Structure Extraction from Presentation Slide Information

Abstract. Electronic presentations are used in numerous scenarios, such as lectures and meetings. In recent years, the widespread use of electronic presentations means that presentation slide data is increasing as one of industry’s most important information resources. Therefore, it is neces-sary to develop a practical usage method for the reutilisation of the data on slides. An approach to achieve this is to focus on visual structure information within a slide, because visual structure information is one of the most valuable, easy to understand methods for humans. However, since visual structure information is not explicitly defined in the slide data itself, computers have difficulty comprehending structure informa-tion directly. In this paper, we propose a method of extracting structure information from slide information. The proposed method is composed of two steps: organising objects within the slide as units, such as title, body text, figure and table, and structuring the units as a hierarchy tree based on a top-down approach

Preserving the Spatial Information of Accessible UML Class Diagrams for the Visually Impaired

One of the aspects that still needs to be fully accessible to persons with Visual Impairments or Blindness is programming and software engineering as a profession. UML diagrams are still an area to be improved when it comes to accessibility: How to make these diagrams more available? What kind of representation is more proper and efficient? This exploratory research suggests a scheme to navigate UML class diagram, with focus on presenting spatial information with related alternative text. In this research we try to find whether the suggested methodology is helping programmers and students with visual impairment in identifying and reading class diagrams more efficiently, and if they can build a cognitive map of the diagram. For testing and improving the suggested navigation scheme, we built a prototype and designed a study. We found that the navigational scheme is helping to find different connections and relations easily, but reaching a specific point with a jump or search function is needed. Also the participant were able to build a cognitive map of the class components. This research is targeting a very specific user demography which includes persons with visual impairment who want to pursue Software Engineering as a profession, or persons who would have some classes in programming

Accessibilité aux informations visuelles des pages web pour les non-voyants

Le principal objectif de cette thèse est d'améliorer l'accessibilité à l'information visuelle des pages web pour les non voyants. En se basant d'une part sur le concept des Images de Pages (IdP) et sur le Modèle d'Architecture Textuelle (MAT) qui permettent de représenter la dimension visuelle d'un objet textuel, et d'autre part, sur le modèle RDF (Resource Description Framework) qui permet de décrire les pages web, nous avons conçu un nouveau modèle appelé MAP-RDF (Modèle d’Architecture des Pages web). Ce modèle permet de représenter les informations qui restent « cachées » aux non-voyants tels que la structure de la page, les groupements visuels et leurs propriétés ainsi que les relations associant ces groupements. Toutes ces informations sont traduites par la suite dans les termes d'un langage tactile que nous avons élaboré. Nous avons également réalisé une évaluation des Images de Pages Web tactiles auprès de sujets non-voyants. Les résultats étant très prometteurs, nous avons pu développer un prototype qui permet d'une part, d'annoter une page web suivant notre modèle, et d'autre part de générer automatiquement l'affichage en tactile de la page web répartie selon trois niveaux de granularité d'Images de Pages que nous avons identifiés expérimentalement.The main objective of my thesis is to enhance the accessibility to the visual information in web pages for the blind users. Based on the concepts of IdP and MAT that offer a representation of the visual aspect of a textual object and on the RDF model that facilitates the description of the web pages, we conceived a new model that we called MAP-RDF. This model offers a representation of the visual information that remains hidden to the blind, like the visual structure of the page, the visual groupings, their properties and the relations that associate these groupings. The totality of this information is translated into the terms of a tactile language that we developed. We also fulfilled an evaluation of the tactile Images of Pages (IdP) with blind persons. The results being very promising, we could develop a prototype that permits the annotation of web pages according to our model. It can also generate automatically a tactile view of the web page in which the visual information is distributed into three levels of granularity that we defined experimentally

Can We Work Together?

People have a versatility to adapt to various situations in order to communicate with each other regardless of a person's disability. We research separate computer interfaces to support remote synchronous collaboration in two situations. First, a deaf person collaborating with a hearing person uses a shared workspace with video conferencing, such as the Facetop system. Second, a blind person collaborating with a sighted person uses our loosely coupled custom shared workspace called Deep View. The design features of the respective interfaces accommodate the disability of a deaf person or a blind person and enable communication with a person without a disability. The interfaces expand the ways in which people with disabilities participate in a collaborative task to a level of detail not possible without our interfaces. The design features of our user interfaces provide alternative channels for the collaborators with disabilities to communicate ideas or coordinate actions that collaborators without disabilities would otherwise do verbally or visually. We evaluate the interfaces through three user studies where collaborators complete full fledged tasks that require managing all aspects of communication to complete the task. Throughout the research we collaborated with members of the Deaf community and members of the blind community. We incorporated the feedback from members of these communities into the implementation of our interfaces. The members participated in our user studies to evaluate the interfaces

Localization Provision in New Zealand: Arabic Speakers' Preference for Different Paralingual Webpage Layouts.

This research is designed to test Arabic speakers’ preference for different paralingual webpage layouts to assist newcomers to New Zealand such as international students,refugees and immigrants who have inadequate English language proficiency to access vital information available on governmental websites. Paralingual is coined from the prefix ‘Para’ (which means side by side or together in Greek), and ‘lingual’ meaning language such as in bilingual (grasp of two languages). Mixed and triangulation methods were used to collect data consisting of an online websurvey; an eye tracking experiment; and participants’ interviews. The results show: a) That the mainstreams of Arabic speakers prefer English text on the left and the Arabic translation on the right as a paralingual webpage layout; b) That inadequate English language proficiency discourages Arabic speaking newcomers from accessing governmental websites; c) That paralingual web design could be used as an educational tool; d) That paralingual web design is easier to read; and e) That paralingual web design increases trust in the government. There have been limitations such as the participation of refugees and immigrants in the eye tracking experiment and the participants’ interviews. There have been recommendations such as the use of paralingual web design in governmental websites for maternity and medical health