The Silence After the Beep: Envisioning an Emergency Information System to Serve the Visually Impaired

Due to a series of legal and regulatory setbacks, media accessibility regulations for consumers who are blind and visually impaired have lagged significantly behind those for deaf individuals. Until April 2014, when the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Information Order took effect, blind consumers were left “in the dark” when their safety mattered most—during weather emergencies—because visual emergency information displayed in the on-screen crawl during television programming was not accessible in an aural format. The Commission now mandates that this information be provided in an aural form through the secondary audio stream for linear programming viewed on televisions and mobile devices and other “second screens” used inside the home over the MVPD’s network, but this requirement leaves many issues unresolved. This Issue Brief examines and analyzes the arguments made by industry and consumer groups for and against expanded regulation, and makes several recommendations that efficiently fill gaps in the current regulatory requirements for accessible emergency information. These recommendations are technically feasible, not unduly burdensome, and necessary to effectuate the purpose of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. Specifically, the Commission can extend emergency information regulations to the entities it failed to reach with its Emergency Information Order and Second Report and Order by adopting the Linear Programming Definition of an MVPD that it puts forth in its MVPD Definition NPRM. The Commission should adopt this definition, thereby expanding the scope of entities required to comply with the Emergency Information Order, but it should curtail the Order’s rigidity by not passing prioritization guidelines and by removing the requirement to include school closures and changes in the bus schedule in the secondary audio stream

Middle Level Education Aims for Equity and Inclusion, but Do Our School Websites Meet ADA Compliance?

An often-overlooked component of a middle school website is the necessity for that website to be accessible to those with disabilities, while following the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act. In support of the belief that support the belief that inclusive education and respect for diversity should be integrated throughout the school, this study investigated the accessibility of middle school websites in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio by selecting a random sample of 150 schools and analyzing their homepages using WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator), which reports accessibility violations by annotating a copy of the page that was evaluated and presenting embedded icons and indicators to disclose breaches with ADA. Out of 150 districts, 54% had errors that need immediate attention and all 150 schools had alerts of likely violations that ranged from alt-text omissions and empty or confusing links to issues with color contrast and keyboard-only navigation. The article proceeds to give practical suggestions for eliminating many of the errors, even for those shareholders with less than sophisticated technological expertise

