Experimental analysis of the accessibility of drawings with few segments

The visual complexity of a graph drawing is defined as the number of geometric objects needed to represent all its edges. In particular, one object may represent multiple edges, e.g., one needs only one line segment to draw two collinear incident edges. We study the question if drawings with few segments have a better aesthetic appeal and help the user to asses the underlying graph. We design an experiment that investigates two different graph types (trees and sparse graphs), three different layout algorithms for trees, and two different layout algorithms for sparse graphs. We asked the users to give an aesthetic ranking on the layouts and to perform a furthest-pair or shortest-path task on the drawings.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017

Pixelated Interactions: Exploring Pixel Art for Graphical Primitives on a Pin Array Tactile Display

Two-dimensional pin array displays enable access to tactile graphics that are important for the education of students with visual impairments. Due to their prohibitive cost and limited access, there is limited research within HCI and the rules to design graphics on these low-resolution tactile displays are unclear. In this paper, eight tactile readers with visual impairments qualitatively evaluate the implementation of Pixel Art to create tactile graphical primitives on a pin array display. Every pin of the pin array is assumed to be a pixel on a pixel grid. Our findings suggest that Pixel Art tactile graphics on a pin array are clear and comprehensible to tactile readers, positively confirming its use to design basic tactile shapes and line segments. The guidelines provide a consistent framework to create tactile media which implies that they can be used to downsize basic shapes for refreshable pin-array displays

Turning the shelves: empirical findings and space syntax analyses of two virtual supermarket variations

The spatial structure of a virtual supermarket was systematically varied to investigate human behavior and cognitive processes in unusual building configurations. The study builds upon experiments in a regular supermarket, which serve as a baseline case. In a between-participant design a total of 41 participants completed a search task in two different virtual supermarket environments. For 21 participants the supermarket shelves were turned towards them at a 45° angle when entering the store, giving high visual access to product categories and products. For 20 participants the shelves were placed in exactly the opposite direction obstructing a quick development of shopping goods dependencies. The obtained differences in search performance between the two conditions are analyzed using space syntax analyses and comparisons made of environmental features and participants’ actual search path trajectories

EU accession and Poland's external trade policy

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How Do Elementary Students in Turkey and the Czech Republic Perceive the Game Concept? A Phenomenographic Study With Draw and Write Technique

The purpose of this study is to compare the perception concerning game concept of 4th grade students in Turkey and the Czech Republic. 19 fourth grade elementary students in the Czech Republic and 40 fourth grade elementary students in Turkey were selected by criterion and convenience sampling. They responded to a specific question "What is the meaning of game for you?" effectively through writing and drawing. Phenomenographic analysis was used to analyze the data. As a result, it is detected that fourth grade elementary students in Turkey and the Czech Republic perceive the game concept as real games more than digital games. Although the two groups have different cultural characteristics they drew and wrote the same games in some main categories. In addition, students in Turkey drew and wrote digital games less frequently than the students in the Czech Republic

Principles and Guidelines for Advancement of Touchscreen-Based Non-visual Access to 2D Spatial Information

Graphical materials such as graphs and maps are often inaccessible to millions of blind and visually-impaired (BVI) people, which negatively impacts their educational prospects, ability to travel, and vocational opportunities. To address this longstanding issue, a three-phase research program was conducted that builds on and extends previous work establishing touchscreen-based haptic cuing as a viable alternative for conveying digital graphics to BVI users. Although promising, this approach poses unique challenges that can only be addressed by schematizing the underlying graphical information based on perceptual and spatio-cognitive characteristics pertinent to touchscreen-based haptic access. Towards this end, this dissertation empirically identified a set of design parameters and guidelines through a logical progression of seven experiments. Phase I investigated perceptual characteristics related to touchscreen-based graphical access using vibrotactile stimuli, with results establishing three core perceptual guidelines: (1) a minimum line width of 1mm should be maintained for accurate line-detection (Exp-1), (2) a minimum interline gap of 4mm should be used for accurate discrimination of parallel vibrotactile lines (Exp-2), and (3) a minimum angular separation of 4mm should be used for accurate discrimination of oriented vibrotactile lines (Exp-3). Building on these parameters, Phase II studied the core spatio-cognitive characteristics pertinent to touchscreen-based non-visual learning of graphical information, with results leading to the specification of three design guidelines: (1) a minimum width of 4mm should be used for supporting tasks that require tracing of vibrotactile lines and judging their orientation (Exp-4), (2) a minimum width of 4mm should be maintained for accurate line tracing and learning of complex spatial path patterns (Exp-5), and (3) vibrotactile feedback should be used as a guiding cue to support the most accurate line tracing performance (Exp-6). Finally, Phase III demonstrated that schematizing line-based maps based on these design guidelines leads to development of an accurate cognitive map. Results from Experiment-7 provide theoretical evidence in support of learning from vision and touch as leading to the development of functionally equivalent amodal spatial representations in memory. Findings from all seven experiments contribute to new theories of haptic information processing that can guide the development of new touchscreen-based non-visual graphical access solutions

Demography and the Cultural Evolution of Pictorial Styles

Image-making is a nearly-universal human behaviour. Cultures around the world have made images to convey information about living kinds, objects and ideas for at least 75,000 years. However, from a stylistic point of view, the visual strategies and conventions to represent things in pictures can vary greatly over time and space; in particular, pictorial styles can differ in figurativeness, varying from inter-subjectively recognisable representations of things to stylised and abstract forms. Are there any patterns to this variability, and what might its ecological causes be? In recent Cultural Evolution research, factors such as demography and the structure of interaction between groups of individuals have been shown to affect the evolution of languages and technology. Capitalising on these studies, I investigate the style evolution in relation with the socio-demographic variable of population contact, and in particular the influence of inter-group contact on the figurativeness of pictorial representations. For this purpose, I firstly conducted an experimental study, simulating isolated and contact social groups with laboratory micro-societies performing a drawing task; secondly, I quantitatively analysed a real-world dataset of Aboriginal Australian rock art from contact and isolated communities; then I qualitatively explored the evolution of a contemporary pictorial communication item: emoji. Results show that pictorial representations from isolated groups tend to become abstract and opaque to outsiders, whereas in contact groups they retain figurativeness and external understandability. This supports the idea that intergroup contact is an important factor in the cultural evolution of pictorial styles, because the need to communicate with outsiders and be accessible to the widest possible audience encourages figurativeness. I discuss the implications of these findings for the archaeology and anthropology of art, and the parallels with language evolution. Finally, addressing the need for research outreach in Cultural Evolution, I designed the blueprint of an exhibition aimed at disseminating my research findings while offering lay audiences an engaging and transformative experience