1,862 research outputs found

    Impact of Accessibility Barriers on the Mood of Blind, Low-vision and Sighted Users

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    Two versions of a website, a non-accessible site (NA-website) and an accessible site (A-website), were tested by 13 participants who were: a) blind users, b) low-vision users and c) users without identified disabilities. The mood of the users and their interaction efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction were recorded as they encountered several web content accessibility barriers. Results show which elements were the major causes of frustration to each user group, and how blind users displayed less criticism than expected to the barriers

    Impact of accessibility barriers on the mood of users with motor and dexterity impairments

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    With the aim of knowing the impact of accessibility problems on persons with motor impairments, we did a user test with this user group. The focus of the test was the analysis of a user’s mood relative to different accessibility barriers comparing two parallel web pages: an accessible one and a non-accessible one. The study identified web forms and Flash elements as the most important aspects for this kind of users. On the one hand these elements are useful to users, and on the other, they raise many accessibility issues. The analysis of results indicate that persons with severe motor impairments are more efficient and effective interacting with web pages, than users with mild motor impairments; a possible explanation for this would be that they use technical aids adapted to their needs while users with mild impairments use standard devices. Overall, users had a positive mood while navigating the accessible web site, and were more negative when interacting with the non-accessible web site. Our investigation contributes to a better understanding of users with motor impairments confronting accessibility barriers.Peer Reviewe

    Impact of accesibility barriers on the mood of users with motor and dexterity impairments

    Get PDF
    With the aim of knowing the impact of accessibility problems on persons with motor impairments, we did a user test with this user group. The focus of the test was the analysis of a user’s mood relative to different accessibility barriers comparing two parallel web pages: an accessible one and a non-accessible one. The study identified web forms and Flash elements as the most important aspects for this kind of users. On the one hand these elements are useful to users, and on the other, they raise many accessibility issues. The analysis of results indicate that persons with severe motor impairments are more efficient and effective interacting with web pages, than users with mild motor impairments; a possible explanation for this would be that they use technical aids adapted to their needs while users with mild impairments use standard devices. Overall, users had a positive mood while navigating the accessible web site, and were more negative when interacting with the non-accessible web site. Our investigation contributes to a better understanding of users with motor impairments confronting accessibility barriers

    Impact of accesibility barriers on the mood of users with motor and dexterity impairments

    Get PDF
    With the aim of knowing the impact of accessibility problems on persons with motor impairments, we did a user test with this user group. The focus of the test was the analysis of a user’s mood relative to different accessibility barriers comparing two parallel web pages: an accessible one and a non-accessible one. The study identified web forms and Flash elements as the most important aspects for this kind of users. On the one hand these elements are useful to users, and on the other, they raise many accessibility issues. The analysis of results indicate that persons with severe motor impairments are more efficient and effective interacting with web pages, than users with mild motor impairments; a possible explanation for this would be that they use technical aids adapted to their needs while users with mild impairments use standard devices. Overall, users had a positive mood while navigating the accessible web site, and were more negative when interacting with the non-accessible web site. Our investigation contributes to a better understanding of users with motor impairments confronting accessibility barriers

    Impact of web accessibility barriers on users with a hearing impairment

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    Several user tests were carried out on people with a hearing impairment to evaluate the impact of different web accessibility barriers on two similar web sites, one accessible and the other not accessible. The tests' focus was to analyze users' moods when faced with different accessibility barriers. Results show "complex text" and "multimedia content without text alternative" as the most critical barriers for users with this profile. Our investigation contributes to a better understanding of users when confronting accessibility barriers, and to emphasize the need of web content authors to use plain language and to provide captions and sign language alternatives in video content

