Investigating the appropriateness and relevance of mobile web accessibility guidelines

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develop and maintain guidelines for making the web more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 2.0 and the MWBP 1.0 are internationally regarded as the industry standard guidelines for web accessibility. Mobile testing sessions conducted by AbilityNet document issues raised by users in a report format, relating issues to guidelines wherever possible. This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation that examines how effectively and easily these issues can be related by experts to the guidelines provided by WCAG 2.0 and MWBP 1.0. Copyright 2014 ACM

W3C Accessibility Guidelines for Mobile Games

In the past decade, video games have become one of the fastest growing forms or entertainment around the world. In particular, mobile gaming has continued to evolve, becoming increasingly popular for billions of people worldwide. An ongoing issue within this subject is the accessibility issues users' face when playing these types of games. The purpose of this work is to investigate how well current W3C accessibility guidelines support mobile game development. This paper introduces a study that was carried out to determine the current knowledge that participants have of these guidelines, along with the opinions on how important these accessibility guidelines are when creating accessible mobile game content

Accessibility Evaluation of E-Government Mobile Applications in Brazil

AbstractThe provision of e-government services using mobile applications (known as m-government) has had a significant growth in recent years. However, it is very important that such applications be accessible to people with disabilities in order to ensure inclusive access. Using appropriate accessibility auditing methods is very important to help identify accessibility problems in interactive systems during their development. However, there has been little support in terms of formal standard accessibility guidelines to help develop and evaluate mobile applications. In this paper, we present a case study with the evaluation of four e-government mobile applications in Brazil using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. The paper discusses the methodological adaptations of WCAG 2.0 for the context of mobile applications and its current limitations. The results of the evaluations performed in the four applications in the case study showed that many elementary accessibility problems widely known by HCI researchers were encountered extensively in the applications evaluated. This highlights the importance of furthering research in accessibility design and evaluation of mobile applications, in order to provide more inclusive access to essential applications used by all citizens, such as e-government services

Towards an understanding of corporate web identity

No abstract available

A Framework for Information Accessibility in Large Video Repositories

International audienceOnline videos are a medium of choice for young adults to access or receive information, and recent work has highlighted that it is a particularly effective medium for adults with intellectual disability, by its visual nature. Reflecting on a case study presenting fieldwork observations of how adults with intellectual disability engage with videos on the Youtube platform, we propose a framework to define and evaluate the accessibility of such large video repositories, from an informational perspective. The proposed framework nuances the concept of information accessibility from that of the accessibility of information access interfaces themselves (generally catered for under web accessibility guidelines), or that of the documents (generally covered in general accessibility guidelines). It also includes a notion of search (or browsing) accessibility, which reflects the ability to reach the document containing the information. In the context of large information repositories, this concept goes beyond how the documents are organized into how automated processes (browsing or searching) can support users. In addition to the framework we also detail specifics of document accessibility for videos. The framework suggests a multi-dimensional approach to information accessibility evaluation which includes both cognitive and sensory aspects. This framework can serve as a basis for practitioners when designing video information repositories accessible to people with intellectual disability, and extends on the information presentation guidelines such as suggested by the WCAG. Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM acknowledges that this contribution was authored or co-authored by an employee, contractor or affiliate of a national government. As such, the Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free right to publish or reproduce this article, or to allow others to do so, for Government purposes only

The state of web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities: a rapid evidence assessment

Increased digitisation of day-to-day activities was occurring prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic only accelerated the virtual shift, making web accessibility an urgent issue, especially for marginalised populations. Despite decades of work to develop, refine, and implement web accessibility standards, people with cognitive disabilities regularly experience many barriers to web accessibility. To inform ongoing work to improve web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, a systematic review was conducted. The main question guiding this review is: what are the state-of-the-art of interventions that support web accessibility for citizens, 9 years of age and up, living with cognitive impairment? A set of 50 search strings were entered into three academic databases: SCOPUS, ProQuest, and Web of Science. Systematic screening procedures narrowed the search returns to a total of 45 included papers. A data analysis revealed themes associated with the lived experiences of people with cognitive disabilities, tools for improving web accessibility, and methodological best practices for involving people with cognitive disabilities in research. These findings have immediate implications for ongoing research and the development of meaningful solutions to the problem of web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Portuguese and spanish DMOs’ accessibility Apps and websites

“Tourism for all” is based on three main aspects: accessible tourism, sustainable tourism and social tourism. Accessibility is an essential part of responsible and sustainable tourism. A sizable segment of the population comprises people who have a type of disability or people who are older and, as a result of age, experience diminished physical and/or mental abilities. The aim of this study is to analyze whether the mobile applications and websites of Portuguese and Spanish Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) are accessible. For this purpose, accessible destinations listed by the Tur4all project were taken as a sample for a quantitative exploratory study. Several tools related to accessibility were used to determine their level of compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. The results reveal that the percentage of non-compliance with accessibility criteria is very high in DMOs in Portugal and especially in Spain. In conclusion, tourism for all is important, including its digital tools. The practical implications include guidance on accessibility for institutions and companies, as well as a need to raise awareness of its importance in the tourism sector. This is the only study that analyzes the accessibility of both apps and websites of the same institution according to the requirements in WCAG 2.1.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A human factors perspective on volunteered geographic information

This thesis takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the unique abilities of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) to enhance the utility of online mashups in ways not achievable with Professional Geographic Information (PGI). The key issues currently limiting the use of successful of VGI are the concern for quality, accuracy and value of the information, as well as the polarisation and bias of views within the user community. This thesis reviews different theoretical approaches in Human Factors, Geography, Information Science and Computer Science to help understand the notion of user judgements relative to VGI within an online environment (Chapter 2). Research methods relevant to a human factors investigation are also discussed (Chapter 3). (Chapter 5) The scoping study established the fundamental insights into the terminology and nature of VGI and PGI, a range of users were engaged through a series of qualitative interviews. This led the development of a framework on VGI (Chapter 4), and comparative description of users in relation to one another through a value framework (Chapter 5). Study Two produced qualitative multi-methods investigation into how users perceive VGI and PGI in use (Chapter 6), demonstrating similarities and the unique ability for VGI to provide utility to consumers. Chapter Seven and Study Three brought insight into the specific abilities for VGI to enhance the user judgement of online information within an information relevance context (Chapter 7 and 8). In understanding the outcomes of these studies, this thesis discusses how users perceive VGI as different from PGI in terms of its benefit to consumers from a user centred design perspective (Chapter 9). In particular, the degree to which user concerns are valid, the limitation of VGI in application and its potential strengths in enriching the user experiences of consumers engaged within an information search. In conclusion, specific contributions and avenues for further work are highlighted (Chapter 10)