An Orientation & Mobility Aid for People with Visual Impairments

Orientierung&Mobilität (O&M) umfasst eine Reihe von Techniken für Menschen mit Sehschädigungen, die ihnen helfen, sich im Alltag zurechtzufinden. Dennoch benötigen sie einen umfangreichen und sehr aufwendigen Einzelunterricht mit O&M Lehrern, um diese Techniken in ihre täglichen Abläufe zu integrieren. Während einige dieser Techniken assistive Technologien benutzen, wie zum Beispiel den Blinden-Langstock, Points of Interest Datenbanken oder ein Kompass gestütztes Orientierungssystem, existiert eine unscheinbare Kommunikationslücke zwischen verfügbaren Hilfsmitteln und Navigationssystemen. In den letzten Jahren sind mobile Rechensysteme, insbesondere Smartphones, allgegenwärtig geworden. Dies eröffnet modernen Techniken des maschinellen Sehens die Möglichkeit, den menschlichen Sehsinn bei Problemen im Alltag zu unterstützen, die durch ein nicht barrierefreies Design entstanden sind. Dennoch muss mit besonderer Sorgfalt vorgegangen werden, um dabei nicht mit den speziellen persönlichen Kompetenzen und antrainierten Verhaltensweisen zu kollidieren, oder schlimmstenfalls O&M Techniken sogar zu widersprechen. In dieser Dissertation identifizieren wir eine räumliche und systembedingte Lücke zwischen Orientierungshilfen und Navigationssystemen für Menschen mit Sehschädigung. Die räumliche Lücke existiert hauptsächlich, da assistive Orientierungshilfen, wie zum Beispiel der Blinden-Langstock, nur dabei helfen können, die Umgebung in einem limitierten Bereich wahrzunehmen, während Navigationsinformationen nur sehr weitläufig gehalten sind. Zusätzlich entsteht diese Lücke auch systembedingt zwischen diesen beiden Komponenten — der Blinden-Langstock kennt die Route nicht, während ein Navigationssystem nahegelegene Hindernisse oder O&M Techniken nicht weiter betrachtet. Daher schlagen wir verschiedene Ansätze zum Schließen dieser Lücke vor, um die Verbindung und Kommunikation zwischen Orientierungshilfen und Navigationsinformationen zu verbessern und betrachten das Problem dabei aus beiden Richtungen. Um nützliche relevante Informationen bereitzustellen, identifizieren wir zuerst die bedeutendsten Anforderungen an assistive Systeme und erstellen einige Schlüsselkonzepte, die wir bei unseren Algorithmen und Prototypen beachten. Existierende assistive Systeme zur Orientierung basieren hauptsächlich auf globalen Navigationssatellitensystemen. Wir versuchen, diese zu verbessern, indem wir einen auf Leitlinien basierenden Routing Algorithmus erstellen, der auf individuelle Bedürfnisse anpassbar ist und diese berücksichtigt. Generierte Routen sind zwar unmerklich länger, aber auch viel sicherer, gemäß den in Zusammenarbeit mit O&M Lehrern erstellten objektiven Kriterien. Außerdem verbessern wir die Verfügbarkeit von relevanten georeferenzierten Datenbanken, die für ein derartiges bedarfsgerechtes Routing benötigt werden. Zu diesem Zweck erstellen wir einen maschinellen Lernansatz, mit dem wir Zebrastreifen in Luftbildern erkennen, was auch über Ländergrenzen hinweg funktioniert, und verbessern dabei den Stand der Technik. Um den Nutzen von Mobilitätsassistenz durch maschinelles Sehen zu optimieren, erstellen wir O&M Techniken nachempfundene Ansätze, um die räumliche Wahrnehmung der unmittelbaren Umgebung zu erhöhen. Zuerst betrachten wir dazu die verfügbare Freifläche und informieren auch über mögliche Hindernisse. Weiterhin erstellen wir einen neuartigen Ansatz, um die verfügbaren Leitlinien zu erkennen und genau zu lokalisieren, und erzeugen virtuelle Leitlinien, welche Unterbrechungen überbrücken und bereits frühzeitig Informationen über die nächste Leitlinie bereitstellen. Abschließend verbessern wir die Zugänglichkeit von Fußgängerübergängen, insbesondere Zebrastreifen und Fußgängerampeln, mit einem Deep Learning Ansatz. Um zu analysieren, ob unsere erstellten Ansätze und Algorithmen einen tatsächlichen Mehrwert für Menschen mit Sehschädigung erzeugen, vollziehen wir ein kleines Wizard-of-Oz-Experiment zu unserem bedarfsgerechten Routing — mit einem sehr ermutigendem Ergebnis. Weiterhin führen wir eine umfangreichere Studie mit verschiedenen Komponenten und dem Fokus auf Fußgängerübergänge durch. Obwohl unsere statistischen Auswertungen nur eine geringfügige Verbesserung aufzeigen, beeinflußt durch technische Probleme mit dem ersten Prototypen und einer zu geringen Eingewöhnungszeit der Probanden an das System, bekommen wir viel versprechende Kommentare von fast allen Studienteilnehmern. Dies zeigt, daß wir bereits einen wichtigen ersten Schritt zum Schließen der identifizierten Lücke geleistet haben und Orientierung&Mobilität für Menschen mit Sehschädigung damit verbessern konnten

A Systematic Analysis of Accessibility Education Within Computing Disciplines

Accessible technologies improve the usability for all users, including 1 billion people in the world who have a disability. Although there is a demand for accessible technologies, there is currently no requirement for universities to integrate this content within the computing curriculum. A systematic comparison of teaching efficacy is important to effectively prepare future computing professionals with the skills to create accessible technologies. This dissertation contains a mixed-methods cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of undergraduate Software Engineering and Information Technology students’ learning of accessibility. Four teaching conditions were assessed at Rochester Institute of Technology: content lectures, projects, exposure to stakeholders with a disability, and collaboration with a team member who had a disability. Evidence of student learning was obtained through questionnaires, project reports, and interview data. Student learning was quantified by a knowledge of programming techniques, awareness of accessible technologies, and attitudes towards individuals with a disability. The cross-sectional analysis spanned three years (spring 2016-2019), fourteen courses, and seven distinct professors. We found that students in all conditions gained an increased knowledge of implementation methods. Students who were exposed to a stakeholder with a disability obtained significantly higher scores in their prosocial sympathetic attitudes, awareness of accessible technologies, and knowledge of programming techniques following the course. Students in the other conditions obtained significant changes in only a subset of these measures. While students in all conditions obtained significantly higher knowledge scores in the short term, only students who had a project or a team member with a disability sustained significantly higher knowledge scores two years after exposure. In interviews, senior-level students revealed that there were multiple factors outside the classroom that dissuaded them from furthering their learning of accessibility. Students mentioned a lack of person-centered topics in major software development processes (e.g., agile, waterfall) and workplace tasks. Without direct reinforcement, students focused on functional software requirements and expressed that accessibility would only be necessary in select front-end development career paths or domains. While current work in computer accessibility education evaluates learning during, or immediately following, one course, this dissertation provides a systematic comparison of student learning throughout multiple courses and instructors. The findings within this dissertation may be used to inform future curriculum plans and educational initiatives

