based maps
  • urban accessibility
  • elevator outages
  • participatory design

• Gesture-A11Y: A Large-Scale Hub for Accessible Gesture Input

  Mihail Terenti, Laura-Bianca Bilius, Ovidiu-Ciprian Ungurean, Radu-Daniel Vatavu (2025) — Proceedings of the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025)

  This paper introduces Gesture-A11Y, a large-scale, open-source, web-based hub that serves as a searchable database of gesture input data collected from users with visual or motor disabilities. The tool is the culmination of an eight-year research eff…

  • gesture input
  • motor disabilities
  • visual disabilities
  • open data
  • accessible interaction design
  • touchscreen gestures
  • wearable devices