    Digital Barriers: Making Technology Work for People

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    This paper was originally given as an oral presentation at the ‘3rd International Conference for Universal Design’, International Association for Universal Design, Hamamatsu, Japan (2010) and subsequently published. Peer reviewed by the conference’s International Scientific Committee, it looks at how the emerging techniques of design ethnography could be applied in a business context and qualitatively evaluates the benefits. It outlines the differences between inclusive design research conducted for digital devices/services and the large body of existing research on inclusive products, buildings and environments. It advances the view that technology companies are today in danger of repeating the same inclusive design mistakes made by kitchen and bathroom manufacturers 20 years ago, and calls for technology companies to develop new techniques to avoid this happening. The paper charts in detail the challenges and processes involved in transferring academic inclusive design research into the business arena, describing research conducted by Gheerawo and his co-authors on projects with research partners Samsung and BlackBerry. The paper helped define the ‘people and technology’ research theme in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design’s Age & Ability Research Lab, which Gheerawo leads. It was also important, as part of evidence of the benefits of an inclusive technology approach, in persuading a number of companies (Sony, BT, Samsung) to undertake new studies with the Lab. Gheerawo used this pathfinder paper in further work, including an essay on digital communication for www.designingwithpeople.org (i-Design3 project EPSRC), membership of the steering committee for Age UK’s Engage accreditation for business, and lectures at ‘CitiesforAll’ conference, Helsinki (2012), ‘WorkTech’, London (2010), ‘Budapest Design Week’ (2011) and the ‘Business of Ageing’ conference, Dublin (2011). Gheerawo also co-wrote an article ‘Moving towards an encompassing universal design approach in ICT’ in The Journal of Usability Studies (2010), for which he was also a guest editor

    Human-powered smartphone assistance for blind people

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    Mobile devices are fundamental tools for inclusion and independence. Yet, there are still many open research issues in smartphone accessibility for blind people (Grussenmeyer and Folmer 2017). Currently, learning how to use a smartphone is non-trivial, especially when we consider that the need to learn new apps and accommodate to updates never ceases. When first transitioning from a basic feature-phone, people have to adapt to new paradigms of interaction. Where feature phones had a finite set of applications and functions, users can extend the possible functions and uses of a smartphone by installing new 3rd party applications. Moreover, the interconnectivity of these applications means that users can explore a seemingly endless set of workflows across applications. To that end, the fragmented nature of development on these devices results in users needing to create different mental models for each application. These characteristics make smartphone adoption a demanding task, as we found from our eight-week longitudinal study on smartphone adoption by blind people. We conducted multiple studies to characterize the smartphone challenges that blind people face, and found people often require synchronous, co-located assistance from family, peers, friends, and even strangers to overcome the different barriers they face. However, help is not always available, especially when we consider the disparity in each barrier, individual support network and current location. In this dissertation we investigated if and how in-context human-powered solutions can be leveraged to improve current smartphone accessibility and ease of use. Building on a comprehensive knowledge of the smartphone challenges faced and coping mechanisms employed by blind people, we explored how human-powered assistive technologies can facilitate use. The thesis of this dissertation is: Human-powered smartphone assistance by non-experts is effective and impacts perceptions of self-efficacy

    Lifting the Curtain on Opera Translation and Accessibility: Translating Opera for Audiences with Varying Sensory Ability

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    In the multicultural world of today, as boundaries continue to merge and evolve, issues of accessibility and translation are brought to the forefront of political and social debate. Whilst considerable progress has already been achieved in this domain, the international social and legal recognition of the human right of accessibility to the media and arts demands further advancement in the development of facilities to provide universal access to various art forms including theatre, cinema, and opera. With rapidly developing technology, digitisation and an increasingly socially-aware society, the notion of media accessibility is evolving in response to shifting audience expectations. Performing arts and media, such as opera, are called upon to advance further to embrace all audiences and related audiovisual translation methods are progressing. These include audio description and touch tours for the blind and partially-sighted, as well as sign language interpreting and surtitles for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing. These relatively new translation modalities which are consumer-oriented by nature require an original research design for investigation of the translation processes involved. This research design follows two fundamental principles: (1) audience reception studies should be an integral part of the investigation into the translation process; and (2) the translation process is regarded as a network. This present work explores the unique translation processes of audio description, touch tours, surtitles and sign language interpreting within the context of live opera, focusing on the UK and from the perspective of actor-network theory. A twofold methodology is employed which brings together a study of the translator’s role and an audience reception survey. The translator’s task is examined through observational methods and dialogue with professional practitioners of the various aforementioned translation modalities. The audience’s perspective is investigated through analysis of data collected in a pioneering audience reception project conducted in May 2011, in collaboration with Opera North at performances of Bizet’s Carmen. The focus is on findings assessing the mutual impact of the translator’s choices and audience reception on the distinctive process of translating opera for the blind and partially-sighted as well as the deaf and the hard-of-hearing
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