Investigating Mobile Learning and Accessibility for Blind Users (original) (raw)
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Mobile Application Model for the Blind
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2007
This study presents a model to design and implement mobile applications to support the displacement and dynamic decision making of users with visual disabilities. To identify the real added value of using mobile technologies as support aids for decision making in dynamic contexts for users with visual disabilities, we provide an application case. By using a graph to represent the computer model of a real school for blind children, for whom a system was already developed using our model, we provide a real example application of this model. This provided enough input to enrich, improve and redesign the model; ending up with a usable mobile application model to assist the mobility and orientation of blind users.
Multimedia Tools and Applications, 2019
Touchscreen devices such as a smartphone, smartwatch, and tablets are essential assistive devices for visually impaired and blind people in performing activities of daily living. The vision alternative accessibility services such as screen readers, multimodal interactions, vibro-tactical, haptic feedback, and gestures are helping blind people in operating touchscreen interfaces. Part of usability problem with today touchscreen user interfaces contributes to a trade-off in discoverability, navigational complexity, cognitive overload, layout persistency, a cumbersome input mechanism, accessibility, and cross-device interactions. One solution to these problems is to design an accessibility-inclusive blind-friendly user interface framework for performing common activities on a smartphone. This framework re-organizes/re-generates the interface components into a simplified blind-friendly user interface based on user profile and contextual recommendations. The paper reports an improvement in the user experience of blind people in performing activities on a smartphone. Forty-one blind people have participated in this empirical study, resulting in improved users and interaction experience in an operating smartphone.
M-Learning for Blind Students Using Touch Screen Mobile Apps Case Study - Special Education in Hail
Abstract - The relative newness of the touch-screen (TS) based device creates a phenomenon unique and unstudied in the academic environment with regard to blind students dependent on Braille. This qualitative research study explores how the use of a multi-modal touch-screen based device affects the academic environment for totally blind students using YouTube videos. The pilot program (android app) included a prototype for the English course offered to fifth grade level pupils attending primary school in Hail, KSA. Data collected from students through a survey and focus group interviews and from the faculty through individual interviews was coded and organized according to the research questions. Findings analysis was organized by way of the study’s conceptual framework: (a) substitution of Braille course materials with YouTube video lessons (b) accessibility and usability of the developed prototype. Findings concluded that the majority of students in this study perceived YouTube course materials on an touch-screen based device (using android app) to be as good as, or better, than Braille course materials, the multi-modal functionality of the touch-screen based device augmented personal study and classroom learning, and the personal use positively contributed to academic use of the device. Keywords- Accessibility; Usability; Touch screen; M-learning; YouTube videos; and Blind students https://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/
Evaluation of Smart Phone Applications Accessibility for Blind Users
International Journal of Computer Applications, 2015
Smart phones are becoming ubiquitous in this globalization era. Number of recent studies focused on web accessibility for blind users and also tries to address problems faced by the vision impaired people. However there is a prominent lack of research on smart phone accessibility for such people. The objective of this research is to review the accessibility of smart phone's features and applications by the visually impaired people. This study highlights the problems faced by such people in accessing the android smart phones. Hypothetical analysis was conducted through survey and different task-sets were designed to evaluate open-source android phones accessibility applications. Some visually impaired users performed task-set to analyze the smart phone usability. The evaluation takes place on the basis of Nielson's design principles. The results conclude that the recent android phone applications still do not meet the requirements and challenges faced by the visually impaired people. Therefore this research recommends designers to build an easily accessible application.
Design e Tecnologia, 2019
When applications intend to support accessibility, several aspects of interface design and usability must be reviewed to adapt or extend common functional requirements that are implemented to ensure easy use of applications. However, initiatives to develop guidelines for accessible mobile applications are recent and several approaches present only suggestions rather than a concrete list of requirements. It is becoming increasingly apparent not only the need for social and digital inclusion of people with disabilities but also the urgency to make devices and applications truly accessible to anyone. This work focuses on accessibility requirements for visually impaired users and it is part of a broader effort that involves different types of impairments. Our research method was based on three main steps. First, from an initial set of 1014 scientific and technical articles, 46 were analyzed to identify requirements that are related to visual impairments. Second, we carried out an observation-based analysis to confirm the importance of these requirements, considering a set of accessibility tests with impaired volunteers. Third, the Design Thinking process was used to implement an application prototype, considering the most important requirements that were identified along with the two first steps. This application was submitted to a user-centered evaluation with volunteers, which also supported the evolution of our requirements. We sought to include prior knowledge aligned with all pre-identified requirements, culminating in something that would add to the procedure greater validation. As the main result, this paper presents the complete roadmap of this process, which resulted in a guideline and evaluation method to support the integration of accessibility aspects into mobile applications.
Third Mobile Accessibility Workshop
Mobile interaction presents challenges that go beyond the traditional desktop contexts. These difficulties become even greater when considering people with disabilities or people without disabilities that experience situational impairments. Further, mobile devices and interfaces have been evolving at an astonishing rate which leads to increasing difficulties in maturing the field and consequently to ensure accessibility by different people and under different circumstances. This workshop aims to bring together researchers from the Mobile HCI, Mobile Accessibility, and Mobile Web areas, towards identifying the most prominent challenges for mobile accessibility and guidelines for a more structured and faster development of accessible solutions.
Modelling, Measurement and Control C
Through screen-reader and Braille display, trained blind persons can nowadays manage to access to a lot of activities using computers. However, graphical interfaces and content where the spatial dimension is essential for understanding, like charts, pictures or the majority of videogames, are remaining hardly accessible. The Tactos and Intertact.net technologies are aimed to overcome these limits by providing an efficient sensory supplementation technology enabling blind users to access the spatial dimension of content through touch. Following a participatory design approach, we have worked in cooperation with blind persons to develop a learning environment for touch access to digital content with Tactos. Adoption is important when it comes to develop technologies and we report here on the research we conduct for enabling an independent learning of our system by blind persons. From our perspective, this possibility is a cornerstone for the development of a users' community.
Mobile Browsable Information Access for the Visually Impaired
AMCIS 2004 …, 2004
Although a large amount of research has been done on building interfaces for the visually impaired that allows users to read web pages and to generate and access information on computers, little development addresses two problems faced by the blind users. First, sighted users can rapidly browse and select information they find useful, and second, sighted users can make much useful information portable through the recent proliferation of personal data assistants (PDA's). We describe an interface that has been built on a standard PDA that allows its user to browse the information stored on it through a combination of screen touches coupled with auditory feedback. The system also supports the storage and management of personal information so that addresses, music, directions and other supportive information can be readily created and then accessed anytime and anywhere by the PDA user. The system plus the design choices and design rationale are described.