Δοκιμασία και Παρουσίαση Δωρεάν Εφαρμογών για Άτομα με Απώλεια Όρασης σε λειτουργικό Android

Η παρούσα εργασία είχε σκοπό να συλλέξει, να δοκιμάσει, να φιλτράρει, να κατηγοριοποιήσει και να εκθέσει πληροφορίες για λογισμικές εφαρμογές στον τομέα της υποστηρικτικής τεχνολογίας για άτομα με αναπηρία. Συγκεκριμένα, επίκεντρο της εργασίας ήταν η ανάπτυξη δωρεάν εφαρμογών για κινητές συσκευές και tablets, που έχουν εγκατεστημένο λειτουργικό android και μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν τόσο από άτομα με απώλεια όρασης όσο και από χρήστες που έχουν στο περιβάλλον τους άτομα με απώλεια όρασης. Οι πληροφορίες που συλλέχθηκαν από τα αποτελέσματα της εργασίας τοποθετήθηκαν στην ιστοθέση mΑΘΗΝΑ (http://access.uoa.gr/mATHENA/ ) στην Ελληνική και Αγγλική γλώσσα και διατίθενται δωρεάν στους χρήστες σαν αποθετήριο στο όποιο μπορεί να ανατρέξει ο χρήστης και να ενημερωθεί για τις εφαρμογές αυτές αλλά και για πληροφορίες όπως κριτικές, αξιοπιστία, συμβατότητα, ρυθμίσεις εγκατάστασης, κατασκευαστές, λειτουργικότητα και έκδοση λειτουργικού. Οι εφαρμογές πoυ εξετάσθηκαν ήταν συνολικά 171, ενώ τελικά απορρίφθηκαν 68 και επιλέχθηκαν και ανέβηκαν στο mATHENA 103. Οι κύριοι άξονες στους οποίους κινείται η διπλωματική εργασία είναι τέσσερις: α) Παθήσεις όρασης: ορισμός, κατηγοριοποίηση, χαρακτηριστικά, αιτίες, β) Λογισμικό Android: βασικές έννοιες, χαρακτηριστικά, εξελικτική πορεία, γ) Ιστοσελίδα mΑΘΗΝΑ: ορισμός, επεξήγηση πεδίων, περιήγηση, σκοπός και δ) Εφαρμογές Android για χρήστες με απώλεια όρασης: κατηγορίες και τρόπος εξαγωγής αυτών, μεθοδολογία επιλογής και απόρριψης εφαρμογών, παρουσίαση και ανάλυση εφαρμογών σε Ελληνικά και ΑγγλικάThe purpose of this work was to collect, test, filter, categorize and publish information about assistive technology software applications for persons with disabilities. In particular, the focus of this work was on the analysis of free applications for mobile devices and tablets with Android operating system and can be used by both blind and those with low vision. The information gathered from the results of the survey was placed on the mΑΘΗΝΑ website (http://access.uoa.gr/mATHENA/ ) in the Greek and English language and is available to users free of charge as a reository where the user can browse and be informed about these applications as well as get relative information, such as reviews, reliability, compatibility, installation settings, manufacturers, functionality and operating version. 171 applications were investigated, while 68 were finally rejected and 103 selected and uploaded to mATHENA. The main axes in which the diploma thesis is conducted are four: a) Visual impairment: definition, categorization, characteristics, causes, b) Android operating system: definition and building blocks, characteristics, progress, c) mATHENA website: definition, fields explanation, site navigation, purpose and d) Android Apps for Visually Impaired Users: methods of classifying, methodology for approvement and rejection of selected apps, application analysis and presentation in Greek and English language

Bahasa Melayu (BM) Screen Reader for Visually Impaired Internet Users

Currently, the Internet usage is rising at a frenzied rate as knowledge and information sharing becomes easy and is time-saving. Regrettably, the visually impaired do not enjoy this liberty and they are facing difficulties in using computer and the Internet to seize any shared and available information. This difficulty is faced especially among the visually impaired Malay language medium Internet user. Specifically, existing screen reader cannot fully cater for users who need to browse the Malay language web pages. The inability of screen reader narration to enunciate Malay words correctly has become a restriction for the visually impaired to acquire any information in the Malay language. Narration of the words are done by non-Malay speakers and the enunciation of those words confuses and at times, do not help users. Thus, this project addresses this issue by investigating the difficulties for visually impaired Internet user to understand what is spoken when using screen readers without a native Malay narrator or speaker. This project aims to reduce the time needed for the visually impaired to understand the information in the Malay language read by the narrator of the screen reader. This project also strives to develop a screen reader prototype, which is able to read in Bahasa Melayu (BM) using local accent. To achieve all the objectives, preliminary interviews and testing session were conducted to collect data to test the hypothesis made. The findings are then will be used as main source of data to develop a prototype of the screen reader. From the built prototype, user testing will be conducted with a sample group of visually impaired to test the functionalities and evaluate the effectiveness of the software. The results and recommendations will be shared by the end of the project as a key milestone for future enhancement