Mega - mobile multimodal extended games

Tese de mestrado em Engenharia Informática, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2012As aplicações de entretenimento móvel têm hoje em dia um papel importante e significativo no mercado de software, abrangendo um grupo variado de utilizadores. Tudo isto se deve ao repentino sucesso de dispositivos de interacção inovadora, como o Wiimote da Nintendo, o Move da Sony e o Kinect da Microsoft. Por sua vez estas técnicas de interacção multimodal têm sido exploradas para jogos móveis. A recente geração de dispositivos móveis vem equipada com uma grande variedade de sensores, para além dos óbvios como ecrã táctil e microfone. Existem ainda outros componentes interessantes como bússola digital, acelerómetros, sensores ópticos. Os dispositivos móveis são também utilizados como máquina fotográfica digital, agenda pessoal, assim como para ver videos e ouvir música, e claro, para jogar jogos. Olhar para os novos grupos de utilizadores e para as novas formas de jogar e incluir nos jogos formas de interacção novas, usando os atributos e potencialidades de novas plataformas e novas tecnologias é pois um assunto pungente e deveras desafiante. Com este trabalho pretende-se estudar e propor novas dimensões de jogo e interacção com plataformas móveis, sejam smartphones, sejam tablets, que se adequem às mais distintas comunidades de jogadores. Pretende-se sobretudo explorar modalidades alternativas como as baseadas no tacto e vibração, assim como no áudio, combinadas ou não com outras mais tradicionais de foro visual. Almeja-se ainda explorar jogos em grupo, à distância e co-localizados, encontrando e estudando novas formas de expressão em jogos clássicos e jogos inovadores que envolvam pequenos conjuntos de indivíduos. A ubiquidade inerente aos dispositivos móveis faz ainda com que se tenham que encontrar neste jogos de grupo formas de fluxo de jogo que sustentem saídas e entradas rápidas ou menos rápidas sem que ainda assim se perca o interesse e a motivação de jogar. Este trabalho iniciou-se com uma pesquisa intensiva de trabalho relacionado, sobre a área de jogos móveis e suas multimodalidades, passando consequentemente pela acessibilidade inerente, jogos em grupo e suas formas de comunicação e conexão, e por último dando especial atenção a jogos de puzzle, sendo o tipo de jogo focado neste trabalho. Seguidamente, foi efectuado o levantamento de requisitos e exploradas as opções de jogo e de interacção relativas a jogos de puzzle móveis multimodais. No âmbito deste estudo foram criados três pequenos jogos sobre um conceito comum: jogos de puzzle. A primeira aplicação contém três modalidades diferentes de jogo: uma visual, apresentando um jogo de puzzle de imagens baseado nos tradicionais; uma segunda auditiva, que recria o conceito de jogo através de música, tornando as peças em pequenas parcelas sonoras da música de tamanhos equivalentes; e a terceira háptica, criando deste modo um puzzle com peças de padrões vibratórios diferentes. A segunda aplicação recriou o mesmo conceito de jogo, puzzle, no modo audio, mas retirando toda a informação visual, apresentando simples formas de interacção. A terceira aplicação apresenta uma abordagem sobre os jogos em grupo, permitindo jogar puzzles visuais e de audio em dois modos distintos: cooperativo, onde os jogadores têm de jogar em equipa de forma a conseguir completar o puzzle; e competitiva, onde os jogadores são forçados a ser mais rápidos que o adversário de modo a poderem vencer. Todas estas aplicações permitem ao utilizador definir o tamanho do puzzle e o nível de dificuldade, assim como escolher as imagens e músicas que pretendem resolver em forma de puzzle. Foram conduzidos vários testes de utilizador, nomeadamente um para cada aplicação desenvolvida. Sobre a primeira aplicação vinte e quatro participantes jogaram puzzles visuais e auditivos, distribuídos equitativamente pelas modalidades. Deste modo, cada participante resolveu nove puzzles de imagem ou nove puzzles audio distintos. Neste primeiro estudo procurou descobrir-se as estratégias de resolução dos puzzles, procurando principalmente igualdades e diferenças entre os diferentes modos. Para o segundo estudo foi usada a segunda aplicação desenvolvida, e foram abrangidos novamente vinte e quatro utilizadores, doze dos quais sendo cegos. Cada participante resolveu três puzzles audio diferentes. Relativamente a este estudo, foi proposta uma comparação entre os modos estudados anteriormente, especialmente sobre o modo audio, uma vez que foi usado o mesmo procedimento. Para os utilizadores cegos o objectivo foi provar que seria possível criar um jogo divertido, desafiante e sobretudo acessível a partir de um conceito de jogo clássico. Para o último estudo, vinte e quatro participantes, organizados em pares, jogaram puzzles visuais e de audio em modo cooperativo e competitivo. Cada conjunto de participantes