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

Complexity Reduction in Image-Based Breast Cancer Care

The diversity of malignancies of the breast requires personalized diagnostic and therapeutic decision making in a complex situation. This thesis contributes in three clinical areas: (1) For clinical diagnostic image evaluation, computer-aided detection and diagnosis of mass and non-mass lesions in breast MRI is developed. 4D texture features characterize mass lesions. For non-mass lesions, a combined detection/characterisation method utilizes the bilateral symmetry of the breast s contrast agent uptake. (2) To improve clinical workflows, a breast MRI reading paradigm is proposed, exemplified by a breast MRI reading workstation prototype. Instead of mouse and keyboard, it is operated using multi-touch gestures. The concept is extended to mammography screening, introducing efficient navigation aids. (3) Contributions to finite element modeling of breast tissue deformations tackle two clinical problems: surgery planning and the prediction of the breast deformation in a MRI biopsy device

Mobile Auditory Guidance for Public Transportation

Helsingin seudulla on vapaasti saatavilla kattavaa tietoa julkisesta liikenteestä. Tietoa välitetään käyttäjille monien eri sovellusten avulla. Yleensä nämä sovellukset toimittavat tiedon pelkästään visuaalisessa muodossa, jättäen äänen potentiaalin (lisä)tiedon välityksessä täysin vaille huomiota. Graafinen ratkaisu voi olla epäkäytännöllinen ja tiedon saanti vaatia paljon keskittymistä, kun kyseessä on mobiililaite ja informaatio tarvitaan liikenteessä. Tässä työssä suunniteltiin ja kehitettiin täysin toiminnallinen mobiilisovellus reittisuunnittelua ja -opastusta varten. Sovelluksen tavoitteena on minimoida visuaalinen huomiointi ja tarkkailu, toimittaen äänen avulla tietoa perustuen aikatauluihin, kellonaikaan sekä käyttäjän sijaintiin. Päämääränä on tarjota informaatio merkityksellisessä ja helposti ymmärrettävässä muodossa, hyödyntäen muuta ääntä kuin puhetta, vapauttaen käyttäjän silmät ja kädet sekä poistaen tarpeen seurata kellonaikaa. Käytettyjen merkkiäänten tunnistettavuutta ja arvioita niiden ärsyttävyydestä testattiin epämuodollisesti pienellä määrällä koehenkilöitä. Sovelluksen tarkoitus ja äänten metaforat selitettiin lyhyesti, jonka jälkeen suurin osa käytetyistä auditiivisista symboleista tunnistettiin hyvin. Ylipäänsä mitään ääniä hyödyntävän sovelluksen käyttö julkisissa paikoissa ilman kuulokkeita herätti joissakin testihenkilöissä epäilyksiä. Kaiken kaikkiaan sovelluksessa todettiin olevan selviä mahdollisuuksia hyödylliseksi apuvälineeksi ja useimmat koekuuntelijoista havaitsivat ominaisuuksia, joiden he kokivat olevan itselleen käytännöllisiä.Comprehensive information for using public transportation in the Helsinki region is freely available and there are different applications that provide this. These applications, however, typically only provide information in the visual modality, completely neglecting the potential of using audio for conveying (additional) messages. In the context of mobile devices and requiring information while on the move, this can be cumbersome and requires the user to pay a lot of attention to the application in order to get the information. A completely functional mobile application for journey planning and guidance for travelling along a found route was designed and developed in this thesis. The aim for the application is to reduce the attention requirements to a minimum by using sound to deliver useful information to the user based on schedules, time, and the user's location. The objective is to provide the information by meaningful and easily understandable non-speech auditory cues to free the user's eyes and hands while, at the same time, removing the need to pay attention to the time. The recognizability of the used sounds, and estimation of whether they would be useful or annoying, was tested informally by a small number of people. After a brief explanation of the purpose and metaphors of the sounds in the application, most auditory icons were recognized well. Using an application with any sort of sound in public without headphones raised doubts in some. Overall the application was found to have potential for being a helpful aid and most of the test subjects saw elements that would be useful for themselves

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Introduction: Ways of Machine Seeing

How do machines, and, in particular, computational technologies, change the way we see the world? This special issue brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines to explore the entanglement of machines and their ways of seeing from new critical perspectives. This 'editorial' is for a special issue of AI & Society, which includes contributions from: María Jesús Schultz Abarca, Peter Bell, Tobias Blanke, Benjamin Bratton, Claudio Celis Bueno, Kate Crawford, Iain Emsley, Abelardo Gil-Fournier, Daniel Chávez Heras, Vladan Joler, Nicolas Malevé, Lev Manovich, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Perle Møhl, Bruno Moreschi, Fabian Offert, Trevor Paglan, Jussi Parikka, Luciana Parisi, Matteo Pasquinelli, Gabriel Pereira, Carloalberto Treccani, Rebecca Uliasz, and Manuel van der Veen