Bahasa Melayu (BM) Screen Reader for Visually Impaired Internet Users

Currently, the Internet usage is rising at a frenzied rate as knowledge and information sharing becomes easy and is time-saving. Regrettably, the visually impaired do not enjoy this liberty and they are facing difficulties in using computer and the Internet to seize any shared and available information. This difficulty is faced especially among the visually impaired Malay language medium Internet user. Specifically, existing screen reader cannot fully cater for users who need to browse the Malay language web pages. The inability of screen reader narration to enunciate Malay words correctly has become a restriction for the visually impaired to acquire any information in the Malay language. Narration of the words are done by non-Malay speakers and the enunciation of those words confuses and at times, do not help users. Thus, this project addresses this issue by investigating the difficulties for visually impaired Internet user to understand what is spoken when using screen readers without a native Malay narrator or speaker. This project aims to reduce the time needed for the visually impaired to understand the information in the Malay language read by the narrator of the screen reader. This project also strives to develop a screen reader prototype, which is able to read in Bahasa Melayu (BM) using local accent. To achieve all the objectives, preliminary interviews and testing session were conducted to collect data to test the hypothesis made. The findings are then will be used as main source of data to develop a prototype of the screen reader. From the built prototype, user testing will be conducted with a sample group of visually impaired to test the functionalities and evaluate the effectiveness of the software. The results and recommendations will be shared by the end of the project as a key milestone for future enhancement

A Novel Design of Audio CAPTCHA for Visually Impaired Users

CAPTCHAs are widely used by web applications for the purpose of security and privacy. However, traditional text-based CAPTCHAs are not suitable for sighted users much less users with visual impairments. To address the issue, this paper proposes a new mechanism for CAPTCHA called HearAct, which is a real-time audio-based CAPTCHA that enables easy access for users with visual impairments. The user listens to the sound of something (the “sound-maker”), and he/she must identify what the sound-maker is. After that, HearAct identifies a word and requires the user to analyze a word and determine whether it has the stated letter or not. If the word has the letter, the user must tap and if not, they swipe. This paper presents our HearAct pilot study conducted with thirteen blind users. The preliminary user study results suggest the new form of CAPTCHA has a lot of potential for both blind and visual users. The results also show that the HearAct CAPTCHA can be solved in a shorter time than the text-based CAPTCHAs because HearAct allows users to solve the CAPTCHA using gestures instead of typing. Thus, participants preferred HearAct over audio-based CAPTCHAs. The results of the study also show that the success rate of solving the HearAct CAPTCHA is 82.05% and 43.58% for audio CAPTCHA. A significant usability differences between the System Usability score for HearAct CAPTCHA method was 88.07 compared to audio CAPTCHA was 52.11%. Using gestures to solve the CAPTCHA challenge is the most preferable feature in the HearAct solution. To increase the security of HearAct, it is necessary to increase the number of sounds in the CAPTCHA. There is also a need to improve the CAPTCHA solution to cover wide range of users by adding corresponding image with each sound to meet deaf users’ needs; they then need to identify the spelling of the sound maker’s word

Using Information Communications Technologies to Implement Universal Design for Learning

The purpose of this paper is to assist Ministries of Education, their donors and partners, Disabled Persons Organizations (DPOs), and the practitioner community funded by and working with USAID to select, pilot, and (as appropriate) scale up ICT4E solutions to facilitate the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), with a particular emphasis on supporting students with disabilities to acquire literacy and numeracy skills. The paper focuses primarily on how technology can support foundational skills acquisition for students with disabilities, while also explaining when, why, and how technologies that assist students with disabilities can, in some applications, have positive impacts on all students’ basic skills development. In 2018, USAID released the Toolkit for Universal Design for Learning to Help All Children Read, section 3.1 of which provides basic information on the role of technologies to support UDL principles and classroom learning. This paper expands upon that work and offers more extensive advice on using ICT4E1 to advance equitable access to high quality learning. Like the UDL toolkit, the audience for this guide is mainly Ministries of Education and development agencies working in the area of education, but this resource can also be helpful for DPOs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) wishing to pilot or spearhead ICT initiatives. Content for this paper was informed by expert interviews and reviews of field reports during 2018. These included programs associated with United Nations, Zero Project, World Innovation Summit, UNESCO Mobile Learning Awards, and USAID’s All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. Relevant case studies of select education programs integrating technology to improve learning outcomes for students with disabilities were summarized for this document