resolveu quatro puzzles, um para cada modo de jogo por cada tipo de puzzle, o que significa dois puzzles visuais, um competitivo e outro cooperativo, e dois puzzles audio, sendo também um cooperativo e outro competitivo. O objectivo mais uma vez foi procurar as estratégias de resolução, permitindo também a comparação com outros modos anteriormente estudados. Todos os jogos foram transformados em dados contendo todas as acções que cada jogador tomou durante a resolução do puzzle. Esses dados foram depois transformados em números específicos de forma a poderem ser analisados e discutidos. Os valores obtidos foram divididos em três grupos principais, as tentativas de colocação de peças, o número de ajudas, e o tempo de conclusão do puzzle. Em relação às tentativas de colocação de peças é possível identificar a ordem correspondente segundo três formas distintas, pela classificação do tipo de peças, pela disposição das peças na fita e pela ordem sequencial do puzzle. Os resultados do estudo mostram que uma mesma estratégia de resolução de puzzles é usada através de todos os modos estudados, os jogadores optam por resolver primeiro as zonas mais relevantes do puzzle, deixando as partes mais abstractas e confundíveis para o final. No entanto, parente novas modalidades de jogo, pequenas percentagens de utilizadores mostraram diferentes estratégias de resolução. Através das opiniões dos utilizadores é também possível afirmar que todas as aplicações desenvolvidas são jogáveis, divertidas e desafiantes. No final foi criado um conjunto de componentes reutilizáveis e um conjunto de parâmetros para a criação de novos jogos. Numa linha de trabalho futuro foram propostos vários objectivos interessantes que podem promover e reaproveitar o trabalho desenvolvido. Deste modo foi criado um jogo de puzzle baseado na primeira aplicação desenvolvida, mantendo os modos visual e audio, de forma a poder integrar no mercado de aplicações móveis, permitindo deste modo, um estudo em larga escala sobre os mesmos conceitos estudados neste trabalho. Foi também pensada a criação de um servidor centralizado, permitindo conter os resultados de todos os jogadores de forma a criar um ranking geral, podendo deste modo incentivar os jogadores a melhorar o seu desempenho, e ajudar a promover o próprio jogo. Outra alternativa passa por melhorar e aperfeiçoar o modo háptico, de forma a criar mais uma modalidade viável sobre o mesmo conceito de jogo, de forma a poder ser também estudada de forma equivalente. O puzzle para invisuais pode também ser melhorado e aperfeiçoado de forma a criar mais desafios através da inclusão dum modo háptio. E por fim, não menos importante, criar novas dimensões de jogo em grupo, permitindo jogar os modos cooperativo e competitivo em simultâneo, tendo por exemplo duas equipas de dois jogadores cada, a cooperar entre si para completar o puzzle, e de certa forma a competir contra a outra equipa para terminar primeiro e com melhores resultados. O objectivo seria, mais uma vez, estudar as estratégias usadas.Mobile entertainment applications have an important and significant role in the software market, covering a diverse group of users. All this is due to the sudden success of innovative interaction devices such as Nintendo’s Wiimote, Sony’s Move and Kinect’s Microsoft. On the other hand, these multimodal interaction techniques have been explored for mobile games. The latest generation of mobile devices is equipped with a wide variety of sensors, in addition to the obvious such as touch screen and microphone. There are other interesting components such as digital compass, accelerometers and optical sensors. Mobile devices are also used as a digital camera, personal organizer, to watch videos and listen to music, and of course, to play games. Looking for the new users groups and for the new ways to play the games and include new forms of interaction, using the attributes and capabilities of new platforms and new technologies is an issue as poignant and very challenging. This work aims to study and propose new dimensions of play and interaction with mobile platforms, whether smartphones or tablets, which suit most distinct communities of players. It is intended primarily to explore alternative modalities such as touch-based and vibratory, as well as audio based, combined or not with traditional visual ones. It also aims at exploring group games, spatially distributed and co-located, finding and studying new forms of expression in classic games and innovative games that involve small sets of individuals. The ubiquity inherent to mobile devices leads us to find input and output flows which support rapid or less rapid entry commands, without losing the interest and motivation to play. In addition to the design and implementation of three or four small game applications intended to create a set of reusable components and a set of guidelines for creating new games

How Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality Benefit the Elderly and Individuals with Disabilities

The growing and evolving use  of emerging technology including Artificial Intelligence (AI)  and Virtual Reality (VR),  has significantly impacted the lives of two specific groups—the elderly and the disabled.  This paper investigates potential reasons for this phenomenon.  Clearly, AI and VR Technology alters the everyday lives of people with disabilities and how they navigate the world.  Technological developments increasingly work to address the isolation that people with disabilities as well as the elderly experience for  they are often unable or limited in how they  engage with their communities.  This research paper outlines the way technology has improved  social communication, information distribution, and day-to-day living for those with disabilities and the elderly.Undoubtedly,  the internet has transformed social communication and interaction for most people.   socially isolated individuals with disabilities have gained exposure to social environments through social media.  Moreover, the broad range of information available on the internet  has increased access to resources such as government services, health services, and social services support. On a related point, assistive devices have enabled disabled people including many seniors to overcome motor, sensory, or cognitive difficulties that may have previously hindered them from performing daily tasks.  However, although AI and VR technology has been effectively integrated in the lives of those with disabilities, many such individuals lack access to commonplace technologies, like a personal computer.  This paper examines how  AI and VR technology has enhanced communication, information access, and everyday activities for the disabled and aging communities despite such socio-economic limitations

Delivering together for inclusive development : digital access to Information and knowledge for persons with disabilities

This report focuses on digital inclusion as it relates to four of the 17 Goals for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda: SDG 9 - Innovation, Industry, and Infrastructure, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals, SDG 4 - Quality Education. For each of the goals, a number of major challenges and key recommendations are defined. Finally, general recommendations are given for improving global digital inclusion overall

Finding the Needle in a Haystack: On the Automatic Identification of Accessibility User Reviews

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many limitations. User reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this paper is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help technology professionals in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as input accessibility user reviews, learns their keyword-based features, in order to make a binary decision, for a given review, on whether it is about accessibility or not. The model is evaluated using a total of 5,326 mobile app reviews. The findings show that (1) our model can accurately identify accessibility reviews, outperforming two baselines, namely keyword-based detector and a random classifier; (2) our model achieves an accuracy of 85% with relatively small training dataset; however, the accuracy improves as we increase the size of the training dataset

Conceptual Framework for On-site Digital Interpretation Developments in Cultural Heritage Sites

On-site heritage interpretation plays a vital role in cultural heritage sites in conveying the significance and multiple heritage values to the visitors. In an era where the world is transforming with innovative digital applications, the heritage sites are also being integrated with digital interpretation techniques to deliver a better interpretation and new dimensional experience to the visitors. Though multiple digital solutions are available, not all the techniques are appropriate, applicable and feasible to every site. Besides, neither proper worldwide principles nor framework has been exerted for these digital heritage interpretation developments. Therefore, this study is focused on building a generic conceptual framework to select the most appropriate digital interpretation technique(s) that fit the context of the heritage site, giving special reference to the six Cultural World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka. The relevant qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via in-depth interviews, field observation, literature survey and a visitor survey questionnaire. The main themes and sub-themes derived through the thematic analysis were adopted as the theoretical framework for the research to analyze the collected data of the six Cultural World Heritage Sites and the selected digital techniques. Based on the results, the study recommends appropriate digital techniques for each Cultural World Heritage Sites of the country. Further as aimed, the study presents a conceptual framework for on-site digital interpretation developments for cultural heritage sites by categorizing the 24 criteria derived for data analysis under five phases namely ‘Prepare’, ‘Assess’, ‘Design’, ‘Implement’ and ‘Sustain’. DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v07i01.0