BRAILLESHAPES : efficient text input on smartwatches for blind people

Tese de Mestrado, Engenharia Informática, 2023, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiênciasMobile touchscreen devices like smartphones or smartwatches are a predominant part of our lives. They have evolved, and so have their applications. Due to the constant growth and advancements in technology, using such devices as a means to accomplish a vast amount of tasks has become common practice. Nonetheless, relying on touch-based interactions, requiring good spatial ability and memorization inherent to mobile devices, and lacking sufficient tactile cues, makes these devices visually demanding, thus providing a strenuous interaction modality for visually impaired people. In scenarios occurring in movement-based contexts or where onehanded use is required, it is even more apparent. We believe devices like smartwatches can provide numerous advantages when addressing such topics. However, they lack accessible solutions for several tasks, with most of the existing ones for mobile touchscreen devices targeting smartphones. With communication being of the utmost importance and intrinsic to humankind, one task, in particular, for which it is imperative to provide solutions addressing its surrounding accessibility concerns is text entry. Since Braille is a reading standard for blind people and provided positive results in prior work regarding accessible text entry approaches, we believe using it as the basis for an accessible text entry solution can help solidify a standardization for this type of interaction modality. It can also allow users to leverage previous knowledge, reducing possible extra cognitive load. Yet, even though Braille-based chording solutions achieved good results, due to the reduced space of the smartwatch’s touchscreen, a tapping approach is not the most feasible. Hence, we found the best option to be a gesture-based solution. Therefore, with this thesis, we explored and validated the concept and feasibility of Braille-based shapes as the foundation for an accessible gesture-based smartwatch text entry method for visually impaired people

Έλεγχος, Δοκιμασία και Παρουσίαση Δωρεάν Εφαρμογών για άτομα με απώλεια Όρασης σε iOS συσκευές

Με την είσοδο των Smartphones και Tablets στην αγορά εμφανίστηκαν νέες ευκαιρίες στον τομέα της υποστηρικτικής τεχνολογίας (AT) για τα άτομα με αναπηρία. Η υποστήριξη των αναγκών των ατόμων με αναπηρία και η κάλυψή τους μέσω των λογισμικών εφαρμογών αποτελεί την βάση της συγκεκριμένης έρευνας. Αρχικά ασχοληθήκαμε με την ανανέωση των πληροφοριών των προγραμμάτων ανοιχτού κώδικα που βρίσκονται στην ιστοθέση Αθηνά (http://access.uoa.gr/ATHENA/gre/pages/home). Προγράμματα που διατίθενται δωρεάν στους χρήστες και καλύπτουν ανάγκες των ατόμων με αναπηρία. Η ανανέωση κρίθηκε αναγκαία, αρχικά λόγω της εξέλιξης στο κομμάτι των λογισμικών σταθερών υπολογιστών, άρα και της συμβατότητας των προγραμμάτων αυτών με τα νέα περιβάλλοντα φιλοξενίας τους. Εν συνεχεία εξαιτίας της ανανέωσης των τεχνικών χαρακτηριστικών των εφαρμογών. Κομμάτι της παραπάνω ιστοθέσης αποτελεί το αποθετήριο εφαρμογών για κινητές συσκευές m-Αθηνά. Η ανάπτυξη εφαρμογών κινητών συσκευών που εξυπηρετούν τα ΑμεΑ έφερε νέα δεδομένα στην χρήση smartphones και tablets από την συγκεκριμένη ομάδα. Σε αυτό το σημείο έρχεται να βοηθήσει το δεύτερο κομμάτι της έρευνας μας. Συγκεκριμένα αναζητήσαμε, δοκιμάσαμε, επιλέξαμε, αξιολογήσαμε και απορρίψαμε εφαρμογές γραμμένες για iOS συσκευές που εξυπηρετούν άτομα με απώλεια όρασης. Στην συνέχεια τις συγκεντρώσαμε, τις κατηγοριοποιήσαμε ανάλογα με τις ανάγκες που εξυπηρετούν και τις παρουσιάσαμε στην ελληνική και αγγλική γλώσσα. Η παρουσίαση των συγκεκριμένων εφαρμογών έχει να κάνει τόσο με τα τεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά τα οποία παρουσιάζουν, όσο και με τον σκοπό και την ανάγκη των χρηστών την οποία καλύπτουν. Η διαδικασία της αναζήτησης για εφαρμογές κινητών που πληρούν τις συγκεκριμένες ανάγκες των χρηστών δεν είναι ένα εύκολο έργο από τους τελικούς χρήστες αλλά και για τους επαγγελματίες στον τομέα της αποκατάστασης για άτομα με αναπηρία. Ακόμη και όταν βρίσκουν τελικά αυτό που ψάχνουν, υπάρχει μια σειρά από ζητήματα που προκύπτουν σε σχέση με την αξιοπιστία, σταθερότητα, συμβατότητα και λειτουργικότητα των εφαρμογών υποστηρικτικής τεχνολογίας. Η αναζήτηση έγινε με συγκεκριμένες λέξεις κλειδιά που όρισε μια ομάδα ειδικών της υποστηρικτής τεχνολογίας. Η τελική δοκιμή έγινε με της τελευταίας τεχνολογίας iOS συσκευές (iPhone, iPad). Πιο συγκεκρ ιμένα μελετήσαμε πάνω από 300 δωρεάν εφαρμογές από τις οποίες μόνο οι 92 ικανοποιούσαν τα κριτήρια τα οποία θέσαμε κατά την επιλογή τους. Σκοπός μας να δώσουμε στην ομάδα των ανθρώπων οι οποίοι το χρειάζονται έναν ολοκληρωμένο και ενημερωμένο κατάλογο σύμφωνα με τις εξελίξεις της τεχνολογίας και της αγοράς, δωρεάν εφαρμογών σε iOS περιβάλλον, οι οποίες θα συμβάλλουν στο να κάνουν πιο εύκολη την καθημερινότητα τουςThe entry of smartphones and tablets in the market emerged new opportunities in the domain of Assistive Technology (AT) for persons with disabilities. The support needs of people with disabilities and their coverage through the software applications are the basis of this study. Firstly we made the renewal of the fields of information of open source programs located in website (http://access.uoa.gr/ATHENA/gre/pages/home). These programs are available to users and related with the solution of the problems that people with special needs have. The renewal was necessary, firstly because of the evolution in the track of desktop computer software, secondly because of the renewal of the technical characteristics of applications. Piece of the above website is the repository of mobile applications m-Athena. The application development of mobile devices serving the disabled brought new data on the use of smartphones and tablets. At this point the second part of our investigation is very important. Specifically we searched, tasted, selected, evaluated and rejected applications written for iOS devices that serve people who are visually impaired. Then the collected applications, categorized according to the needs they serve and presented in Greek and English language. The presentation of these applications has to deal with their technical characteristics and the needs of visually impaired people. The search process for mobile AT applications that fulfill specific user needs is not an easy task by the end-users, their facilitators as well as the professionals in the area of rehabilitation for the disabled. Even, when they finally find what they are looking for; a number of questions are raised relative to the reliability, stability, compatibility and functionality of the AT applications. Τhe web-search based on specific keywords that a AT experts team appointed. In final test we use the latest iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). Specifically we studied over 300 free apps of which only 92 meet the criteria we set. We aim to give a complete and updated list of the latest free apps on iOS, these applications will help to make easier the daily life of visually impaired people

BlueEyes: assistive technology for visually impaired and blind people - a bluetooth

This report is presented to draw one solution “people to people” (P2P) through the mobile technology that promotes the change in the field of sustainability in relation to the Application system. The HCI interaction field, as the basis for the study of this project, is defined as a multidisciplinary field of knowledge, focusing on the design of computer technology and, in particular, on the interaction between humans and computers. For the development of this project it was necessary enough research information on the technologies that will be needed to create an application mobile. All this research and design belongs to just one of the various stages of this project that has the base of operations at ESEC

BlueEyes: assistive technology for visually impaired and blind people - a bluetooth

This report is presented to draw one solution “people to people” (P2P) through the mobile technology that promotes the change in the field of sustainability in relation to the Application system. The HCI interaction field, as the basis for the study of this project, is defined as a multidisciplinary field of knowledge, focusing on the design of computer technology and, in particular, on the interaction between humans and computers. For the development of this project it was necessary enough research information on the technologies that will be needed to create an application mobile. All this research and design belongs to just one of the various stages of this project that has the base of operations at ESEC